Oh we are so happy - the bathroom has been deconstructed and is ready for new construction. Rob Vetter's crew at BDT Construction did a fabulous job and with a last burst of energy yesterday they managed to hack through the last of the 3 inch thick concrete walls and steel lathe that enclosed the walls of the bathroom (aka the "panic room" these days due to it's almost indestructible construction). Here are some photos from the last two weeks of the insane amount of work that went into the gutting (click here for "before pictures").
Massive pile of metal lathe framing that had to be cut and peeled off the walls.
This was discovered under a 3 inch thick layer of concrete that was found under the tile installed in the 1930s...here's a picture of the bathroom midway through the process, with the shower stall getting down.
Rob (standing) and Michael (on the ladder) working in the dark yesterday finishing up the demolition. These guys are AWESOME (and I'm not just saying that because they treated me to several beers at the local bar after they finished up):
And it's finally ready for a new bathroom!
In other great bathroom news, we have received all the parts, fixtures, etc. that we ordered. The toilet, sink, and some plumbing all arrived via UPS from Vintage Tub and Bath (the customer service there is superb, I highly recommend them to anyone considering buying bathroom stuff over the Internet). The victorian exposed thermostatic shower system, with a sliding bar and handshower made by Gnutti Sebastiano that we ordered arrived at the Home Expo this week and I picked it up yesterday. The bathroom finally feels like it is coming together.
The last challenge lies in figuring out how to work with the art deco shower door that we are trying to salvage. We need to have the glass tempered for safety purposes. Assuming that it survives the heating and cooling processes involved in tempering (fingers crossed), the next step is having a custom frame made for it that would then extend into a glass half wall over the other side of the shower area. For now, Jason Tedesco over at J&S Glass and Tile is working on arranging the tempering process and we will go from there (no sense making a custom frame if the whole thing breaks apart at step one!).
Updates to follow as this comes along...
I'm jealous of your shower head...I've always wanted one of those big "rainshower" ones!
It's so hard to imagine how those empty walls and floor will become an actual room, isn't it?
Posted by: Natalie | November 19, 2004 at 10:29 AM
WOW - It's looking great. I love living vicariously through your renovation. I hope to one day be able to redo an old house.
Posted by: Ashley | November 21, 2004 at 06:57 PM