D.I.Y. Home Improvement 101

To preface, I would like to say that Craig offers to help when I am playing handyman around the house even at the risk of my wrath. We both know that the fastest way to a fight is to try to work together on one of my projects. (I've been told that I can be "abrasive" in these situations). This in no way reflects his ability or desire to do any of the improvements.

This weekend I decided to tackle the deteriorating state of our bathroom. The only "before" picture I have (below) doesn't show the worst of it - mostly because for almost 2 years we've had shower curtains on 3 of 4 sides. The walls had cracked grout that leaked shower water into the basement. The previous owners hadcaulked over the grout with clear caulk, but somehow all that did was seal in moisture and create strips of mold you couldn't scrub off. Needless to say, we haven't had several thousand dollars handy to have it professionally repaired so we went with the shower curtain option.




THEN, about 8 months ago, the faucet started dripping. Then leaking. And seeping through the tiles into the drywall behind the fixtures. The hot stem was essentially rusted away and the faucet handle broke off. We are now using a pliers to turn the water on and off (and still leaking).

I bought a repair kit of some kind to replace the faucet parts. Not as easy as it would seem. I made several attempts (which included ripping a hole in the hall closet to be able to access the fixtures from behind) and only succeeded in creating a 3x3 tile-wide gap around the fixtures. NOW we had a gaping hole to the basement. I did the only obvious thing to do and duct taped a garbage bag over the hole and the faucet handles.

We removed the "stem" (as I now know it is called) and headed to Home Depot. After spending probably 30-45 minutes bickering about which part we might need we (Craig) asked an employee. He looked it up and ordered the part. A week later we had the part, new knobs, no drips, and still a hole in the wall. That was several (probably 6) months ago.

A few months ago I bought some tile-like board stuff (It is MDF with tile pattern on one side) to put up on the wall to repair the hole. Now is the first time I have had a chance (and the energy) to do anything about it.

I cut, I measured, I drilled, I glued. The hole is covered. I then decided that the off-white (I think it wasn't to start with) tiles needed something. I decided to first paint over them with an oil based primer/sealer to fill the grout issues. That was left to dry on Saturday night. Then I painted over those with an oil based paint. That was left to dry during today. Then I applied the caulk strips and filled in any spots that looked like it needed extra water proofing.

It is by no means a professional job. Probably not even a mediocre job. BUT, the hole is gone, the grout isn't leaking and the garbage bag and extra 2 shower curtains are retired. Plus it looks nice from afar. Bravo to me.