Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge: WEEK FOUR
I literally LOL’d while I sat and read last weeks blog post. Last weeks Lyndsey was super optimistic about week 4. Last weeks Lyndsey thought we would FOR SURE get tile started or even done! Last weeks Lyndsey had absolutely no freaking clue how long getting cement board up on the walls and floors would really take. Last weeks Lyndsey forgot the #1 rule for DIY Reno’s... which is: Renovations never go as planned and they 100% have their own schedules. You are on their time. Not the other way around..
While I thought we would get to tile this week, we didn’t. But we start week 5 with tile! Literally. So tomorrow we put the tile up. I missed tile during week 4 by ONE DAY. I’m only a little salty about that. But whatever.. Moving on.
Week 4 was slow moving but also so productive. I was talking to my mom on Thursday and telling her the updates on the bathroom and what’s to come. She then asked if we needed help and when is the best time to come. This week/weekend was going to be the hardest part/week because we were dealing with drywall and cement boards for the rest of the walls and the flooring, so I told her if she could make it, this weekend we could definitely use the help. Plus I came down sick on Wednesday so I was hardly any help. THE FREAKING AMAZING PERSON SHE IS GRABBED HER HONEY (literally their last name is honey lol) and came to the rescue to help us. That same day. Within a couple hours. Dropped everything to come. I LOVE THEM. They were up here 4 hours later (that’s how far they live from me).
When they got here it was late Thursday, so starting early Friday morning, they came over and me and my step dad got to work while my mom watched my crazy boys all day. We started our day by securing the tub to the studs and making sure it was 100% level. To do that we pre-drilled through the flange (or lip) of the tub into the stud. Then we used a huge drill bit to create an indent in the lip so that the screw we drilled in sat completely flush with the lip of the tub. This ensures that when you go to put cement board over the up, nothing is in the way of getting a perfect flat fit!
In some areas with studs, it wasn’t totally touching the wall so we used wood as space fillers and screwed through them to secure the tub.
After the tub was all secured and in its rightful place, we chose to do the flooring next. We are using cement backer board EVERYWHERE tile will be. Including the flooring. Luckily the length of the backer board (5 feet) is the exact width of my floor! So the flooring was pretty easy. BUT before you put the board down, your flooring has to be 100000% flat. If there is any crack/level change, and you put your tile down, it will eventually crack in those places and pop up and you don’t want that! So take the extra steps to completely level the floor! We even decided to use thin-set under our cement board on the floor so we could make sure it was completely level, and that there were no possible air spaces under. The thin-set acts like cement and when we pressed and screwed it in, it fills in the air gaps and creates the perfect level/secure floor!
After the flooring, we had lunch. Bahahahah.
Anyways. After flooring we moved to the walllsssssss!! So the issue here was the gap behind the tub. We needed the cement board, which is pretty thin, to sit flat over the lip of the tub. So to get that we HAD to drywall everywhere first, and then place the cement board on. Which was so time consuming and took more money and was kinda frustrating. And I think it could have been avoided if we had just used the green board made for showers.... BUUUT we don’t like easy. And we will never really know... until we do another bathroom renovation and try it haha!! I explained the process of the drywall in my last post, but I didn’t explain cement board. It’s pretty mush the same, except you have to use a bit more force, cut a little deeper, and you have to make sure not to break the pieces you plan to use. But again, measure and draw a line where you want to cut. Score the line and go as deep as you can with a utility knife (there is a better suited knife out there, we just don’t own that) And then apply pressure to the scored line and it should break!
After we got the drywall up we put the cement board on the walls. The fun part was cutting all the holes for light fixtures, electrical boxes, and shower/sink piping/fixtures. JK WAS NOT FUN AT ALL. Then other not so fun part was my shelves in my shower.. that took quite a bit of time and was so tedious. Luckily my step dad is amazing at measurements and got that done. To secure the drywall and the cement board we used screws, and sunk them into the wall/floor! And any big gaps in the walls, we mudded.
Now that that is all done (it took our entire weekend) we thought we were ready for tile. Funny how time works though and funny how forgetting an item works.
Instead of thin-set for our walls, we are using an awesome product called Muscle Bound. It’s basically a double-sided extreme sticker, and I’ll get more into next week. But for it to be fully waterproof and used in a shower, you have to use the waterproofing tape. And the only place in Utah that sells it in store was 45 minutes one way from me. So Sunday consisted of me driving there and back, coming home to family that had come over to play games, and not much else. After they left Jordan put the last coat of mud on the walls and joints and we waited for that to dry until the next day.
Monday was very unproductive in the renovation. By the time Jordan got home from work we had plans to meet friends and go to dinner. And that kept us out until 10. Me being the person I am, I hate the night and go to bed early. And by the time we got home and got the kids to bed I was OUT. And my saint of a husband decided to stay up until 1 am working on the bathroom and getting it cleaned so we could start putting the Muscle bound product on our walls. And sanding the mud so I could paint. He’s basically amazing and has totally taken over this renovation because I’ve been sick and so exhausted from the boys.
TUESDAY!! The last day of week 4. We painted the walls, and got all of our Muscle Bound product on our walls. We got SO FREAKING CLOSE to tile. Sooooo close. But we are ready for tomorrow and can’t wait to start tiling! It’s been a long 4 weeks getting to this point and we are both sick of living in a mess/dusted house and bedroom. So grateful that we are done with dust and get to move on to the finishing touches.
Every conversation I have with people/friends about this renovation gets me feeling so incredibly grateful for the opportunity Jeffrey Court is giving us. I mean, tile is expensive and we had been saving for a year already waiting for the right time to be able to re-do our bathroom. We are a single income family. And we budget for everything we do. Because that’s the stage of life we are in! It takes more time, but it’s so worth it. ANYWAYS. Just super grateful for Jeffrey Court and this awesome amazing contest they put on!
PS: Those that have reached out to me about this contest showing support. You don’t even realize what its doing. (literally crying writing this). This honestly hasn’t been easy. I’ve had so much anxiety about the whole process. Because of other people. I know I’m new to this whole thing. I know I’m the least experienced blogger. And I’m pretty sure I have the least amount of followers showing actual support. I’ve felt for the longest time that I follow, and people follow me for the wrong reasons. My followers are filled with people who just want to look. Make sure I’m not succeeding. Or that’s how I feel. I have a ghost following. And have never felt supported by hardly any of them. Which sucks. Because I grew up with so freaking many of them. So taking the time to reach out and express your excitement to watch along really means the world to me and I’m so grateful for you in my life! Reading this. Commenting. It may be a number to some people, but for me it shows your support and I love you for it! THANK YOU TIMES 3000 (;
Week FIVE... here we come. Full swing to get ready for the finish line.
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