Upstairs Bathroom Remodel part 1

For months now, I’ve struggled with getting in and out of the bathtub to shower. With rheumatoid arthritis (and the other ones I have), stepping over the side of the tub has become increasingly more difficult. I already use a shower chair because standing for the length of a shower has become too difficult.

In the midst of the downstairs remodel (still have a few things to do down there), we decided it was time to make changes upstairs. Here are some before pictures:

For the most part, we are doing this remodel in two parts. Back in June we started making decisions on what we wanted in the bathroom. The first was to decide to go from a shower / tub combo to just the shower only.

I’ve never liked the tub. It was too shallow and too short. However, Ken used it so he was reluctant to get rid of it with no other full bathroom in the house. Fast forward fourteen years, we have the second full bathroom with a giant tub so going down to shower only upstairs works.

So in June we scheduled for the plumbers to come back and do the upstairs bathroom. There was a lot of discussion about whether to go with a shower surround or not. I really wanted tile. It was the one thing which I felt strongly about but we hadn’t done tile and hiring is more expensive. So initially we were going to put in a surround.

However, my middle daughter and husband figured out how to tile her bathroom wet room. This meant they were experienced at tiling and knew all the steps. We are going with tile rather than a surround!

Yesterday, we got first steps done. The plumbers took out the old tub/shower combo and put in the pan. More than that, they redid some of the plumbing so hopefully we have better drainage.

Bash Bear isn’t sure he likes the change. He spent a lot of time in there last night checking out all the changes. This morning he is less tentative. He loves being in the bathroom. He demands pets and snuggles from anyone (mostly) who goes in the bathroom.

Today, Ken has already put Killz on the spots on the 2x4s to reassure me there will be no mold. We’ve talked about where to put the niche, handicap bar, and rainfall showerhead. Surprisingly, there was no grumbling on either of our parts.

Next he’ll be putting up green board (i.e. drywall for bathrooms), adding 2x4s to framing for handicap bar and niche, membrane, and then painting some walls.