How to make repairs in a bathroom with your own hands and replace a cast-iron bathtub with an acrylic one

Our reader Alexander from the city of Moscow shared with us the history of his renovation in the bathroom.

My name is Alexander, I live in Moscow, and today I would like to share my experience and tell how I renovated the bathroom, and what difficulties I encountered in the process.

It so happened that this summer I was doing renovations in my bathroom, and it turned out to be quite difficult. Although I have some experience in construction, this is the first time I encountered such types of work as laying tiles or installing a bathroom. I hope that my notes will be interesting and perhaps help those who decide to make repairs on their own.

Why did I do it all myself? It is banal, I wanted to save money and not hire a team of workers. Anyway, such work takes a lot of time, and I could not leave for another apartment at that time. I will also say that here I will not indicate the exact prices and my expenses, since I want to draw your attention to the purely technical side of the issue.

We remove all the old

I did the renovation in a standard nine-story panel building, so one of the problems was the lack of space. This interfered with both work and selection of equipment. The goal was not only to change the tiles on the walls, install a new bathtub and sink, but also connect the washing machine.

Even before the start of the main work, I had to:

1. Remove the old tiles from the walls. Since I didn't have a punch at that time, I had to use a chisel and hammer. There was nothing complicated in the process itself, I managed it in one evening. Very important! You always need to work in a protective mask and goggles, because the dust flies, all this ends up in the eyes, in the nose, etc. Do not neglect safety precautions.

2. Also beat off the tiles from the floor.

3. Shtrob the walls to mask the water pipes later. I again needed a puncher, which this time I borrowed from a friend. We turn on the slotting mode, take a suitable drill (8-12) and work. Then we change the drill to a chisel. We expand the strobe with a chisel.

4. Dismantling the bathroom means that you have nowhere to wash. That is why I decided to start with self-leveling flooring and laying tiles on the floor. I laid tiles only where it could already be done.

We act according to the instructions written on the packaging of building materials. Regarding the choice of tiles, I will say that you need to take not very expensive, but with a high coefficient of strength. Manufacturers usually indicate this data on the boxes.

5. Then you can get rid of the bathroom. I had an old cast-iron bathroom that had to be cut with a grinder and removed piece by piece.

It turned out to be impossible to take it out entirely for two reasons:

1) heavy weight

2) it was built into the bathroom box. We also remove the sink. And now you can lay the rest of the tiles on the floor (where the bathroom used to be).

Work with new materials and equipment

Then I had to shut off the water and deal with communications. As I wrote above, I decided to "hide" the pipes leading to the tap. Naturally, we cut off old pipes with a grinder, then we carry out new ones where we chased; then we connect the water and check the work. If all is well, then we cover the wall with plaster.

Change all other pipes if necessary. The main thing is to find a pipe of the required diameter (you will have to search, since such pipes that are installed in old houses are out of production). I managed to find pipes on the construction market.

Laying tiles on the wall. We prepare the walls: clean, level with putty, grind, prime. We lay the tiles, starting from the upper rows and gradually going down. We do this in order to get an even ceiling line. You can start to mount the tile from the second or third row, but this method is only suitable if the skew of the walls is not very large.

We need to be prepared that the tile can "go" down, so we use a metal profile.

We apply the glue both to the wall and to the tiles (in small sections of several tiles). We use a straight spatula and comb. We press in the tile, fix the gaps with crosses and check with a level how even the tile lies. If necessary, we cut the tiles with a tile cutter; we also use it to cut holes for future fixtures for taps and sinks.

The last thing to do is rub the seams. I used two colors of grout, as I had two colors of tiles.

Acrylic bath installation. The bathroom is hung on a frame that can be purchased. This method did not suit me (again, due to the size of the bathroom). But there is always a way out. So I made a wooden frame myself, and put slabs under the bathroom (to raise it to the height I needed).

Foam the bathroom for strength. Then we cover all this with a plastic screen. We seal the joints with the tiles with a sealant.

Sink installation It is important to keep the sink level. I had to use a wooden spacer to line the sink.

We install the crane. Reapply the joint sealant.

Installing the washing machine

I will not describe this process in detail. I will only say that if you did not have a car before, then you will have to conduct wiring, install an outlet and make insulation. And if you have little space, then the hoses (pipes) of the water supply will need to be cut and fastened slightly to the side.

Final finishing works There are two options:

1) leveling and whitewashing the ceiling

2) suspended ceiling.

We choose the one that is more to our liking.

Then you can hang shelves, drawers, mirrors, rods and cornices.

Hope my experience is helpful to you!

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