# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Finally - My 1 year+ Ensuite Reno is Finished

## Gooner

:Clap2: Finally  :Clap2:  
I started my ensuite reno over 1 year ago. Near the beggining we had our first born and he's been a handful since. Slowed progress dramatically. 
I recently finished. Only thing missing is the bi-fold door that will take a little while to find one we want. Can do without for now. 
We bought our house about 18 months ago. The decision was made very early that the ensuite had to go, as it was the ugliest room in the house by far. It is a small ensuite, about 2.2 x 1.6 meters, so it was hard to take good photos.  
I had no idea a bathroom reno was such fiddly hard work. It was a total strip and start again job. 
First lot of photos are the before ones. Ugly 30 year old ensuite. Vanity (relatively new) was very badly installed and stained. Vanity was located under window, which sucked considering that placement made it hard to have a mirror directly above it. 
Also, it had no toilet. We really wanted one in the new ensuite, so had many tricky decisions regarding placement considering it is such a small ensuite. 
Can't see in the photos, but the ceiling had years of repainting over a badly chipped surface. Quite the eye-sore. (More on that later). Floor tiles coming off, as well as shower tiles.

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## Gooner

Demolision begins. This was meant to be the "fun part". Unfortunately I found out the tile underlay as well as the sheeting behind the shower wall tiles was all asbestos. This meant a very prolonged and fiddly removal process. I.e. seal everyhting off, get all the gear, trying to break up the asbestos into manageable size for disposal. Wrapping of the sheets. Etc. 
Around shower base showed signs of leakage. No major damage. Floorboards slightly damp and small amount of rot.  
I scrapped all the paint off the ceiling that had not properly adhered. It looks like whoever painted our ceilings had not primed the boards as this is a problem in several rooms.  
The new shower I had planned for was larger than the old 720x720 shower, so I had to shorted the cupboard next to the window. (You can see the asbestos wall sheet in the photo of the mirror. This was before I realized it was asbestos).

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## Gooner

After ripping off the walls, I had a few head scratching worried moments about several noggins and a few sections of studs that had disintegrated to dust. I personally had never seen this before. Turns out it's Powder Post beatles. (Borers). Frame is hard wood and they say these things shouldn't cause structural damage. But some noggins I could virtually totally crumble into dust. They had to be replaced. I am hoping this is all old damage as there doesn't seem to be evidence of recent activity. 
In the last photo I was planning out the shower size, trying different options with tape and string to see how the new toilet and vanity would fit in. I also sanded down the floorboards and put a few coats of 7008 finish on it for a little extra waterproof protection. Total overkill, (read later on how many "layers" of waterproofing is over the floor) but did it anyway.

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## Gooner

Next was the ceiling. This was a drama. Over 1 week I tried to put a skim coat of top coat over the cracked peeling paint sections. In the end, I decided this was too hard. Also, after ripping off the cornices, part of the ceiling was damaged anyway. So I decided it would be much easier to simply rip it all off and start again. Wish I had decided to do this from the beggining. Would have saved alot of time and frustration. 
Funny thing was that I was "carefully" removing the ceiling, and then all of a sudden the whole thing came down on my head and split in two. You can see the step ladder that I was standing on at the time in the second photo. 
Next was time for the tile underlay. With provisions for the shower base of course. (Later noticed the crack in the corner of the base, and had to have it replaced. Doh).

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## Gooner

I've missed a few steps here (like the plumbing, etc, that took much time), but the next stage was the part I wasted the most amount of time on. 
The previous ensuite was only tiled in the shower. I was planning on tiling the entire room with large format 60x30cm tiles. The walls were very much out of level (15mm in the worst areas) so I had to level them well. 
I spent about 2 weeks packing the walls using masonite strips and a 120cm spirit level. I would measure, plane the strips, nailikng them on the studs, chisel them down, remeasure, etc. 
It was futile. This is a bad way to go. I ended up ripping it all off. Perhaps some people have the knack for this, but it is way too hard. In the end I bought a bunch of hardwood, cut them into various sizes and screwed them into the existing studs getting them straight by using a 2.4 meter STRAIGHT piece of timber with a string hangind off the top by a screw and a plumb on the bottom. I would hold the straight piece of timber against the wall and measure the distance between the string and the timber. When it was the same all the way down, it is straight. Then I screwed the hardwood pieces into the studs. Still took time, but walls ended up dead straight.  
Put up other supporting pieces here and there for good measure. 
I built several niches into the walls. It is a small ensuite so I wanted a niched in the shower wall for shampoo bottles, etc. I walso wanted a medicine cabinet built into the wall, a little nich next to the toilet to put in extra toilet rolls, and one next to the vanity to store toothbrushes, etc. Glad I did this. Very good way to make the most of a small ensuite. The niches were built as a timber frame with lots of flashing and sealant and PVC and galvonished flashing in the joins.  
Oh.. and before anyone comments, the electrical wire hanging from the wall are not live. These were provision I made for mirror demister, heated towel rail, and lights next to the vsanity mirror. 
Cornices also went up. This was another tricky little job. Never done it before. Not rocket science though. Came out good.

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## Gooner

Wohoo... Waterproofing time. One of the easier jobs. Used the Dunlop Waterproofing, which is the same as the Ardex WPM001. Not sure why people say that a professional should do this. Definitely not rocket science if you follow the proper way of doing it.  
Next the tiling began. Thought I'd knock it all off within a weekend, maybe two. Took me more like 6 weekend. So many damn tiles to cut. The wall tiles were 12mm thick and a bugger to cut. Bought a wet saw in the end. Also, the 4 niches in the wall were a pain in the butt. I didn't want to use tile trim, so I bevelled all the inner edges to 45 degree angles to leave gaps for grout. Measuring, grinding, etc took alot of time and resulted in a few scrap tiles.  
Tiling process was the walls first, leaving the last row of wall tiles. Then floor tiles, then last row of wall tiles.

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## Gooner

Ok.. getting there. 
Next step was a little silly, caused by an oversight on my behalf. I noticed the floor was not exactly even. There was a 6-7mm drop over 2 meters. Seeing as I was going to use 45x45cm polished porcelain tiles on the floor, I wanted to make sure the floor was flat. Therefore I decided to level the floor using a self-leveling compound. 
I used Ardex Arditex NA levelling compound, as Ardex tech support told me it can go over existing waterproofed floor. So I applied the self-levelling compound and then waterproofed it yet again.  
Therefore, in the end, the floor consists of 19mm tassie oak floorboards, sanded and finshed with two coats of Wattyl 7008 finish. 6mm tile underlay with plastic waterproofing under the joins and PVC flashing around the wall. 2 coats of board primer, 3 coats of waterproofing, 2-7mm of self levelling compound, another 3 coats of waterproof, Ardex 77 tile adhesive and finally, 10mm thick polished porcelain tiles. Nothing is getting through.

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## Gooner

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present the finished result... 
After tiling, installing all the ammendities such as heated towel rail, shower, toilet, vanity, mirrors, etc, etc, was relatively quick work.  
I'm quite happy with the result. Can't really flaw it, if I do say so myself. Vast improvement over the last ensuite. 
Don't ask me how much it cost. I stopped counting half-way through. Let's just say it was significantly more than I originally budgeted. All the little sundry type of items was the big thing I very much over estimated. Sure I spent a small fortune on tools, but at least I get to keep these. The big unaccounted for X factor was the screws, nails, adhesives, timber, hinges, paint, and hundreds of little bits and pieces I had to buy along the way to get the job done. 
I would say that if you are planning on doing this type of reno yourself purely to save money, then rethink it. It's ALOT of work and in the end a proper job needs you to buy hundreds of items that your tradie will get much cheaper in bulk. Again, don't underestimate the amount of work involved.

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## Gooner

Final note... thanks to the many people on this site that helped me through this renovation. I obtained most of my advice through this forum and it would have been much harder for me if this forum did not exist. 
Special thanks to all the tradies on this site that come in and give good professional advice on how to do things properly and give good tips on how they go about doing certain jobs themselves. This forum really is an invaluable resource. 
Thanks again.

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## namtrak

Looks great - whats next?

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## Vernonv

Very nice Gooner.  :2thumbsup:  
Like the large format tile.  :Wink 1:

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## ricstew

Well done! A truely proffessional job that you should be totally proud of!
cheers
Jan

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## Bullfright

That is really something.  Well done Gooner!

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## Mello

What was wrong with the old one? :Biggrin:  
Looks great. :2thumbsup:

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## Animalector

hey well done..  it's great to see the finished result.  I am sure you are very proud of it. 
Andy

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## ChunkyCharcoal

Great job! I would like to say thank you to you for taking the time to create this thread.  
Great work. 
Excellent use of the space you had too. Well done all round. :2thumbsup:

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## Gooner

Thanks for the comments guys. 
So far my major jobs around the house have been to polish all the floorboards and renovate the ensuite. I think my next job will be to build a covered deck at the front of the house. Then the laundry reno....then a kitchen... *sigh* So much work. So little time.

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## ChunkyCharcoal

> Thanks for the comments guys. 
> So far my major jobs around the house have been to polish all the floorboards and renovate the ensuite. I think my next job will be to build a covered deck at the front of the house. Then the laundry reno....then a kitchen... *sigh* So much work. So little time.

  Sounds like you are taking on much the same as me... It gets a bit on top of you at times doesn't it :Cry:

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