Bathroom Renovation Part Three: The Demo

When we decided to take on our bathroom, the part my hunka, hunka burnin' muscle hubs most looked forward to was the demo. He was so excited to wreak havoc on the dated tiled and peeling walls. I, on the other hand, was a little leery. Either way, we were two eager DIYers ready to put the smack down on our 51 - year old bathroom. No hold's bar if you will. Unfortunately, our bathroom was not going out without a fight. So while we were ready to put the smack down on our bathroom, it definitely smacked back.

See that smile on my face as I removed the first tile? Let's call this the, "ignorance is bliss," photo. Though that first tile came off easily, we had no idea what our middle aged beast of a bathroom had in store for us.

Did you feel that? Yep, this was our first smack across the face. It left a mark. A big, red welt right on the cheek. Behind the 1/4 inch tile was about 2 inches of cement and metal lathe. I compare metal lathe to a very thick chicken wire that is super sharp. This is how tile was laid before thinset and cement board. Built to last. Had our bathroom lacked a window, I think it would be safe it say it could double as a bomb shelter. Seriously.

That said, a hammer and chisel were not going to cut it so we had to bring in back up to win this fight. Enter, the demo and sledge hammer. We shelled out the $90 at Home Depot to rent some power tools help bring down the walls. Did I mention that we had this tile on all.four.walls of the bathroom? Lucky us.  

Over the course of the next 48 hours (20 of which were spent working) the hubs and I (but mostly the hubs) brought down the house bathroom walls.

Talk about one heck of a mess. Our bathroom floor and tub were filled like this four times. Each time the rubble grew too high (about seven inches), we had to shovel it out so we could walk. In the end, we filled 28 black contractor's garbage bags full of tile and cement. We filled two 90 gallon garbage cans with the metal lathe. Our trash collectors are not our number one fans these days.

In the end, through the blood, sweat and surprisingly no tears, we cleared out the bathroom and took the next day off. We were too sore, tired, and beat up to work!

Stay tuned for the next installment when we put the room back together! I am happy to say that we now have four, complete walls in our bathroom! Yahoo!!!