Bathroom demo for beginners

This week started the bathroom demo for beginners! We’ve never gutted a bathroom. This officially kicks off the Jeffery Court bathroom renovation! Since this is a total gut job we have SO MUCH to remove. COVID has made it more challenging as I can’t work closely with my brother and we need to keep our distance

This week’s bathroom demo includes:

• Removing the vanity
• Removing the builder grade mirror
• Removing the toilet
• Smashing tiles
• Removing baseboards

I’m excited to get through the demo so we can make the girls bathroom design come to life!

Removing the vanity

Removing the vanity was harder than we thought (isn’t everything in DIY harder than you anticipate?). Initially we wanted to retain the vanity structure to donate, but there were 2 main issues:

• The plumbing in this bathroom comes from the floor. Most tutorials we saw has the plumbing come out the wall. In that case, you simply slide the vanity forward to remove it.
• The counter is made from a thick stone and there was no way me and my brother could carry it down the stairs attached to the cabinet.

So we had to break the vanity in order to remove it. Not pretty, but done! 

We still need to remove the last piece of the vanity around the piping. My brother, Neal is concerned with using a jigsaw or circular saw in case we cut the plumbing and that becomes a bigger issue!

How to remove a vanity mirror

I have removed a mirror in my home. It’s much more daunting to think about then to actually do. Here’s the basic steps

1. Tape the mirror. This helps hold the tension and prevents it from shattering everywhere in case it breaks.

2. This mirror has tabs so I hammered them off with a putty knife 

3. Insert shims all around your mirror to loosen

4. Wiggle it until you feel the glue loosen up, and pull it off.

My brother also removed the toilet because he had just installed them new 2 years ago. 

How to remove the floor tiles:

1. Smash one tile and then work your way out.
2. Angle the chisel at the edge of the tile, and hammer it until they pop out.
3. Work your way around the room until all the tiles are removed
4. We thought that removing the mortar would be easier, but looks like we’ll need a demolition hammer for that. 

Was the bathroom demo for beginners successful? Somewhat! The plan for next week’s bathroom demo is to:

• Remove the bathtub tiles
• Remove the concrete off the floor
• Install new backerboard in the bathtub
• Start tiling somewhere!?

Follow along on Instagram to see this project come to life!