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Andy updates us on the bathroom remodel saga
Ever rolled up your sleeves and ventured into the intricate world of bathroom remodeling? If yes, then you'll share in my excitement as I personally navigate this demanding yet rewarding task. From ripping out my old toilet and vanity to mastering the art of plumbing, join me on a behind-the-scenes journey of my very own bathroom renovation. Hear about the nitty-gritty details, the highs and lows, and the ultimate satisfaction of seeing the project come together. I'll also share the unique experience of laying the floor using Schluter Duo PS pressure sensitive, something I'd never done before.
Pondering over the right shower fixture for your bathroom? It's not just about aesthetics! In the second part of the episode, we delve into the thought process behind choosing the perfect shower fixtures, with a keen focus on water conservation and eco-friendliness. Adding a touch of luxury, we explore the idea of incorporating a steam generator into the bathroom and the irresistible lifetime warranty that comes along. To wrap up, we walk you through a real-life bathroom makeover of a customer’s steam shower, giving you a first-hand account of a true transformation. So, buckle up for an enlightening podcast packed with practical advice, insightful design tips and an abundance of remodeling inspiration.
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Eric Aune @mechanicalhub
Andy Mickelson @mick_plumb
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All right, dude, we're on the air, we're on it, it's all. Ok, everybody, here's the update episode on Andy's bathroom.
Speaker 2:I am. I am the worst. My social game sucks.
Speaker 1:Well, sometimes I'm not going to. I'm not going to argue with that. You should have been posting all along on the bathroom remodel.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to start doing a little bit of time to release of where we're at, so everybody can kind of keep up.
Speaker 1:It'll be. Yeah, well, we're going to do it here with the MTA podcast bonus edition.
Speaker 2:So about a month ago. He's about a month ago.
Speaker 1:I, I. Yes, we talked about this more than a month ago.
Speaker 2:No, I was going to say I think I started like we finally got enough material to like get things rolling, OK, OK.
Speaker 1:And there's a lot of were made and, yeah, enough decisions were made where you could start doing.
Speaker 2:Start doing some demo yeah, ok, and so that happened. Well, let's put it this way I tore out, pulled my toilet out a month ago and I took the vanity out a month ago.
Speaker 1:You've been holding it that long. I've been holding for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, luckily we have a guest bathroom on the main floor and so it's been Cheryl and I's a commode away. Yeah, doesn't it? It does. It's not that big a deal. We don't live in like a McMansion, so it's not like 700 feet to the next bathroom. You know, yeah, we don't have to have rest area this way, signs or anything.
Speaker 1:But about a month ago you started, yeah, demo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you think the floor out pulled. I pulled all the entire. I started doing like micro surgery on the wall where the vanity was at because I was like, well, I got to move this waist up a little bit and fix this and and I ended up just pulling that entire drywall out all like the whole wall worth. Got the, got my plumbing redone. You know that was over, probably a first the week, first week and in part of this. So let's preface this back. If you remember, back from the episode we were putting in medicine cabinets, so built in medicine cabinets fully.
Speaker 1:Recessed frame.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I had to reframe because they're 24 inches wide and a 16 inch framed wall. What's on the other side?
Speaker 1:of that wall, our bedroom. So do you have to cut holes in the sheetrock in the backside too? I?
Speaker 2:was like a freaking cardiac micro surgeon, like orthoscopic surgery. Cut nail heads off with fine tool. And I didn't do. I didn't get any nail pops or anything on the bedroom side, which I was super happy about. That'd be like the first thing that happened to me, I swear, until I was cutting the waistline and I jammed my saws all caught and right through the wall.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I'm like oh, you son of a, so I got one paper and everything, so it's just as a mess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I got to, I got to fix that. But other than that, I mean the wall, the wall did well. We added some, I'd add like eight studs top to bottom. Oh wow, to build out this, basically the frame. You know, because I had header it out and do it proper and got it all headed out and then redrilled everything and put my waste lav drains in there.
Speaker 1:Got it all done. Did the medicine cabinets in your particular, did you have to, like like, totally remodel the plumbing, or were you just able to move the drains where you needed to and everything stayed?
Speaker 2:The drains and all the plumbing was fine with the medicine cabinets. What I had to cut the waste arms out. So basically the way this was plumbed is it was on a fixture cross, yeah yeah. And so my horizontal lines going out, my waste arms out to the labs, were going through where these new studs were at. So I just chopped everything out and then put the new studs in and then redrilled.
Speaker 1:I believe the technical term is fixture branch.
Speaker 2:Basically it's a double. Yeah, it's not a double sand tee, because that's not a legal thing. It's a fixture. Yeah, fixture cross, I guess, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you got that all plumbed up. Then you had to. How'd you finish it? You put a shiplap on the. I mean you're doing all of the work. Yeah, I'm doing it all. So, yeah, Classic plumber fashion not hiring anybody to do what they're good at. Instead, you're just going to do your wait, wait. I believe that we talk about this.
Speaker 2:We do. We do many times. So I'll say this I relatively enjoy doing this kind of thing. I'm a hands-on kind of guy. I enjoy dabbling in things that I'm not I guess that I'm not, which I don't want to say that I'm not skilled at, but things that I don't do regularly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's more enjoy. I've said this so many times and I believe it too. I don't think you'd disagree. You don't mind doing the tile work because you don't do it every day. If you did tile, you don't love the plumbing. I bet you the plumbing part was the hardest thing for you. I'm guessing, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Mentally I haven't done the shower yet. It's just hard to do that your own plumbing. I have a pop-up drain in our master bathroom, we have a double vanity and my sink has been missing the pop-up assembly. Oh, Andy, if I say two years, it's probably four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, so anyway.
Speaker 1:so then you move on from the plumbing, you did the walls, you did tile everything, floor tile yeah.
Speaker 2:So basically, yeah, hung drywall on the walls, tiled the entire floor I laid. We used the Schluter Duo PS pressure sensitive Duo backer like a tile, like an isolation pad, yeah, and then put warm wire in that. So I've got to get to the floor. Oh, you think you're heating this. We're all, bougie you are bougie.
Speaker 1:Both of you. You two are bougie. You're my bougiest friends. I love it.
Speaker 2:We had a little hole low in the action because Cheryl and I went back and forth on some tile options and we were going to do this really cool, like hexagons, like little, like two by two hexagons, black on the floor. They were going to be ceramic and it was going to be cool. And then we decided not to do that. We were going to do these different style double hex. So it was a hex inside of a hex in the shower. We're like, oh, yeah, we're going to do this Tile scheme changed like twice, three times, throughout it.
Speaker 2:She picked up on this kind of an olive green brick style tile. Okay, she absolutely loved the color of it and I'm for the shower here, yeah, for the shower, the walls, and I'm totally on board with it too. We order a sample. We're like, oh heck, yeah, I look at it and I'm like you know, it's kind of porous, like this, something's weird here. Do you think this is approved for a shower, you know? And so then she calls the tile company and they're like no, don't use it in the shower. And I'm like God, dang it. So that set us back a little bit trying to find something else. That was that color, because we were stuck like stuck on this and anyway it, a couple of weeks basically, was in the middle there where we were not really in a lull, but I mean I had stuff going on in the shower. We're also installed like 16 boilers at this time, you know, for the day job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not like you're not busy, right? Stay long.
Speaker 2:And so then we get a call from the tile company guy, customer service follow-up. So hey, all you guys that are out there doing bids and jubs and stuff and you're not following up, follow up with the customer.
Speaker 1:Heck, yeah, that's how you make your sale half the cheese, like seriously, yeah, so the guy this don't. Don't sleep on those cold leads, basically no.
Speaker 2:So this guy calls and says hey, you know, just want to check to see how this sample of the tile looked, and you know See if you're happy with it. And Cheryl goes well, yeah, we absolutely loved it. But you know, we just not gonna work for our application. He's like well, what's your application? He's like well, it's, we're gonna put it in the shower. And he's like well, why wouldn't it work in the shower? She's like well, I talked to this guy and he's like said no, don't do it in the shower. He's like oh well, I'll, I'm gonna follow up on that. Because, no, you just order the tile for a shower application and we glaze the edges.
Speaker 2:He goes we'll just, we'll just, yeah, we'll just glaze it differently and that way it's, it's ready to go and it's all sealed up. And I was like, oh my god, seriously, we've been like Three weeks of trying to select tile Because this who wasn't the right application. And then all of a sudden it was on boom, let's do it. And it wasn't so much that the shit, we're not ready for shower tile, but the shower tile Changed what we were doing on the walls and what we were doing on the floors. Oh yeah, and so anyway. So we've got a black slate, like a half inch thick black slate, eight circles and squares on the floor, and it turned out really cool.
Speaker 1:It doesn't look cool. I've seen pictures. I haven't seen it in person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it turned out cool. We got the. I got this. Last week was a big week for us. I got the shiplap all hung and prepped, I got all the trim on and then I sprayed the one accent wall and then around the side is a different color and then got the trim all sprayed. So I've basically been a painter for the last week and I Don't know I. This is the part where it's starting to come together and and it's gonna get that shower done Though and just get this over with the shower is gonna take me a month, I bet.
Speaker 2:I bet it takes me a month to do it. I got so much stuff to do.
Speaker 1:you got guests coming to town here, I know whoop, and to the end of September, that's right. You gotta get this done, I gotta get cracking. So you know you got. You got a couple Minnesotans coming to stay with you at least one or two days while they're down.
Speaker 2:It'll be all good we're, we'll be. We'll be Rocking and rolling.
Speaker 1:Oh, we'll be seeing our time. I know it takes it, takes what it takes. Yeah, at this point you do. You have your shower to use the what do you yeah, I your old, your old child, or that sucker out.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's okay. So that's out, okay, yeah, let me ask you this here's something I would love to do. I would love to remodel Heather and I have come up. I think we're, we're in agreement here for the master, that I think I've got her convinced, and you know she's smart, she doesn't need to be convinced of anything. If we're gonna take this kind of project on, like you just did, it's gonna involve a designer, because we want to move a couple things, and I think that we're. If we just put back in place what's there but new, does that make sense? I think we're not using the best, not making the best use of this place.
Speaker 2:I, I would agree, and and so I would say that I am also not a designer. My wife, however, has spent the majority of her professional career Not outside of being Mickelson Plumming's Brains in real estate agent. Yeah, she's, she's in real estate. However, she spent like 12, 12 or 13 years, 14 years working with homeowners to select colors, trim, trim levels, trim packages, selecting fixtures, lighting, and so she's got a really good knack at that. Like you know, hey, this is what I see. I always give her shit because she's on Instagram and Pinterest all the time and she's constantly sending me stuff and she'll bookmark stuff and be like hey, I like this, I like that, I like this, and now this bathroom has become the culmination of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks really nice. Yeah, regarding that, though the shower. Back to that. Yeah, are you going to do anything with the like? Are you going to go crazy? Are you going to do anything with the shower? Yeah, yeah, what are you going to do?
Speaker 2:We've got two-colar statement shower valves. I think they're statement.
Speaker 1:Are those?
Speaker 2:DTV stuff no, Not electronic. I bumped away from the electronic because I just went. You know what? I'm not going to connect my phone to this stuff, no.
Speaker 1:but we have the interface where it's all just push button and it goes to some other thing. Yep.
Speaker 2:So my side of the shower will have four functions. Oh your side, oh this is a dual shower.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dual shower. Hey, lane, if you're listening, we need some mood music right now, okay. Hey, I wasn't going there, I said mood music, man, okay.
Speaker 2:So you're going to dual-sided shower? Yep, so we have standard shower heads. We're going to have a rain function that has basically dual heads or dual functions Really cool-colar, I think that's a Vicky, anyway. And then I've got two body sprays and then there will be a handheld in there.
Speaker 1:I'm not a body spray person. Am I just missing it? If I just not experience the right body spray like I've never?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think that's kind of where I'm at with it. I was like you know what we're going to do this. I'm going to do it once. I don't know how often I'll use them. I may not.
Speaker 1:I really in the right configuration of the shower. I like a rain head Yep, I think it's very, but it can also be in the way Like. It can also be inconvenient to have.
Speaker 2:Like, if that's your only thing, I don't like it, right, yeah, like being able to turn it on or off, and that's why we've way we kind of went with the way we did it, with a shower head on each side, the rain heads directly centered. We've got high ceilings, we're nine foot two on the main floor, so that rain head is going to be like you're not even going to know it's there, do you have to?
Speaker 1:well, aren't you going to drop it down a little bit, or no? Yeah, it's going to be like four inches down from the ceiling, oh, not even Okay. So it's really going to be high.
Speaker 2:It's going to be high and it's designed. It's a big oval, like a 12 inch oval shape, and it's got a. The second function is in the middle of it and it's kind of kind of funky. This whole a coaler line of stuff is designed around a kind of effective use of water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, their new stuff is amazing how it puts out the field and the pattern and everything, and yet it's using less water, yeah, than ever before. It's great. All of these companies are going the long way with the design of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I held can't go wrong with a handheld, though. Rinse down, wash down, yep. I think the biggest thing that I came out of the builder show with that I've never seen anywhere else was the sheer focus on water use, and we saw it at ish too. Yeah, I mean like how you use a small amount of water to make it feel like it's huge, and yeah, the design of this stuff, like I just said, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:I may end up adding a second tank list to the basement mechanical, but I don't know, we'll see how.
Speaker 1:Oh wait a minute, you're talking about conservant now.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, we're looking for this might be more of a man wash.
Speaker 1:But you know, I hear you. Actually, you, I have two tank lists in my house. Yeah, I always had that's what it's been when I went from tanks to tank lists, and we did that because there's a three quarter inch supply to a soaking tub. Sure, and I'm like, well, the math says this. You know, I could I do it with with a little bit of water, with just one, yeah, but having two, I'm going to get twice a life guaranteed, but anyway, yeah, I think the fixtures are awesome. Yeah, I could. You know what I want in my shower when I do it Steam steam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have. I'm on the fence. I think I'm gonna plumb up for it.
Speaker 1:Well, it sounds like you're over your mechanical storage area. It's easy.
Speaker 2:It's super easy, so I think I'm telling you it's gonna get steam in it.
Speaker 1:I've done so many of these generators over the years and there's one that I would recommend and it I can. We could talk about that off air Lifetime warranty on them. That kind of thing you pay up front right now, but it's a good unit, easy to install. The reason I think I need steam is because I've got a customer that has done this in multiple properties and that person has convinced me that I need it. They are so over the top. Like this is like Daily. I use this thing and I'll sit there for 20 minutes just Soaking it in. I'm like why do you do that? And he's like it's better than the best rain shower. It's better, you know, like it just feels so good to have that and I'm like huh, so maybe I should try it. So I think I'm gonna do it on my remodel.
Speaker 2:So whenever that is. Yeah, I. I like say I haven't ruled it out yet and I'm probably gonna do it.
Speaker 1:You're loaded, come on Put it in next to the money. Time about money. I'm the cheap one. Yeah, I Don't know, I'll leave it at. I haven't. I have used a steam shower. Yeah, I don't own one, so, like I don't, I Don't know, would I be excited about it at first and then would it wear off? Or would it be like my customer who will not Move into a different property or expand their ownership of ended more properties, whatever?
Speaker 1:Yeah like that's his. That's one of. He's remodeling everything he ever buys. Guys loaded, but uh, and it includes a steam shower every time. Yeah, the fact that just did. A cabin form has two steam showers in it, upstairs and downstairs. You have to send me the unit, send me the link on it. It's a nice unit. Yeah, all right, dude, let's go on that's long bonus yeah. Good luck. It's gonna be another month before your shower is done.
Speaker 1:We're gonna have to get a third update on the bathroom. Oh yeah, it'll come, All right. Yeah, see ya.
