Too ambitious to do bathroom repair myself??

[Jennifer Cheu]

Hi all, 

Bought my first owner occupy multi family, and decided to live in the most runned-down unit to do some repairs.  I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, but have little to no real estate repair experience.  I enjoy reading up and learning how to do fixes, and want this experience as I dive into real estate. 

Need some feedback and advice here, is this job too big for a newbie?  What are the main safety concerns?  What is the material/tool list? 

I did get a general contractor to quote the job, he said 1 week, $2k to redo floors, $6k if I want a new tub and toilet. 

- Wet rot down to bottom most layer of floor boards

- Cracked tiles

- Rotted beam next to tub

- Re-sheetrock and put shelving back together

- Bath vanity set aside but not damaged

- Tub is metal shell type, not solid

- I can live without a bathroom for a few days to 2 weeks. A friend can help when I need 2 people. 

Any feedback is appreciated!!

[Account Closed]

#1 Identify any and all water leaks. Stop them.

#2 Inspect structural damage. Fix any.

#3 From there, and depending on how much you ripped out getting the structural work done, decide how you want the finished work to look. Repaired? Remodeled?

#4 Your decision on #3 will determine what you do next.

#5 Gut anything in your way. I have found that if you are going to take drywall out, it is best to take it all the way out from the floor to ceiling on the walls, as you will have less joints to mud - drywall is cheap. Try to avoid removing the ceiling drywall if you can avoid it, it is a PITA to install ceiling rock.

#6 After making sure all your floor joists are ok, start with the sub flooring. That's the layer right on the joists and is usually 3/4 inch plywood or 3/4 OSB. Then lay your flooring underlayment. What you use here is determined by what type of finish floor you will use. You need to figure out the thickness of all flooring components to achieve a match to the other floors in the house.

#7 Do all the rough plumbing and rough electric. Hire someone to do this. You will need to know exactly what your plan is by this point so you can tell that to the contractor and they can install everything in the right place at the right depth.

#8 Reinstall drywall. Again, I have found it is easier to start fresh than it is to patch stuff in. However, depending on how far you want to go with the remodel, you might end up patching it in. Drywall screws must be perfect. There is no close enough. They must be just barely recessed under the surface, but not so recessed they tear the paper. If you tear the paper and you will, put another screw in. Make sure you make a map of where your studs are and make sure you put electrical plates and plumbing plates over any area of stud where electrical or plumbing is behind it - not fun to screw into these and you could potentially burn your house down. Take note of all plumbing and electoral locations for when you install vanities and shelves too.

#9 If you have not installed a new tub, or the tub you have is good, then you are done. If you want to spray your old tub, this is the time to do it as you don't have to worry about over-spraying anything. I really like Rustolium 2-part refinish kit. You can roll it with a fine roller or better yet, you can spray it. They give you enough for two coats, but I recommend putting a thick coat on and being done, the stuff melts into itself, careful not to drip. If you drip, do not try to wipe the drip. Rather, let it dry and then touch it up.

#10 Tape, Mud, Sand, Paint. This is why you have not yet installed your finish floor, because this crap gets everywhere and you don't want to waste time trying to keep a finish floor clean. Cover up your nice tub. Don't worry about getting anything on your subfloor, the drywall mud scrapes off and the rest can stay. Never put on too much mud. Always side on an additional layer over trying to sand out a thick layer. Wear a mask when you sand and make sure the doors are closed - that stuff goes everywhere.

#11 Install tub tile. This is tricky and it pays to think about the placement before you start (that goes for all tile jobs). You will need to install a cement board underlayment first. It is likely you have drywall on there now. Drywall is not good under tile where there is excessive water like a tub. Put the underlayment anywhere you want to tile, leave drywall anywhere you will not tile. I like to go over the shower head, but just underneath it is ok to. All the way to the ceiling and on the ceiling is ok too. I would suggest going right under the shower head for your first go at this. I like to use a Sonicrafter vibrating tool to make precision cuts in drywall (my favorite tool - tool is cheap, blades are expensive). Tape the joints from drywall to cement board and fill with drywall mud. Some people like to tape and fill the cement board joints and that is fine, but not really necessary so long as you tile and grout right. When figuring the placement, first try to get it so full tiles work. That wont likely happen however, so then what you do is split the difference on each end. Not everyone does this, but it is the best looking, unless you end up with a tiny tile on each end, and in that case you just start with a full tile on one side and a cut tile on the other. Again it all depends and you need to work it out before you start. Don't forget to account for the tile spacers when you lay it out. Tubs are installed out of level so the water drains the right way. What I like to do is draw a level line one course up around the tub and start from there. Find the lowest part of the tub and measure up a full tile plus the thickness of a spacer from there to get a starting point, then draw the level line from there on all three sides. Once you have the first level line, then go to the middle of the tub and draw a plumb line at the center wall. You could do this on the side walls too, but those are short enough to skip it. Now you have a level and plumb lines to start with. Start in the center and work your way out. Only use full tiles the first day, let those dry and do all your cuts the second day. Do not put tile mud on your lines. I like to screw a 2 x 4 right under my plumb lines to keep the tiles from sinking. Use the spacers and make sure they are all in place and all evenly spaced. Work a small area at a time. Take your time, but go fast. Don't put too much mud on the wall or on the back of the tile, but make sure you have enough. You should feel the tile hit the backer board when you push it in. You can cheat tiles up or down using more mud if you have to, but hopefully your underlayment is good and you wont have to. The next day the full tiles will be set and you can work the cuts. A tile saw is fine, but getting good with a traditional tile score cutter is best. I would suggest having both on site. Tile saws work good for custom cuts, but you can use a nip for that too. Let it all dry a day before you grout. Don't screw around and buy premixed grout. I priced it out and it is barely more expensive than buying all the components and mixing them together. Grout is easy and tricky at the same time. The tub will be much harder than the floor because of gravity. Take a small amount, work from one side to the other and work it all the way in the joints. Easy on the spots that may have a cavity that will eat your grout - you could fill those with something before you start. That is a good reason some people like to tape and fill backer board joints. Once the grout is in the joint, pull the grout diagonally across the tile, trying to get just the right amount in. Always more, never not enough, just right is just right. Try to get as much of the excess grout off as possible, but just get off the excess and leave it - if you work it too much you will pull out too much from the cracks. Take a short break and swear a few times, you will definitely need to at this point. Don't break too long because your grout will dry and then your screwed. Take a wet sponge and wipe off the extra grout. The goal here is to tool your grout lines and get the large deposits of grout off before they harden. Do not over-tool and don't try to get all the grout film off yet. Once you get it tooled, go over it again with a sponge, this time staying off the grout lines and just attempting to get as much grout off the tile as possible. You will not get it all off however and don't even try to, you will drive yourself nuts because it is impossible. With only a light film left on the tile and your grout lines tooled evenly, let it all dry over night. The next day take a soft dry towel to the remaining film and you will be amazed at how it comes right off - make sure the grout lines are dry before you do this, but do not wait more than a day because the film will continue to harden and become harder to get off. Caulk the corners and where the tub meets the tile. I like leaving those grout free and just caulk them. You can grout the wall corners is you want, but do not grout where the tub meets the tile because a metal tub will expand and contract, meaning you have to caulk anyways. Pat yourself on the back if you haven't killed yourself yet.

#12 Install finish flooring.

#13 Install vanities, fixtures, holders, toilet, shelving.

#14 Realize you did not install a bath fan when you should have.

#15 Wonder if it was worth it. If you have all your fingers, toes and sanity, and the damn thing looks good, then maybe you will do it all over again or maybe you will just hire it out next time. Ponder how many times you went back to the store for stuff you forgot or stuff you didn't realize you needed or stuff that was wrong or stuff you screwed up and had to buy again and for tools, tools and more tools. Ponder how many damn tools you bought. Realize your contractor is not over-charging you and the small defect in workmanship you blew a gasket on was not really a big deal.

LOL. Have fun. Be safe. Expect to screw it up and do it twice.