Today I finished the (Vinyl) tile floor in the upstairs bathroom. It’s a click system that’s waterproof and has a 22 mil protective top layer.
I also fixed the door jamming. All that’s left is to paint the wood under the shower pan and fill some gaps.
The downstairs bathroom rain shower was in need of some TLC. The small rubber strip on the floor was worn and as a result, the entire bathroom floor would get wet every shower.
As I did not want to put a shower pan in, I opted for the next best thing; creating a shower pan with a special strip, much higher than the rubber strip. But as the strip alone would not prevent water splashing over the pan, I also mounted a shower curtain rail and bought a fitting shower curtain.
I also used the steel wire that came with the rail to properly strengthen the shower head, which had been supported by an improvised support made from an older coat hanger.
The pan strip is intentionally a little larger than the rail, so that water dripping down from the curtain stays with the pan.
This should fix the wet floor issue. Just to be sure I will place a warning on the right mirror to be aware of the strip as you step back, as even though there’s enough space to stand, if you step back not knowing there’s a pan strip on the floor, it could trip someone. Think of it as the warning on microwaves not to dry your cat in it.
Earlier this year, the upstairs shower had a leakage problem. At first I thought it was water going through the cracked hardy backer board that was used as un underfloor. So I used grout sealer to make the grouts more waterproof. But as it turned out, the problem was bigger; besides the cracked underfloor, the shower pan exhaust pipe got loose, so whenever the shower was used, water would leak under the shower pan, through the grouts, underfloor and floor boards onto the kitchen floor below.
So drastic measures were called for, as can be seen here
I removed the tiles, (cracked) hardy backer board and the shower pan.
After that I put a new subfloor in of 19/32″ plywood. I decided to not put the tiles back in, as the floor might work some more and again break the underfloor or tiles.
I managed to get the plywood under the shower wall, so there’s now a solid underfloor that can give a little bit if the beams on which the floor rest work some more.
On top of this floor I will put vinyl click tiles, which are waterproof and more flexible than stone tiles. And warmer to the feet than stone tiles.
The last unfinished room is the upstairs en-suite bathroom. This one has some practical challenges, as it’s on a single layer wooden floor with the kitchen beneath it. Obviously I don’t want sewage pipes showing over the stove. So I opted for a toilet that can be built into the wall. The toilet exhaust will go down at an angle, then straight for a bit, before going vertically down to the main sewage pipe under the house.
This pipe goes through the log wall, which is solid and thick, but with some long drills, chisels and reciprocal saw I managed to get a pipe through the wall.
All pipes here are temporary and unglued, as I also need to connect the shower pan to this pipe. The shower will be to the right of the toilet.
To prevent toilet water going to the shower pan, the pan will be elevated from the floor, which is also needed to be able to add a water lock to prevent sewage smells coming into the bathroom through the shower pan.
The only negative comment on the bathroom was on the lights above the mirrors. Although practical (Just plain bulbs) they were not very nice to look at. And as I don’t like many wall fixtures, and wanted enough light when you stand in front of the mirrors, I decided to make my own. From (you guessed it) excess Cedar. Now the lighting is indirect and brings more atmosphere.
I also treated the tiles with a sealer, to prevent too much water leaking from the shower area down to the other side of the bathroom. Although it helps a little, anything that is spilled over the barrier, will have a tendency to flow into the bathroom. But if you sweep the remaining water back over the barrier, and help the collected water there towards the drain, it is a very comfortable shower. At some point, I will add a second drain strip, where the barrier now is located of 64″ wide. Then the water will not build up anymore but can all drain out properly, and most of the barrier can be removed. Some water sweeping will still be needed to make the floor dry quicker, but that’s hard to avoid.
Big Bend National Park is the most impressive park nearby (nearby is a relative thing in Texas: about a six hours drive). It’s a huge desert, and towards the Mexican border it has some dramatic mountain ridges.
I took this picture a few years ago myself, printed on my large format printer in Holland on vinyl using pdq (the software I developed for driving roll printers), and took it with me in my suitcase. So you now can take a shower standing in the middle of Big Bend, or soak in the freestanding tub.