One day a couple months ago, I looked into the kids' shower. I don't usually do that. It's kind of gross. I have these unrealistic thoughts that since they're the ones who use it, they should be the ones to clean it, and they believe that some magical fairy is going to clean it for them, and that's never actually happened. But anyway the point is that I looked into it. I'm not sure now exactly what I was looking for. I think maybe I was making my shopping list and I was looking to see if I needed to buy more shampoo for them. Anyway, I noticed that there was a tile loose. I wiggled it a little, and it fell right out, revealing a hole in the wall board behind it, and a whole bunch of mildew. Ick!
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| Josh helped remove the old tile |
I had no idea how long the tile had been loose. When I mentioned it to the kids, they told me it had been like that for months. "And you never told anyone?" I asked.
"Well, no. I only think about it when I'm in the shower, and when I get out of the shower, you've already gone to bed, and then I don't think about it again." was the response I got.
Not knowing how bad the mold was back there behind the tile, Steven and I decided the shower should be renovated. The shower pan had rust stains from before we moved in. The shower door was kind of wobbly. It could use a makeover.
Steven entered the planning stage. He measured. He drew pictures of what he wanted. He visited Home Depot and Lowe's. He looked at tile. He redrew his plans. He looked at shower pans. He took me to look at tile. He redrew his plans. He looked at shower doors. He looked at fixtures. He looked at more tile. He redrew his plans. Eventually, he ordered a shower pan and a shower door. He bought the fixtures and the tile.
For a Family Home Evening activity one Monday in March, he took a hammer and a crowbar, and started pulling the old tile off the shower walls. It was noisy, dusty work. The boys helped a little. (Some more than others.) Hannah hid in her room. Eventually, all the tile was off. The project was in full swing.
Almost every evening and Saturday, Steven worked in the shower. The wall board came down. The old shower pan came up. A few days went into a plumbing project as the copper pipes that had gone to two different knobs were rerouted to go to one central lever. Then the new wall board was installed, along with the new shower pan.
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| The tile saw |
Then came the time to put up the tile. Steven borrowed a tile cutter from a friend at work and started cutting the tiles to size, carefully labeling each one so he would know where to place it. An entire day from early morning until bedtime was spent spreading mortar on the walls, then carefully placing the tiles into place. A couple days later he came back and spread the grout between the tiles. A few days after that, I painted the grout with a sealer, and then a day or two later Steven installed the shower door.
After at least thirteen trips to Lowe's and 3 to Home Depot (six of those trips were all in one day!) and after spending over $900, the shower is done. It looks beautiful. We will think twice before attempting a project like this again in the near future.
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| The finished product |
Steven entered the planning stage. He measured. He drew pictures of what he wanted. He visited Home Depot and Lowe's. He looked at tile. He redrew his plans. He looked at shower pans. He took me to look at tile. He redrew his plans. He looked at shower doors. He looked at fixtures. He looked at more tile. He redrew his plans. Eventually, he ordered a shower pan and a shower door. He bought the fixtures and the tile.
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