bathroom remodeling.

i will be remodeling my bathroom soon. a complete tear down. walls, vanity, toilet, floor. tub stays. my question is, where do i start. should i start with the floor or the walls? obviously the vanity has to come out first. how long can i keep a rag stuffed in the toilet pipe? several days until the project is done? several weeks in case i run into problems? i'd rather not pay someone $2500 when i can do it for less than half. i've laid tile before. the only thing i'm confused about is the order...

thanks
mitch

 

First, you need to see if the floor is thick enough to support the tile, most want the floor to be at least 1 1/4" thick. Next make sure that the floor around the old toilet is not rotted, this occurs alot of time due to bad seals on the toilet. I would finish the walls first and then move on to the floor. This way, you could change the floor in the future if you need to. No need to tile under the vanity, so put it in. I would mount the toilet first and tile up to it as you don't want it sitting on the tile.
I did my bath about a year ago and moved everything out and started from scratch. This method worked well for me. Don't worry about the sewer pipe, you can leave the rag in it for as long as you need to, just keep the room ventilated.

Good luck