Master Bathroom Remodel Part 1: Destroy all the walls!

Finally we were able to start on the Master Bath remodel around mid November. The first step was to get all of the old stuff out and expand into the closet behind. We also needed to move the door into the master bedroom from the hallway and take out the large shower insert.

The before picture

First hole of the remodel!

One wall sans drywall!

Next we had to remove the shower liner from the bathroom. We were hoping to get it out intact so that we could donate it to the local restore. Matt had a little trouble with the old shower valves but we were finally able to get the liner free of the pocket it was in!

This valve stem was rusted and had seized up preventing us from removing it

So we ended up just lopping it off with a hacksaw after fighting it for forever.

Free of the drainpipe and leaned over to be removed!

Unfortunately, the liner was 36" wide and all the doorways and hallways in the house are 32" wide. We have no idea how the shower was brought into the house, but we do know it was not original equipment. During the deconstruction we found many indicators that the upstairs bathroom was a remodel.

Nope

We ended up having to cut the liner in two, ruining it.

So much for the time spent on careful removal.

We had originally planned on taking out the existing door, frame and all, and moving it to the new location. However when we started taking out the door, we found it was not a pre-hung door like we thought, but rather someone had framed it in with 1x4. No wonder the door had gaps....

And they drove the trim in with stud nails. Matt broke most of the trim trying to get it off.

So looking at our options for our unframed slab door, we decided doing a pocket door would be easier than trying to hand frame a door in and cheaper than buying a pre-hung door since we already had the slab. So more drywall had to come off and Matt got to use his new 23oz framing hammer to annihilate some studs.

Studs removed and the pocket door header in the wrong position..

Pocket door properly installed and working great.

Surprisingly the pocket door installed really easily and Matt had only one minor issue with it. Seems pocket door kits come in various heights, but the only place the height is specified is on a serial number on the kit box. You also need to know what the serial corresponds to. No idea who thought that was a great plan. Luckily our slab was between two sizes. Matt installed the header at the larger height before he realized the kit was for the shorter height. All we had to do was remove a couple nails and put it in at the correct height.

We finally started using our bag dumpster and ended up not having enough room.

After the deconstruction