New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

For making food and making...
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

This before pic nicely illustrates how badly this bathroom needs updating. This is original 1975 stuff here, and not even the best of what 1975 had to offer. But it did last 40 years.
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I have since removed the mini-blinds, put up some generic PVC shutters, replaced the toilet, and ripped out the medicine cabinet and light.
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This is the new medicine cabinet:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_103854-58284-55 ... 10287&pl=1

Marked out on the wall where I think it will go (it is a surface mount, way too much work to cut/frame out a new opening for recessed). I also had to move the wires for the light up the wall.
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I will mount it so it is just on the edge of the tiles where the old recess was. I also centered it for a 37" vanity counter top (assuming a centered sink).

Since it is surface mount, I will have to actually frame within this recess so I can cover it up with drywall, which I have also purchased.

I'll update this thread when I next work on it.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Update from mid-Sept that I forgot to post.

Because of the height of the new medicine cabinet, I had to move the light wiring up. The old wiring was just sticking through the drywall, but this time I would do a junction box. The upper hole is basically just because I had to find where the wiring went and determine how much slack I had.

Beginning to frame inside the lower hole, to give the drywall something to screw into. Notice the bottom layer. That's due to where I would need something for the lower mounting screws of the medicine cabinet (plan ahead).
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Have a complete box framed, including a center piece since it was more than 16" between. Also really handy to have a reference in case I forget where the framing is.
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I bought standard green board stuff which is rated for bathroom-type locations. It is all screwed in (probably overkill).
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The upper area really required a little creativity and hacking together to make it flush for a 1/2" piece of drywall. You can also see the box I added which will be where the new light fixture will mount (the old one was part of the recessed medicine cabinet). Again, handy to remember where I put wood for a mounting surface (mainly for the upper medicine cabinet mounting). You can see that I had just enough wire to make it work.
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That junction box also required some creativity to make sure I had a surface to actually screw it to, and also that it would end up flush. There is a piece of drywall back there that I used to get everything flush.
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Upper piece cut and screwed in.
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First attempt (of many - still working on it) of drywall putty. This part sucks.
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And here is what it looks like today, after many layers, re-doing the tape, making a groove where it cracks and refilling. Hopefully I can actually sand this and not need too much more work (but it will need some).
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Picked up the new vanity today from Builder's Surplus in West Warwick. This was around $225, which I think is pretty reasonable. 36x21, two drawers. Even came with nickel door pulls, which is what we would have bought anyway. Saves another $20 or so.
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And the vanity top, which was delivered from Riverhead Building Supply last week. I forget the exact price, but I think a little under $250. Came with the sink, attached, holes drilled for the faucet and a backsplash. It is granite, in 37x22. I think this is also very reasonable.
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Adam
Posts: 2240
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by Adam »

Oh no! The green sink is being replaced!
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Got around to painting. Took long enough. Came out nice. I did have to buy a new roller for the second coat but that was well worth it. I struggled with a very low pile roller and had to press extremely hard to get an even coat. With the new roller, it went on so smooth and nice.

Basic technique:
- I use the small Wagner Smart Roller (maybe 3") to edge around door and window trim, along the tiles and along the ceiling.
- Get out the 9" roller and go to town. I decided not to use my big Wagner Smart Roller because cleanup is tedious and moving the large handle around in the narrow bathroom would just slow me down.
- Do all fine edge work that the 3" roller missed with a 1 inch, good quality brush. I just do it by hand, no painters tape needed. It's actually easier, and comes out better, though you need a steady hand (and some music, to avoid insanity).
- 2 coats. I use Clark & Kensington from Ace.
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Next I turned my attention to lighting.

Picked out this fixture from Lowes. 3 bulb, with one pointing up to give some diffuse light. This was around $80. It recommends 60W but I used 40W (LED equivalent) and it seems sufficient.

It revealed some of the drywall putty imperfections but most of it will be covered by the medicine cabinet.
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Nice. It was quite the circus juggling the light while attaching the wire nuts but I got it done.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Medicine cabinet next. Despite the pictures I took of the studs/framing behind the drywall patch, I had some issues finding a stud on the upper right mount. I used my standard 2-1/2" torx drive exterior screws (without washers). The instructions said use 3" with washers...ok so not quite but I don't think it's going anywhere.
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Looks nice. I did make a planning error. The lights are flush with the wall. The medicine cabinet is so close to the lights that it kind of casts a bit of a shadow on the sink. It's not bad though. I may just live with it. Obviously there is way more light in this part of the bathroom than before.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

And then things got serious.

Decided to demo the old vanity with my dad. It was definitely built in place, as you will soon see.
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Removed the door. And sink. Pretty easy. To remove the door, (just kidding).

To remove the sink, I shut off the water which went fine. Commonly the hot side won't shut off and will cause all manor of fun. Then remove the hot and cold lines. Mine were 5/8" and came off willingly. Then disconnect the compression nut on the drain. The sink had no obvious means of attachment to the counter aside from caulk so I just took a strong putty knife and went at it. Came up after like 4 seconds of prying.
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Apparently I have no more pictures of the actual vanity demo. But I just took it apart basically by prying. What we found was that the vanity was built right on the subfloor. The tile, however, was laid on top of a good 1 to 1-1/8" thick layer of poured concrete. See next post.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

I had a jolt of enthusiasm and decided to try ripping up some of the old floor tile. I used the same putty knife that I used to get the sink up. Probably 30% of it came up just by scraping along the floor. It was that easy. It looked like they set the tile into the concrete while it was wet. Never seen that before.

Some parts were a little better stuck and the technique started with hammering on the putty knife. But I began chipping tile and not really getting anywhere. So I took my mini-sledge and carefully whacked the tile in an area. This worked wonders and it didn't seem to do anything to the concrete as it is quite thick. It is cracked in multiple places but I don't think I added any. I got the rest up like this.
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Even did the entire closet floor which was ridiculously easy.
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I did everything but the corner where the toilet is. I will have to pull the toilet and finish the job, but probably when I am ready to lay tile.
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Here's the spot where the vanity was. It is covered with tile waste in this shot.
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Temporary rugs, to enable using the bathroom which used to have no mirror or light, but now has a mirror and light but no sink or floor.
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Now you can see the floor since I cleaned up. As I said the concrete is quite thick. I will have to bring up the level since I want to tile under the entire floor and put the vanity on top. To do that I will probably lay plywood down of some thickness, and on top of that put 1/2" cement board.
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If you don't look down, the bathroom looks finished...actually the window needs toppers and a shade but close enough. And we may not keep the 70s green tile though I will find every reason to make peace with it after I get the new floor down.
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: New medicine cabinet for downstairs bath

Post by kevm14 »

Speaking of the floor, I need to level it. There is at least one obvious low spot that you could see. Maybe I can find a smaller bag of this stuff:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Henry-555-Le ... /100549588

I also need to see if I can get more of the paper mesh off of the floor.

Next steps are something like:
- Raise old vanity depression to the height of the surrounding cement board.
- Do tile research to see what material and pattern we want. Purchase tile.
- Choose grout (color, sand) and purchase.
- Buy misc tools
- Buy leveling stuff.
- Use straight edge to find low spots in floor and level it. At this point I would remove the toilet and remaining tile to level there, too.
- Dry fit/cut new tile
- Mortar w/ trowel or whatever that thing with the square notches is called
- Lay tile at some spacing
- Some time later I can grout.

Along the way I also noticed some loose wall tiles where I was prying at the old vanity top. I will either need to shove some adhesive behind and regrout or actually remove the ~4 offenders and reinstall them properly (boo).
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