Project Spotlight: Caledon One Week Bathroom Renovation

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Steve and Darlene, who wanted to renovate a bathroom in their Caledon home. Their main issue: there was only one bathroom in their home. They would be without bathroom facilities during renovations.

For many contractors this would be not be an ideal project.  But we were excited. This project would be perfect for us.  We've been working on system where we can renovate or remodel a typical bathroom in one week, and we were looking to test our concept.

It was almost perfect. The existing bathroom had tile on all the walls, therefore additional demolition and drywall work. And the homeowner wanted to tile all the walls half way up. So additional work our plan didn't account for. But we told the homeowners we would get the project done in a week.

Here's how it worked out:

Monday

7:45am.  Rick, our lead carpenter arrives. Rob, our other lead carpenter arrives shortly after. Demolition starts.

8:05am - Our disposal bin supplier, delivers the disposal bin. They're  located in Toronto so this is a bit out of their way, and we are impressed with the timely delivery and their willingness to accommodate us.  The driver remembers Rick from the '80s when Rick was a commercial construction project manager. Small world.

11am - Demolition is almost complete. Plumbing fixtures and tile arrive.

11:30am - Our plumber, John Cigan, arrives half an hour early.  John has been doing our plumbing for the past 8 years. Besides being an excellent plumber, he's also a professional Elvis impersonator. We'll talk about that another day.

1pm -  More materials arrive, this time from Rona. Just in time too.

5pm - New plumbing has been roughed in, drywall installed, and the floor has been prepped for tile. Time to go home.

Tuesday

Drywall is taped using a quick drying mud, and a second coat of mud is on before noon. We start tiling the tub walls, and then finish the day by laying the floor tile.

Wednesday

The new drywall is sanded and skimmed.  Walls are tiled.  And the toilet installed. The homeowner won't have to go to the neighbour's to take care of business.

Thursday

Tile is grouted, vanity cabinet installed, and all the plumbing fixtures connected.

Friday

We notice toothbrushes and toothpaste are in the vanity cabinet. And we're told the homeowner used the bathtub last night. Great news.

The homeowner has asked us to look at the bathroom fan. At 110CFM, it should be adequate for this bathroom, but it doesn't seem to be working well. Rick goes in the attic and finds there is no exhaust duct for the fan, and the insulation is pushed up against the hole where the air comes out of the fan. We install an insulated duct and vent it out a roof vent.  The fan works much better now.

We install two wall hung cabinets, paint the walls and ceiling with two coats of paint, install bathroom accessories, and caulk where required.

6pm - The bathroom renovation is complete.  Great work by Rob, Rick and the rest of the team.  The homeowners love their new bathroom.