Ken Fitzgerald
11-15-2009, 12:14 AM
Last spring when our youngest son and spouse visited us I was embarrassed by the condition of the main floor bathroom. The finish on the all oak counter top had worn so bad that water had gotten to the wood and caused cracks and even mildew was growing in some of the cracks. I was terribly embarrassed.
We didn't want to do anything major as the LOML loves the cabinets that are in there. So, we went to HD and got an estimate for an installed solid surface counter top. $1,000. I about choked. I told her as we left, I can tile it for a lot less.
We couldn't agree on a tile and she made the mistake of saying " Get the tile you want." I made the mistake doing what she told me. So I tiled the countertop on the bathroom vanity. Looked pretty good....until I tried ..(key word "tried") to reinstall the drop in sink. It seems as though the 1/4" tile and thinset had moved the backsplash out far enough, the sink wouldn't fit. I checked and there was no room to enlarge or move the hole for the sink forward as the current hole went to the face frame. OOPS!
Long story short I went back to HD and bought a cheap porcelain sink. I used my tile wet saw to cut off the back 3/8 of an inch and with new hardware, faucets, supply lines etc, it dropped right in. Looks good. One more minor problem...it's bone colored and the tub and toilet are white. Boy do they clash!
So...back to HD...they don't carry that color in stock. It's special order time. It's double the price time too!
Of course, now it means tearing out the current tile, replacing the tub and toilet and while we are at it...repaint and replace the carpet. Of course, there is no place I can find that has the accordian style shower doors so we go with a custom glass one....and I let the glass shop install it.
Then...since we are ordering carpet for the bathroom, HD has a special...install all the rooms in your house or one room...total installation cost....$39.00. So...we really need to replace the carpet in the masterbedroom and of course it needs painting prior to the new carpet being installed.
Well, $4800 later I showed those folks at HD. I still haven't spent the $1,000 on that solid surface counter top. You can't push this damn old hillbilly around!:confused::eek::rolleyes:
Here's some photos of the newly remodeled bathroom.
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We didn't want to do anything major as the LOML loves the cabinets that are in there. So, we went to HD and got an estimate for an installed solid surface counter top. $1,000. I about choked. I told her as we left, I can tile it for a lot less.
We couldn't agree on a tile and she made the mistake of saying " Get the tile you want." I made the mistake doing what she told me. So I tiled the countertop on the bathroom vanity. Looked pretty good....until I tried ..(key word "tried") to reinstall the drop in sink. It seems as though the 1/4" tile and thinset had moved the backsplash out far enough, the sink wouldn't fit. I checked and there was no room to enlarge or move the hole for the sink forward as the current hole went to the face frame. OOPS!
Long story short I went back to HD and bought a cheap porcelain sink. I used my tile wet saw to cut off the back 3/8 of an inch and with new hardware, faucets, supply lines etc, it dropped right in. Looks good. One more minor problem...it's bone colored and the tub and toilet are white. Boy do they clash!
So...back to HD...they don't carry that color in stock. It's special order time. It's double the price time too!
Of course, now it means tearing out the current tile, replacing the tub and toilet and while we are at it...repaint and replace the carpet. Of course, there is no place I can find that has the accordian style shower doors so we go with a custom glass one....and I let the glass shop install it.
Then...since we are ordering carpet for the bathroom, HD has a special...install all the rooms in your house or one room...total installation cost....$39.00. So...we really need to replace the carpet in the masterbedroom and of course it needs painting prior to the new carpet being installed.
Well, $4800 later I showed those folks at HD. I still haven't spent the $1,000 on that solid surface counter top. You can't push this damn old hillbilly around!:confused::eek::rolleyes:
Here's some photos of the newly remodeled bathroom.
132789
132790
132791