When it came to new fixtures to install, the pickins were slim because we had to match the old three-across configuration of our prior faucets. Luckily they quoted us a price before they discovered the cement wall. We’re so glad we knew when to say uncle, because it took two experts over four solid hours to make the change. We tried doing it ourselves but the crazy old configuration of the pipes behind the wall made it necessary to call in the experts (who actually needed to use a diamond blade to cut through a 2-inch cement wall to access the old rusty pipes). They were original to the house (51 years old) and the corroded knobs and leaky faucet just weren’t up to par anymore. Look at the difference a little ring of the stuff can make!Īnd while we were at it, the old bath and shower fixtures had seen better days. Observe:īut caulk is like magic in a tube. Since our tub was reglazed about 8 years ago by the previous owner, the glaze was perfect everywhere except for around the drain. We also used a little more caulk to totally overhaul our gross-ish drain. But it sure is nice to know that when a guest pulls back the curtain there won’t be a hairy surprise waiting for them anymore.
Plus the fabric shower curtain hangs down completely obscuring the new caulk line and that tile anyway. We actually couldn’t find an exact match, but it’s pretty close. Easy peasy.ĭoesn’t less dingy tile and a clean caulk line make all the difference? It also should be noted that we purchased one replacement tile for the top right hand corner where the tub meets the tile (if you scroll up to the picture where we cut out the caulk, you’ll see that there’s a huge hole where a tile should be). The details: caulk, smooth caulk with finger, and quickly remove tape before caulk starts to set. The painters tape was another fab tip from a perfectly helpful perfect stranger (thanks Mary!) which resulted in perfectly straight caulk lines that look much improved.
So it was on to the next step, which involved taping off all the places that we needed to re-caulk. After we let the peroxide soak in overnight, we scrubbed the heck outta the tiles the next morning and they definitely looked lighter and brighter.
Then we did some serious tile cleaning with the 40% peroxide (purchased at a beauty supply store) that one of our readers recommended (thanks Gimbler!). First, we cut out all the old caulk with a box-cutter (as captured in this tasty photo): Now for a few more slightly less than pleasant “during” shots in the spirit of sharing the semi-painful process.
This is what our bathroom looked like when we started this whole mini-overhaul in an attempt to salvage our vintage basketweave tile instead of demoing every last cracked and peeling corner of our bathroom (warning: this ain’t pretty): And it’ll literally change the way you look at your bathroom (or any other place that has bad caulk in your house).
Ok, so here’s a bathroom update that’s way overdue.