Unexpected bathroom renovation after water damage

Oh friends, I did not expect to be writing this blog post today. I had my blog week planned out as well as my first week of summer break planned with my kids. It all involved loving moments with my kids, outdoor fun, sun, relaxing outside, gardening, and summer perfection. Then everything went crazy with an unexpected bathroom renovation after water damage!

Yep, you read that right! Over the weekend we discovered a leak under our toilet (gross) that was making the vinyl flooring be wet at all times with a mixture of water and pee. Because I have two sons I first assumed the collection of moisture under the toilet this was just an issue on aim and teaching them to be better at peeing. Anyone that has ever raised a boy will understand my assumption. Once we pulled up the toilet though we realized it was a bigger problem, a busted toilet and water damaged plywood sub floor.

Yes, this is the bathroom that I JUST shared the mini-makeover on. I only showed it off a few weeks ago. I did explain that this was not the end all for this bathroom, I did have bigger plans for it….. eventually. Not this weekend. This bathroom is the main bathroom in our house, the guest bathroom and kids bathroom all rolled into one.

Just to be clear this above picture is what my bathroom has looked like for years, yellow walls and all. The fresh and new refresh with turquoise walls lasted only a few months. I love improving my house, DIY is my thing, but this is a little bit much for my preferred timeline.

All thanks to this dang part to the toilet. This my friends is a toilet flange…. well what is left of it. This is not even close to how it should look under the toilet. Once we lifted up the toilet this was just crumbling into nothing. Because of how this was we had water, and pee (ew!) just pooling under the toilet.

So we had to pull up the plywood sub floor to make sure there was not major water damage. There was a small amount of water damage only with the plywood sub floor, nothing had gotten to the support floor or joists yet. Also, no mold! Which we were very happy and relieved to find. This did commit us to new flooring, but we can handle this.

The sub floor was musty and moist, but none of the water damage had spread further. So with a few new pieces of cement boards, tile, grout and new toilet flange we will be in and out with not much damage done to our bathroom, budget or time.

I found a ceramic tile that was love at first sight! It was only 84 cents a tile and the square footage of the bathroom is only 40, so this was a quick, simple and low cost tile job and toilet repair. But wait, there is more. Since we removed the plywood flooring we had to move the vanity in here to remove the remaining flooring, in doing so we damaged our laminate counter top. So this was what our bathroom looked like on Saturday night, bare bones.

This unexpected renovation and water damage has meant we have been down to one bathroom for 5 people, which is tough to handle when we are not used to it. Dale and I spent all day Saturday wrapping our head around the problems, coming up with solutions and getting the supplies needed. Demoing everything that had water damage and adjusting our budget to accommodate these needed repairs. Summer vacation just got a little smaller.

Sunday and Monday were spent trying to put it all back together. It has been three days of craziness with three frustrated kids that were ready for summer break fun, not in our own version of an HGTV show about bathroom renovations on a unrealistic timeline. But, can we please pause for the lovely tile I found?!!! I shared some of this happening on the blogs Facebook page and someone mentioned I needed to make some lemonade out of the lemons that life gave me. These ceramic tiles are for sure the lemonade to this problem for sure!

Since the counter top was damaged that needed to be replaced, and because I have problems I also decided to repaint the vanity and the wall color. I was worried about the busyness of the new tile flooring and the bright blue walls. So I did a little painting, you know… in my free time this weekend. In between sub floor repairs and tiling. As anyone in their right mind would of course. No, I am just crazy and Dale is along for this ride; legally. 🙂

So to summarize, we had a leaky toilet, broken flange, water damaged sub floor, new tile needed, and then a broken counter top to replace.

Also two dogs and three kids that are ready for this whirlwind to be over with. I have no reveal to this unexpected bathroom renovation after water damage because as of now the tile is laid but there is no grout yet. Dale and I literally set the last tile in place late Monday night. The vanity is painted, walls are painted, the new counter top and faucet are in as well. Still no toilet but the flange has been fixed! Anyone else feel like that is a made up name? Like an excuse to get out of plans “Oh, we cannot make it to your party; our toilet flange is broken.” I mean, really? All of this because of a tiny part of the toilet. So hopefully I will have this all revealed, shiny, new and pee puddle free next week to share with you lovelies! I will also have a ton of DIY tutorials to share, because when life gives you lemons…. you make lemonade, get pretty tile and DIY blog about it.

          

Take a look at our master bathroom redo

Our first DIY tile work in the laundry room