WOWOW FaucetsGrout, Mirror, Lighting, Tile, Flooring, Faucet
Once you watch transforming exhibits on TV, you may get the impression that something’s doable. A bathe large enough for a farm animal, a rise in residence worth that’s increased than some lottery payouts, a window-dealing with jacuzzi tub with “Finest Home on the Block” printed on the aspect in diamonds. All of that’s probably achievable—and possibly the explanation you wish to renovate your toilet—however you ought to be conscious {that a} intestine renovation is a giant, ugly job. The lavatory could take up the smallest footprint, however it’s probably the most advanced room in your house, served by vents, water traces, waste traces, and electrical energy traces—most of which can attempt to kill you for those who don’t know what you’re doing. (The vents are most likely secure.)
If you wish to deal with a rest room reno, you’ve received two choices. OK, three, for those who’re knowledgeable plumber, or a house flipper with a tv present: Put a dumpster on the garden and have at it. In any other case, you should buy your new toilet by hiring a contractor. Or, you possibly can dramatically enhance the looks and performance of your toilet by cleansing, repainting, or specializing in key tasks that require solely fundamental plumbing and electrical expertise. Right here’s how.
PICK YOUR PROJECT
1. Regrout and Recaulk
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2. Set up a New Mirror
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3. Exchange Wooden Trim
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4. Chuck the Ugly Lighting
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5. Improve the Faucet
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6. Lay Contemporary Flooring
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1. Regrout and Recaulk
DIFFICULTY: ●○○○○
Instruments and Supplies
Grout noticed
Carbide-tip scoring software
Grout Grout float
Grout and tile sealer
Plastic brush
Sponge
Tub and tile caulk
Caulk gun
Utility knife
If the grout in your toilet is discolored however sound, you don’t want to exchange it. It simply wants an intensive cleansing with a pro-grade tile and grout cleaner, such because the Aqua Combine line by Customized Constructing Merchandise. If it’s actually foul, the nuclear choice could be to wash dingy tile and grout with a white Scotch-Brite pad, and a combination of two merchandise from Customized Constructing Merchandise: Aqua Combine NanoScrub and Aqua Combine Heavy-Responsibility Tile & Grout Cleaner. If this gained’t clear it, nothing will. After cleansing, seal with Aqua Combine Grout Sealer.
(1) If grout is flaking out of the joints, rake them out with a carbide-grit grout noticed or a carbide scraper. For a slim joint, lower than 1/8 inch, you may also use a carbide-tip scoring software, a sort of knife usually used to attain cement board. In both case, sweep mud out of the joints with a clear plastic brush, then wipe the floor with a moist sponge or clear material and let dry. (2) Apply contemporary grout over the entire space, transferring your float over the joints at a 45-degree angle. Wipe off up any extra. (3) When the grout has dried, use a tile sponge and water to wipe any grout haze off the tile. When all is clear and dry, reseal all the floor.
To interchange a caulked joint, use a chlorine bleach-based cleaner to kill mildew, and lower the previous caulk out utilizing a utility knife. Clear the ensuing notch utilizing the identical cleaner. (4) Exchange the caulk with silicone sealant akin to DAP Silicone Max or GE Tub & Tile Silicone Sealant, utilized with a high-quality caulk gun, like a New child 188. The joint ought to now face up to each day use for years.
Combine Good Grout
Solely combine sufficient to do one wall; any extra is liable to dry out. After mixing the dry grout and water, let it sit for 10 to fifteen minutes so the dry elements can dissolve. Combine it once more to evenly distribute the components (water-retention aids and polymers for adhesion and suppleness). If the grout dries out and stiffens earlier than you could have an opportunity to make use of it, don’t add water—that weakens the grout by throwing off its ratio of water to dry elements. Simply combine extra.
Again to Tasks
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2. Set up a New Mirror
DIFFICULTY: ●●○○○
Instrument and Supplies
Skinny pry bar Hammer
Painter’s tape Shims
Mirror adhesive
Caulk gun
Mirror clips
A rest room mirror is surprisingly simple to take away and exchange. First, decide whether or not your mirror is held in place with clips or glue. To take away a mirror held with clips, have a helper maintain the mirror when you undo the highest and aspect clips. Fastidiously tilt the mirror ahead into the helper’s palms and carry it off the underside clips. If the mirror feels prefer it’s nonetheless connected to the wall as you attempt to tip it ahead, it could be sticking to the paint or be fixed with adhesive.
Eradicating an adhesive-fastened mirror is a harder job, requiring security glasses, a long-sleeve shirt, and work gloves. (1) First, completely tape down and throughout the mirror with strips of painter’s masking tape in order that the entire thing doesn’t break. It’s higher to err on the aspect of extra tape than much less. Beginning on the high heart of the mirror, fastidiously pry it away from the wall utilizing a skinny pry bar, then insert a skinny shim of wooden behind the glass. Work to the left or proper sides of the mirror and down, doing the identical. You’ll be prying the hardened adhesive off the floor of the wall, lifting the drywall face with it. If the mirror is connected to plaster, the job can be tougher: Contractors within the plaster days appear to have been actual fiends for adhesive, so a mirror put in again then could be caught fairly tight. The identical process is used, however be ready for the worst. With the mirror eliminated, carry out any drywall restore, making use of drywall compound with a six-inch drywall knife. Sand patched areas easy; prime and paint the wall, together with behind the mirror.
(2) You possibly can glue your new mirror in place, squeezing traces of adhesive (one particularly rated for mirrors) over the again and ensuring to depart two naked inches alongside the perimeter for the adhesive to unfold once you press the mirror in opposition to the wall.
fig. 3 detailGeorge Retsteck
(3) You too can set up it utilizing mirror clips and hollow-wall anchors. Or, for those who suppose you’ll change your thoughts in just a few years, select a framed mirror which you can hold on drywall utilizing hollow-wall anchors and picture-hanging wire.
Again to Tasks
Six Merchandise That Will Save Your Butt in a Lavatory Challenge
Pfister Thurmont 8” Widespread Faucet
$112 // Pfister designed the Thurmont faucet to be handsome and straightforward to put in. Its cartridges are color-coded for the tap’s cold and hot sides. A tool-free becoming connects the cold and hot traces to the spout. As soon as put in, its ceramic-valve cartridges guarantee a really lengthy working life. // Purchase Now
Milwaukee Electrical Sawzall Torch Cardbide Blades
$12 // Not each toilet could be repaired. Some must be changed. This carbide-tip reciprocating noticed blade is 50 occasions as sturdy as a normal steel blade, says Milwaukee, and might convert even metal pipe or cast-iron waste traces to scrap. // Purchase Now
Agency Match Flooring Premium Tiles Assortment
$4 per sq. foot // As heavy-duty a water-proof luxurious vinyl tile as you’re going to search out: about 3/16-inch thick with a 22-millimeter-thick put on layer. And simple to put in: Every plank clicks to its neighbor and is put in above, not fixed to, the floor beneath. // Study Extra
Store-Vac 4 Gallon 5.5 HP Moist/Dry Utility Vacuum 5910400
$100 // Cleansing a rest room job requires a store vacuum. Store-Vac says its new SVX2 motor is extra highly effective and sturdy than its predecessors. Different upgrades to the time-tested machine embrace a extra tip-resistant profile and huge rear wheels that assist it pivot and roll easily. // Purchase Now
Proctor & Gamble Mr. Clear Clear Freak Mist
$26, contains refill // This cleaner’s main ingredient, alcohol ethoxylate, is a surprisingly potent surface-acting cleaner that chews into fats, grease, and cleaning soap scum. It’s low-sudsing, comparatively low-odor, and fewer delicate to water hardness and calcium. And the bottle’s pump design covers extra floor with every move. // Purchase Now
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3. Exchange Dated Wooden Trim
DIFFICULTY: ●●●○○
Instrument and Supplies
Utility knife Chisel putty knife
Fishtail pry bar
Vast, flat knife
Hammer
Miter noticed
Wooden filler
Nail units
Primer
Topcoat
Mixture sq.
Bland, Seventies-era trim actually drags down the look of a room. To interchange it, you’ll want fundamental hand instruments and a miter noticed. You’ll additionally want a spirit of journey.
First, take away the previous trim with out wrecking the whole lot in sight. Sounds simple, however typically it’s not, particularly for those who simply wedge a crowbar in there. Begin by slicing the layer of paint or caulk the place the trim meets the wall. Then pry the trim away with the thinnest pry bar you will discover. I like to start with a hefty putty knife (known as a chisel-type). There’s additionally a bar known as a fishtail-type that’s an especially efficient trim-removal software.
(1) When you get the trim transferring, unfold out the prying load by wedging a large, flat knife between the pry bar and the wall. You might discover that the trim pulls off however the nails keep put. That’s okay. You possibly can pull the nails afterward utilizing a locking plier with a block of wooden as a fulcrum. The exhausting half is chopping your new trim. (2) For doorways and home windows, you possibly can go together with a miter-free stacked design or (3) lower a 45-degree miter (diagonal lower) on the tip of every piece of trim.
