Since my hall bath redo was so much fun and made it to a usable
state, I went ahead and started on my master bath. It had the same issue as the hall bath: worn-out
original 1975. This one took way more work, as I decided to move a wall and door to combine the
alcove with the bathroom, making one room out of it. The tub went away, to be replaced with a shower
stall. The inside sink also went away to make room for a storage cabinet. The outside sink grows a
mate, morphing into a double sink vanity. My neighbor's house, which is the same floorplan but
mirrored, did this and it definitely was worth the effort. The underneath stuff (as always) took the
longest. Moving plumbing supply and drains is time-consuming. Fortunately, the existing drain
configuration made it easy for me to reconfigure for the new shower and sink setup.
The floor structure needed help, as the original guys left a gaping hole in the floor joists in
front of the toilet. So, I added that, as well as putting in cross-braces most elsewhere. I thought
more support under the shower would be best, as the tile and a person is heavy. Removing flex from
that are should make the tile last longer.
As is the usual issue, the drain vent pipe was in the way for a recessed medicine cabinet. So, I
bumped out the wall. There is room for it, and it looks pretty good, too. The medicine cabinet
configuration is the same as the hall bath, as it worked so well
there.
I moved back in 15 July 2018, 22 months after I started, and it's hard to describe how much of an
improvement it is over the original worn-out bathroom.
The last touches are done, so I'm declaring it finished!