As our demo phase made painfully clear, rebuilding an old bathroom is a huge project and full of unexpected surprises. It was challenging and time-consuming, but nothing we couldn’t handle. It certainly kept us on our toes the whole time.
As I mentioned in an earlier update, my dad had just finished two DIY bathroom remodels in his own house and generously offered his time, tools and know-how to help with ours. I took two days off work so the three of us could tackle the room over a four-day weekend. We hoped to make big progress, and while the bathroom fought back with its share of curveballs, we did accomplish a lot.
You might remember how torn-apart the room looked after my weekend of demolition. The plan for the long weekend was straightforward: install new drywall on the walls, put cement backerboard where tile would go, repair the rot in the floor, and tile the shower surround and the floor. My dad has a talent for moving fast—he hung drywall in his own bathrooms in a few hours and tiled quickly—so optimism was high. My main hope was to survive the effort without completely collapsing. In the end we hit one of those two goals.
So here’s how the work unfolded.
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Day Zero / Shopping Day (Thursday night): My dad arrived shortly after work and we headed out to buy materials armed with room measurements and a list. We needed hardibacker (cement board) for the shower surround and floor, greenboard (moisture-resistant drywall) for the remaining walls, 3/4″ plywood for a sturdy subfloor, and new 2x4s to repair damaged joists. We also picked up cedar shims, boxes of drywall screws and a masonry blade for the circular saw to cut plywood and cement board.
Hitch #1 appeared when the greenboard and plywood wouldn’t fit in my dad’s large minivan. We weren’t expecting that. Fortunately the store rents a truck, but it was nearly closing time and we couldn’t keep it overnight, so the oversize sheets spent the night at the store while the rest of the supplies came home with us.
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Day One (Friday): Friday morning we rented the truck, retrieved the remaining materials and returned with a carload of supplies and breakfast. We also bought a stack of furring strips to bring the new backerboard flush with the old thick walls and tub edge.
The existing walls were built up with inches of mortar, plaster and metal lath, so we couldn’t simply mount the 1/2″ backerboard directly to the studs without ending up recessed from the tub edge. To match the plane of the existing walls we nailed two layers of furring strips to each stud and used long corrosion-resistant screws so the stack was fastened through the furring into the stud for a solid, sandwich-like connection. This added strength and ensured the backerboard landed flush with surrounding surfaces.
All that furring work wasn’t difficult, but it was slow. Early afternoon brought our first installed board and, with it, a realization: we had left the top two feet of plaster and mortar intact above the shower. We had planned to tile all the way up to the ceiling and assumed the backerboard could line up without additional demo. After consulting several experts, we learned tiling over painted plaster and mortar is a bad idea unless you take special, risky steps. That became hitch #3.
So we removed the first backerboard sheet and spent several hours demolishing the remaining top layers of plaster and metal lath around the shower, then cleaned up the mess. By late afternoon we had most of the backerboard around the shower installed, and we felt reassured we hadn’t taken any shortcuts that would compromise longevity.
We wrapped up the day with Chinese food and a fortune cookie—nice way to end a busy first day.
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Day Two (Saturday): Saturday started early with more trips for supplies—this project quickly accumulates small needs. We finished the backerboard in the shower, then turned to hanging greenboard on the remaining walls under the window and behind the toilet and sink where there would be no tile. Greenboard was easier to score and snap than cement board, but required careful measuring to cut around windows, vents and fixtures. All the furring work still had to be done to keep surfaces flush.
While the walls were mostly single-person tasks, my dad tackled a rotten spot in the floor. The rot affected only two planks and the top of two joists, so we removed the bad planks, sistered new 2x4s to the damaged joist tops with construction adhesive and screws, and installed new subfloor planks. Once the new joists and planking were secured, the previously uneven diagonal subfloor became solid and true.
By evening we taped and mudded the shower surround so it would dry in time for tiling, although one long wall still needed greenboard and one plywood patch remained to bring the floor up to height. Tiling the next day was optimistic, but we were moving forward.
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Day Three (Sunday): Day three began with yet another supply run for miscellaneous items, and with rain complicating transport we used drop cloths to keep materials dry. Tasks that day ranged from fastening a metal corner bead to installing a large 8×4′ greenboard panel with several precisely placed cutouts. The math paid off—though then hitch #4 arrived in the form of a small leak detected behind the wall.
We initially feared we had damaged a pipe during demolition, but a closer look showed water creeping down the exterior of a pipe all the way from the roof. The heavy rain that day actually helped reveal the problem before we sealed everything up. I made a temporary fix from inside with silicone caulk and planned a follow-up trip onto the roof later for a permanent repair.
Before installing the final greenboard behind the sink, Sherry left a small time capsule note on a board: “John & Sherry (& Baby P) were here on Dec 13th, 2009. The question is: who will find this note? Someone else? Or us in 50 years when we’re renovating again?” It felt good to tuck that message into the wall.
We also laid the new 3/4″ plywood subfloor, cutting the piece to match the tub’s curve after a few tries. Choosing 3/4″ plywood over thinner material made the floor rock-solid, minimized flex and will help prevent future tile cracking. By the end of the day our trip count to the store had climbed—several quick runs are par for the course on a project like this.
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Day Four (Monday): By day four we were exhausted but determined to finally work with tile. The last barrier was cutting the cement board for the floor. We traced the plywood shape onto the backerboard and cut it, but decided not to install it immediately to avoid walking over it and causing dust, dings or thinset contamination before tiling.
With the backerboard cut and stowed, it was finally time to touch tile. We fired up the wet saw and mixed thinset, and began setting subway tile on the walls. That work deserves its own detailed account, but the important takeaway is that we started tiling and made real, visible progress.
Despite long hours, setbacks and a surprising number of extra supply runs, we finished the four-day sprint proud of how much we accomplished. Dirt under the fingernails and aching muscles aside, we were grateful for my dad’s expertise and steady patience. Each hitch along the way made us more confident in the repairs and choices we made, and we know that those careful decisions will pay off with a bathroom that lasts.
Psst — If you want to read about the earlier stages of this renovation, check the previous Chapter One and Chapter Two posts for the full demolition and planning backstory.