We may need to Replace a few tiles in Master Shower/Tub

9 years ago

There is more on this issue in the Bathroom forum linked below.

I'm not sure if this is a design issue or a repair issue. All cabinets and drawers have been stripped and will be painted white. Fixtures will be replaced.

As you know, we purchased a huge money pit. Now you see what we face in the master bath. The builder was a contractor, and he must have got a deal on the tile because it's everywhere tile can be put! We are trying to save the tile due to budget concerns. The kitchen and rotting outside decks sucked up most of the money!

There is a crack in the niche (shown in bathroom forum) and some broken faucets which MUST be replaced. The plumber says they are so old, that the new ones might not fit the valves, so we might have to destroy part of the wall (including some tiles) to re-plumb for the new stuff.

We hope not to have to face any tile removal at all, but if we do, would a couple strips of a medium brown replacement tile (I will never be able to replace tile from the 80's) as an accent work? The leaves on the flowers are medium brown.

Sorry for the dark photo. Electricity is off, so taking pictures into light is tough!

Suzi

Here is a link that might be useful: Bathroom Forum with more photos

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Comments (6)

Jamie
9 years ago
I replaced old shower handles and was able to keep the old valves. Hope you can do the same.

I have seen some shower module type things that include a back plate. If you have to replace all the shower hardware perhaps you could get something like that to cover all the old holes.
Fori
9 years ago
What's behind the shower? You might be able to access the valves from the next room over and just have a drywall repair.

I wouldn't give up on finding a reasonable tile match either. Blah brown is still fashionable. I even have a box that looks just like that in my garage (also from the 80s I think. Wrong size for you though!).
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Well, phooey. I taped it out in the bathroom with blue tape last night and it looked like it would fit, but with too many nos, I'm back to the drawing board. Interesting thought, Vix. Right now we don't actually have a toilet room, so much as a separate toilet "area" (there's no door, and the closet takes up too much room to add a door), but it's on my agenda to create one. In our house, it's very necessary. I generally use that bathroom to try to FIND privacy, only to have 3 people (and sometimes the dog) follow me into the bathroom. I'm looking forward to having a door that locks and a fan so that I don't have two little people handing me the TP and asking whether I'm doing number 1 or 2 (oh, and the 1 year old likes to flush while I'm ON the pot; so I've got my own special cold water washlet), while DH decides that he absolutely has to shave and brush his teeth at that exact moment. Now if I take a hike to the guest bath on the other side of the house, all three just follow me AGAIN. Sometimes when I have insisted on locking the door in the guest bath (no way to do that with our LOUVERED -- why??? -- pocket door in the master), my one year old plopped down prostrate outside the door and cried until I open the door. For my W/C, I want to put in a LOUD fan; no whisper quiet for me. Maybe I'll even add a radio. :) The way I'm seeing it, I can either get rid of the long vanity altogether and live with a fairly small vanity, plus a tub and shower, I can skip the tub and live with the kids' bathroom on the third level as the only room with a tub, or we can bump out that weird corner jog, which would give us an additional 49'' X 27'' space -- enough to fit a 5X3 tub, 5X3 shower and keep the two vanities. But that sounds very expensive and will require carefully removing and replacing the siding to match the existing. DH's response to all this was "why do we need a tub?"
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Thanks for all your thoughts! homeybird- we did briefly consider the wetroom idea, however, we're in Maine (brrrrrr), this room has 3 exterior walls and a poorly insulated floor, AND we need to be a little more traditional for resale. igloochic- Well, right now there IS no office. That is all part of a gigantically long master bedroom. It's stupid space in my opinion. I work at home and NEED an office, so right now my desk is set up there, open to the bedroom. I HATE it. Hate the computer lights and hum, hate seeing the piles and cords. I want my bedroom to be a calm place to escape and unwind. This house is teeny, so there is NO other place for my office to go. (Plus, we think being able to claim 3BR is a plus for resale. Target market will either be a young family or retired couple. Either way it seems like 2 normal-sized bedrooms and a small nursery or home office is a desireable combo. Honestly, there's no other place in the house where a home office could go....) weedyacres- I'll play around with that but my DH is going to be mad. We're having a heck of a bad year, renovation-wise. We started the kitchen/LR/DR renovation in April and soon discovered some very major drainage problems. We'd hoped to complete the exterior renovations this fall but the money we had to spend on the stupid drainage problems has left us utterly broke. Then DH got temporarily furloughed and I am not working either, and both cars are dying. It's baaaaad. BUT we HAVE to address this bathroom this month because it is -quite literally- making me sick. There is a huge mold problem in there. It's sealed off with painters tape right now because I was so sick from it. DH is going to have to cut a hole in the exterior wall, go in there and start gutting it until he finds the source of the mold (we suspect it is in the insulation, possibly the sheathing and studs, hope not!!). ANYWAY. It is not the best scenario to start a renovation. The kitchen's still not done either. And we're out of money. So we're leery of making too many changes. Even doing it all ourselves, having to reframe and redrywall and trim out all those extra walls is sure to add at least a grand, don't you think? Plus, our Washer & dryer are currently in the north closet...... WEll, I will draw it out and play around with it...... thanks for thinking outseide the box anyway.
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Great comments! Thank you for helping me to think about this out loud ;-). We live in northern California, one hour south of San Francisco, and a half hour from the beach in Santa Cruz. The area is pretty pricey and most single-story houses are being converted into second story houses, some of them good, some of them not so good, AKA monster homes :-(. We are baby boomers and like the size of our house, our garden, etc., and the fact that it is a one story. It's perfectly fine for the two of us. I took care of my Dad before he passed and he was in a walker. I like the idea of having a higher ADA toilet, grab bars, small corner bench, separate hand shower, fixed shower head, and low curb for the shower. And, we are not without our own aches and pains in the joints and lower back! jkom51: thanks for the tip on looking at cultured marble/cultured granite. I am liking the looks of carrera marble a lot, but I'm not sure if it will be too slippery and hard to clean. I don't think I can steal room from the two adjacent bedrooms because they are very small and I wouldn't want to lose a closet in one of the rooms. I guess this is another reason for one, nice, big shower because it opens up the little bathroom. I am seeing the frameless shower door in there.
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Hi Sooz -- I happen to love the kind of tile you had; I grew up in a 30s house with strongly-colored tiles in that pattern carried around the room. So while there are many, many options out there I sure wouldn't rule out a variation on the theme. One thing re your window -- have you really checked to make sure there's no rot around the window or into the walls? Because now would certainly be time to replace things. We're wrapping up our bath reno so I do have some photos of what we did plus a few inspiration photos I can share -- none are exactly what you're looking for but some have the elements you mentioned. If you're committed to just keeping the tile in the shower/tub area vs carrying it around the room, I think keeping things simple is probably best. Simple can be serene and gorgeous! Good luck with your project! 6x6 Tile on the diagonal (inspiration pic) Think this is 4x4 field, with grout blending in (inspiration pic) Contrasting grout (inspiration pic) More rustic approach to grid, with wide grout lines (insp. pic) Know it's tough to see -- white 4x4 grid, window (insp. pic) ********** My bath, Before shot (ceiling dropped to 6' over last 1/3 of tub) My almost-done bath (1905 house), done in DalTile's pale yellow 6x6 in a running bond vs grid pattern My bath, window area -- we removed double-hung and did a tiled-in aluminum below, awning window above
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks! You are making me feel much better!

fori, behind one shower is the wall you see in the photo. The one with the toilet paper holder. The other shower head backs up to the laundry room. We have an upstairs laundry room. That's another post, another day.. LOL! I really don't want to go looking for matching tile, but if I must I must! Doing everything in a hurry (contractor has a time-line created by us), is tough.

jamies, that plate thing is a great idea. I'll look for those too!

DH is there now with the contractor getting the good or bad news. I really don't think they will know anything until we purchase a replacement and see if it fits.

Remember, money is tight here, so what do you think of this replacement?

Here is a link that might be useful: A possible replacement
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
This is the flower that appears here and there on the tiles. I will paint the room to blend, when that day comes.

First things first. We turned the knobs, and the water comes on! Yay! This is a tub/shower, but I doubt we will ever tub. We are shower people.

Hot tub on the deck outside, well that is another post!

Suzi
chucksmom
9 years ago
First, I'd pull one of the stems, take it to a REAL plumbing store and see if they can identity the manufacturer, American Standard, Kohler, whatever. They can probably order replacement handles that will fit your needs. Sounds like your plumber is on the young side. I just got replacements for my 1950's AS.
If you wind up replacing the tile (depending on how many you need), you can get 8 full tiles by pulling down the tiles above the shower and just leaving the bullnose trim (that's how mine is and it's original).
Patch the drywall and continue the crown molding around the corners to meet the other crown. It looks like pretty standard crown so it should be pretty easy to match.
You might also get some extra tile from behind the side panel of the vanity where it meets shower.
Just a thought.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
Well, they think whatever it is, was high end at the time. Sucks when you are on a budget...

They went high end, and lost the house to foreclosure. Lesson?

DH took it to a plumbing place and it's not one of your cheap china brands. They think it's Moen. Jury is out.

We may need to Replace a few tiles in Master Shower/Tub

Comments (6)

Jamie

Fori

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We may need to Replace a few tiles in Master Shower/Tub

Comments (6)

Jamie

Fori

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