Kids Bathroom Renovation - Before and Demo

I mentioned January is our home improvement month. This year's big project is renovating the kids bathroom upstairs. This project was pushed off last year in favor of fast tracking the kitchen. We couldn't wait any longer as the functionality of the bathroom was disintegrating quickly. 

The primary issue with this home is not a problem with the house itself but rather the local water. We have extremely hard water that is full of minerals that overtime corrode the pipes. It happened in our primary bathroom and our powder room and our kitchen sink. After 20+ years the faucets have all needed to be replaced. When we moved into the house in 2020, the kids bathroom was fine. Nothing special. No real issues. 

We decorated it but otherwise didn't touch it with any improvements aside from replacing the medicine cabinet and adding towel bars.

Over the years we've lived here, everything slowly started to die in that bathroom.

When Dan and I were redoing our main bathroom, we used to kids shower. After we moved back into our bathroom we rarely ever turned the shower head on since the kids were still taking baths. As a result, the shower head pipes corroded shut. Literally will not turn on. To fix it we'd need to replace the pipes inside the shower/tub and to do that would make more economic sense when we planned to replace the tub. So we just never used the shower in there again.

Then, over Christmas, while we were in Kansas, Mandy called and said one of the sinks in the kid's bathroom was leaking inside the vanity. The pipe was corroded and needed to be replaced. So that sink was out. 

And the toilet. Well, that thing was always a use at your own risk. It had a crack in it and you had to flush it "just so" in order to keep it from constantly running.

In the meantime, the kids were using our bathroom. That's fine. There's plenty of room, but by the new year, it was clear that we couldn't stall on the bathroom anymore, it felt like a disaster waiting to happen. 

This is our first truly gut renovation project (all other projects were more like half renovation upgrades). Even our primary bathroom wasn't a full gut. Let me tell you, demo is a mega mess we do not enjoy.

There must have been multiple leaks in here over the years with the previous owners as the sub-floor was rotted under the toilet and tub. There was inactive mold (dried out) and it was clear we made the right choice by scrapping it all the way down. 

They also cut a hole in our kitchen ceiling to make sure whatever leak had been there was fully fixed. We didn't expect that.

There have been several set backs. The ceiling for one, and then the weather delaying work for close to a week. And then the dishwasher disconnected and dumped water under the kitchen sink. So that got tacked onto the work. And well, it is at these moments during home improvement projects that really wear you down. I truly don't understand how the DIY-ers do it. None of us enjoy living in a construction zone. But, we know the end result will be worth it.

The construction crew has been working every single day this week and I'm crossing my fingers they finish by Friday.