The Bathroom Saga

Last October, our toilet tank exploded, flooding the bathroom and causing mayhem. We sopped up all the water and thought that was the end of it. Two months ago, we started noticing our tiles were lifting up and cracking over by the toilet and shower. After a few weeks, Shonee decided to do a little exploratory surgery on the floor:

It wasn't pretty. We had old vinyl under the tiles, instead of backer board. The particle board the vinyl was on had swollen and that was cracking the tiles. We made a claim for homeowners insurance and they came out and tore up the whole bathroom floor to dry out the still wet subfloor. They also cut out a chunk of drywall, to check for leaks behind the shower and make sure all the damp drywall was removed. We got to live in a hotel for three days while the fans and dehumdifiers did their thing.

We got a settlement check from Farmers, and had an estimate written from Service Master. They did a great job on the subfloor replacement (just a few boards that were rotted). They put down a new plywood underlayment and replaced the missing drywall. That's where the good work ended. They did a slap-dash job on the drywall seam and texture. We decided not to have them do any more of the work. Instead, we did it ourselves. I laid cement backerboard.

Shonee cut and mortared the tile.

I grouted it all. It took us almost a month! Today we get our toilet reinstalled. Woohoo! I love the look of the new tile, it was more expensive, but it's very nice. We also went ahead and installed tile base, instead of wood. It made it a lot more challenging to grout, but I think it looks fantastic! We're just excited to get back to normal functioning life after this unexpected detour.

By doing most of the work ourselves, we saved enough to cover the subfloor work (which was not part of the claim), and the materials for the rest of it, using the money we got from Farmers.