Hello fellow contractors, and diyers!

I'm looking to put my master bathroom back together after being gutted for 5 years! I have a wife and two teenage daughters now with only one operating bathroom!

I looked into a few contractors in my area, and just to put a tiled neo shower stall, tiled floor, sheetrock, and a toilet was around $8500. This does not include all the finished work that I was going to do like, moldings, painting, accessories.

I have used a few general contractors in the past and was not too happy with the experience. Being a DIYer, I questioned a lot of things and felt like they cut corners after signing a contract with them. This was for a new roof and gutters after hurricane Sandy in 2014.

I have total confidence in contractors and have two that I use regularly for HVAC and plumbing questions. I do most of my own heating and plumbing repairs as well and bring them in for the larger stuff.

I would like to put my bathroom back together but need advice on proper procedures and to meet local NJ codes. I feel confident that with the proper guidance from you and recommendations, I can put this 6' x 6' master bathroom, : ), back together.

My master butts up to the master closet. When I bought the house in 2009, there was a hole in the floor next to the shower. From what I saw, the drain was clogged, and seeped to the floor causing the floor to rot. When I looked at the master closet, the hardwood oak floor was rotted as well.

I remodeled the master closet two years ago. I removed the rotted oak floor, all the lower sheetrock. The original subfloor was also rotted in both the master bathroom and master closet as well as the lower 2x4 frame.

I cut out the lower 2x4's and cut out the original subfloor 4x8 sheet that was in the master closet and master bathroom. I used my FEIN multimaster to cut the subfloor so that the new subfloor could lay on the floor joints equally.

I took a piece of the old subfloor to HD and Lowes to find the closest to the thickness of the old subfloor. Well, I found one but it was not exact. I put the new subfloor down and used liquid nails subfloor adhesive as well as galvanized deck screws to hold it down. I then used a belt sander to level the closet floor to the existing subfloor. Once completed, I put new 2x4's along the bottom and used my framing nailer to secure the wall studs too.

I then put a new hardwood oak floor down in the closet, then hung the new sheetrock lower half, then finished the walls and trim. Came out nice. When I cut out the old hardwood floor, I left lengths from the master bedroom into the closet, so I kept the consistency from the master bedroom to the master closet.



Master Bathroom:

I now have a gutted master bathroom that I would like to work on this Winter/Spring. It's only 6'x6' with a 32" NEO shower stall, 30" vanity, a toilet, 2x12 floor joists 16" center.

What I'm looking to add:

1. Tongue and Groove stained ceiling

2. Tile floor and shower stall travertine tile with two half walls on either side with upper glass and glass door

3. Beadboard lower half (read) not to use MDF stuff for bathrooms. I used MDF stuff in the hallway and came out nice. Will need to use a PVC beadboard to match the hallway.

4. Electric heated floor (Ditra heat)
Questions:

1. Where to start! Haha! I have the original subfloor and new subfloor in the bathroom currently. They are not level and I need to figure out how to level them first, then keep in mind that I need to match the level of the master bedroom hardwood floor for a consistent transition from the bathroom to the bedroom. How do you go about doing this? My plan is to use Revolutionary Shower System foam backer board, foam shower pan and a floflex drain flange. Do I cut out the original subfloor and place a matching one down? Do I just use self-leveling to self-level the whole 6x6 bathroom before I start?

2. When I took down the sheetrock, there was no vapor barrier on any of the walls. Should there be a vapor barrier installed? I see YouTube videos where people do and then people don’t. Is it code?

3. I would like to take down the 3/4" sheetrock from the ceiling and replace it with a pine-stained Tongue and Groove ceiling. There is no vapor barrier there either. Just the pink installation with a paper backing then direct sheetrock. Do I need to put a plastic vapor barrier up or is the pink installation with paper backing sufficient?

4. You can see that the shower fixture is over the washing machine box in the laundry room on the other side of the wall. I need to move this over so that I can put the new shower fixture in the proper location. I will be replumbing all the water lines with PEX A and using PEX expander connectors in my house, so I will be replumbing the master bathroom and laundry rooms first. Should I leave the washer fixtures where they are and move the master shower fixtures to the adjacent wall before the vent pipe?

5. The idea with the PEX A is that there are two points of failure, at the manifold and at the fixture. My original idea was to use PEX A out of the wall and use compression fittings to connect the fixtures. This way there would be no connections in the wall where I cannot have an access panel of some kind. Then I thought about PEX A tear-drop fitting mounted behind the wall with a steel pipe coming out. But there would be a connection in the wall. My last idea is that since I live in a ranch and have full access in the basement, solder copper in the walls coming out at the fixtures, run copper through the floor to the basement ceiling, then make my PEX A to copper there to always have full access to the connections in the basement ceiling. Any thoughts?

The main reason for doing all this is because my ranch was plumbed with the original truck and branch system back in 1976. The oil boiler is on one side of the house, most of the fixtures are 30’ away. There is a 1/2” copper line that comes from the boiler that feeds the house. I replumbed the whole house with PEX A and manifold under my basement stairs with a boiler mate there. Now all fixtures are under 10’ from the boiler mate. I also installed a TACO zone valve controller to have the boiler mate on the priority zone when calling for heat.

The house never had an acid neutralizer or water softener units and installed those as well.

The main reason was my PH was only 5.8 from the well and all the copper cold water pipes are getting creamed. Constantly fixing leaks and pinholes. When I had a leak at the hall bathroom shower faucet, I had to remove a piece of my finished hallway beadboard, chair rail and baseboard to fix it. That sent me down this path……

Looking at the pictures uploaded, where would the experts start and how would you level the subfloors, install the ceiling?

This will be an ongoing thread as I move through this remodel and appreciate the advice and expertise!

Thank you for your time!

Chris

 

 

Soo many questions, makes it difficult to comprehend, here are a few answers/suggestions.

Membrane, if your using Ditra, or Prova materials stay with the the same for everything,

I'd suggest not putting in raw wood for ceiling, look at some of the Armstrong ceilings, composite, for a bathroom.

You need vapor barrier on everything exterior, plastic is a vapor retarder.

With the bath torn up, look into a high performance exhaust fan, with one bath, 2 teenagers and others you will be glad you put this in!

What is your current subfloor thickness and joist size and spacing?

How unlevel?

Floors don't have to be perfectly matched, stone thresholds can be added to compensate for height differences and give a nice transition.

Others will comment!

 

To hit on a few of your plumbing questions... it looks like the rest of your house is plumbed with PEX, so why not stay the same. Whether you run new home-runs from the manifold, or if you just run it to the bath and branch from there, I think you're good.

While the concept of home-run PEX with no joints is a good one, I have no issue with a few tees or elbows in the walls. The connections will last as long as the piping, so do what makes sense. I've used the pex/copper stubs, but I usually just stick the PEX out of the wall to make the final connection to the angle stop easy. I use stub out clamps like these to hold the pipe in place.

 

Thanks for the update, guy! I have that mythology already there with PEX-a stub outs and use compressions fittings. I want to use compression oil rubbed bronze connections.

Some questions is how to level the floor before I even start anything.

Thanks!
Chris

 

Ugh, and that means I would be 2/3 into the life of my plumbing today!