so

the wife wants to have a kid, soon...

i'd like to try to tie up my remodeling before we do so and i have 1 last bedroom and the bathroom to do and the entire house is basically brand new

this bedroom and bathroom share a wall. the bedroom is roughly 12x12 and the bathroom is tiny - so much so to remodel the bathroom would be to just give it a facelift - no moving of fixtures, etc...

my biggest problem with the bathroom is, in the shower is a window (old single pane wood trimmed )

obviously, in the process of taking a shower the window gets wet and the paint chips, blah blah blah

if i rotate the bathtub 90 degrees and take out 3 feet of the adjacent bedroom, that leaves me with a room 9x12

much improving the bathroom, but sacrificing space in the bedroom

opinions?

@lsiunsuex could end up being a LOT of work to move fixtures, but sounds like you are ok with that. If this isn't the only bath, how about replacing with a stand-up shower?

i don't / never mind the work - takes 30 minutes, takes 2 days - no big deal

unfortunately, it is the only bathroom in the house

we've tried finding a place for a half bath on the first floor and its not happening. theres no where on the first floor that i can cut out enough room for a toilet / sink without making a room odd shaped look out of place - which really sucks

there's ways to do windows that will work in the shower.. if that's the only reason you're moving it..

i've considered glass block yeah

the window is one of the main reasons i want to move the bathtub

whatd you thinking, glass block or something else?

or replacing with vinyl window

My last house, I had a 5x7 main bathroom, similar problem. It had a facelift before we moved in, which involved adding a solidsurface surround on the tub but they kept the crappy single-pane wood window in

I was actually getting ready to replace that window (and tear open the wall, expecting to find more issues from water getting in, etc), but then we decided to move

right now the window is painted and it flakes

i wonder for the time being, if stripping it, staining it (instead of paint) and putting a couple coats of poly on it would help

yeah, exactly what I had

ah, I did make a blog post.. gregmaclellan.com/blog/renovation/2012/08/…

I replaced the vanity with something newer, and that made a HUGE difference, in terms of the room being small but usable

it might help.. but if there's water on it, it's probably getting into the wall

worst case there could be rot, mold, etc..

i did seal it / caulk it before we started using it so maybe not

we never open it for obvious reasons

your bathroom is just about the same size / configuration as mine

so my plan would be to put the tub opposite the sink / toilet

what would you do with the tub area?

replace the window with a new one, move the towel rack there, move the toilet over and have a bigger sink

you might even be able to get two sinks in

plus you'd have an extra 3x3 area that could be used for closet, in the adjoining room, hallway, or bathroom

linen closet is in the hallway < 6 feet away so no big deal

yeah, so it might be good to allocate it to the bedroom, to partially make up for space lost

i think the answer to my question is, who will buy this house in the future

yeah, you definitely have to consider that

if its someone like me - newly married, no kids - this is all fine

and how long you're going to stay there and what you need

right

even with finishing these last 2 rooms i plan to / hope to stay just another 5-7 years

as I said.. if I had been staying in that house, I would have replaced with window (the last one that hadn't been replaced in the entire house) with a newer vinyl one

if we have kids, figure by the time their that age, they'd like more room / bigger bedrooms

and planned on tearing out the drywall on that exterior wall to check and possibly replace insulation or any other damage

how many bedrooms are there?

3

yeah that's not so bad then

all pourly sized though

12x12, 10x11 and 24x10

sounds like my place :)

except nothing as nice as 24x.. I think it was 12x11, 10x10, and 9x11

the 9x11 was our guest room. it had a double bed and a small table, and a couple feet on the side of the bed and a couple feet to get int the closet.

24x sounds nice, but it doesn't allow for much furniture :(

we've since added shelves up high around the bed - ok for decorating

behind the bed i built that wall and its a 2nd closet for her

if you go with a vinyl window, use PVC dimensional board for the trim. The same stuff everyone is using for exterior trim now.

(sorry, I'm late to the conversation)

@BMitch we've been using that on the exterior for the window trims - its nice

no need to paint it, just cut, glue and nail

They were doing a window in a shower on This Old House this weekend, did the exact same thing, vinyl and PVC trim on inside (and presumably outside too)

another problem with this whole plan is - the wall i would move / rebuild to make the bathroom 3 feet wider

there is a window right in that corner on the bedroom side - like 12 inch from the corner

so that would have to come out, be closed off, and sided

... like i always say - when is enough, enough i guess - how much money am i gonna sink into this house until i say f' it and just go get something bigger

I'm not overly attached to my home, I'm going with the assumption that I'm learning things I don't like and want in my next place, rather than trying to alter this place to perfection.

@BMitch i completely agree with that statement

That said, I did just spend $6k at home depot this weekend (cabinets and countertop)

i've tried it one way; i've seen what i like / dont like - the next one will be built or exactly what i want

she wants to stay in the city still - i'm going big if i do that - 3-4k sq ft - we're borderline 1700 right now

if i'm gonna completely gut another one and not build, i want it to be big

that's also exactly what I did

Basically everything I did to that house I also thought of in terms of "what is best for resale value, and bang for buck?" as opposed to "what what I do ideally if I was staying here for many years"

now thats big - zillow.com/homedetails/381-Linwood-Ave-Buffalo-NY-14209/…

turn it back into a 1 family house - 8k sq ft

great for having 13 kids

@Tester101

The oven mounted over the dishwasher is a little weird

That's not a home, it's an apartment complex

yeah, but at one point in time it was probably a 1 family

most were in buffalo

it can be converted back

my neighbor has a double that was converted to a single

in addition to the oven, what's up with the top cabinets on the left with no bottom cabinets, very weird kitchen layout.

the heat from the oven helps dry the dishes in the washer

@lsiunsuex Probably has 7 meters as well.

people do crazy shit to houses

so long as the foundation is good (which it doesn't look like it in the electrical photo)... nothing a complete gut can't fix

@BMitch that's the answer to "What should we do with these extra cabinets laying around?"

kickstarter.com/projects/843725167/…

So I was thinking about it more this weekend, and I'm not really satisfied with the answer to this question. I'm more tempted to insulate, because really I don't have much else to do with the insulation I have (maybe sound-proof my basement ceiling?)

But I still don't have an answer to the question of if there should be vapour barrier, or if that hurts in some way

Looking around the web, it's completely unclear. Some people say they've done it and it's fine. Some people say it causes moisture problems. Some people say insulating at all is bad.

here in buffalo, if your garage is finished all 3 walls, its insulated

you have the material - use it.

of the door is insulated also and the seal around it is in decent shape, it should help keep heat out / cool in

and ultimately help the room above it

the door is insulated, but there is a section at the front that is open attic

to get it fully insulated I'd have to do something about that, which I guess would involve adding vents

(it's the width of the garage, and about 3' deep by 4' high)

but regardless of that, I'm more concerned about vapour barrier if I do insulate. Do I use it or not?

Keeping in mind that the other 2 walls join to the house- and are currently 2x6 with vapour barrier on the house side, and insulated with fiberglass batts

@gregmac Keep the vapor barriers on the warm side and you should be fine. From house to garage, you only have the vapor barrier towards the house. From garage to outside, you'd have the vapor barrier on the garage side.

If there isn't a risk of warm moist air in the garage, then you can skip the vapor barrier. In the house, you have humidifiers, bathrooms, kitchens, and people all adding moisture to the air and you don't want that condensing inside the wall.

@BMitch Presumably there is some risk though: unheated garage, but in winter vehicles with snow on them

I have more than enough vapour barrier left over from another job, and the insulation from the ceiling.. so there's no material cost to this

biggest part of the job will be cutting the insulation to fit. I'd guess it will take 2-3 hours total

Exactly, and it's always possible you'll add a space heater in there while working on some project in the future. My family keeps a space heater set to 45F or so to keep any pipes from freezing in the winter.

yeah ok. I guess i will go for it then

which is good because it means I will use up at least half of the insulation that is in my way right now. :)

Good luck, I hate insulating in the summer, because I try to cover up (jeans, long sleeves, mask, etc)

Yeah. it's supposed to be not overly hot for the rest of this week, so that will help.

@BMitch thanks