Our bathroom remodeling project has moved ahead well in the past few days. Opening up and exposing the window again into this bathroom has made a huge difference in how the space feels. One of the challenges of remodeling in a 1920’s house like this is dealing with the plumbing modifications. Like most homes of this vintage, the waste and vent lines are cast iron. That is an excellent material that deadens sound and holds up well. However, it is very bulky and causes some problems fitting in walls and floors. In this house the original plumbers ‘hacked’ the floor joists fairly substantially. We had to make some repairs once our plumbing modifications were done.
This is the first time I’ve used a product called Hardibacker cement board. In shower areas under ceramic tile it is best to use a cement based product….as opposed to a gypsum based product such as drywall. I liked the way Hardibacker cut. It isn’t as dusty as many cement based products and didn’t seem as heavy either—-something to think about when lugging material up to the second floor.
