Repairing and Restoring an Old Bathroom

I decided to do major repairs in my family's old house that they used to rent out, the house stayed unoccupied for a while so when I first walked in, the air felt heavy because the doors and windows stayed closed for a long time. The house was very humid, filled with dust and dirt, so I opened the doors and windows to let the fresh air in, then took a tour of the house and decided to start with the bathroom.

The next day, I woke up early, grabbed my tools and equipment and went back to the house to start working and I'm going to share with you my journey to fixing and restoring the bathroom.

- Face shield

- Face mask

- Scraper

- Putty knife

- Ladder

- Sandpaper

- Spackling Paste

- Gloves

- Paint tray

- White Paint

- Paint roller

- Paint Brush

- Vacuum

- Bowl

- Scrubber

- Dish Soap

- Aluminum Foil

- Sponge

- Rust remover

- Syringe

- Wood bugs treatment

- Brush

- Toothbrush

- Bleach

- Grout

I started examining the bathroom to know the necessary repairs. I noticed that the walls were covered in mold, the ceiling had a lot of cracks and pieces of paint falling off, the cabinet was dirty and filled with junk, the radiator was rusty, the bathtub was moldy and had random holes, the window was dirty and the grout needed to be replaced.

The ceiling had shallow cracks and paint pieces were peeling and falling off. I climbed a ladder, took a scraper and started scraping around the cracks in the ceiling to remove loose paint pieces, I wore a face shield to protect my eyes from the falling debris.

After scraping the ceiling, I used sandpaper to smooth rough areas, then took spackling paste, put a generous amount on the scraper and started applying it on the cracks to fill them completely.

After filling the cracks, I took a putty knife and used it to distribute the spackling paste evenly to make the surface smooth. When I was done, I left the ceiling for hours to dry.

Now it's time to paint the ceiling, I brought a paint tray, a bucket of white paint and a paint roller. I put a plastic bag in the paint tray before pouring the paint to keep it clean for next uses. I started painting the ceiling section by section using the paint roller, I applied the first coat, left it to dry, then applied a second coat to make the color more opaque.

I noticed that the light bulb was flickering, the wiring job was badly done, the electrical wires were tangled and parts of them were exposed which probably caused connection problems, also there was no light cover. I turned off the electricity for the bathroom and started detangling and organizing the wires and then I covered the damaged parts with electrical tape. Later, I went and got a new light bulb and cover and I installed them.

The cabinet was full of old useless stuff like empty bottles, toothpaste and brushes, nail polish bottles, an oil bottle and other things. I took all the stuff carefully and threw them in a trash bag.

After emptying the cabinet, I started examining it to see what steps I was going to take to fix it. The shelves were dirty and dusty, some of the paint came off and I noticed a gross black stain where the bottle of oil was.

I grabbed my vacuum and started vacuuming inside and outside the cabinet to get rid of the dust, the dirt and the spider webs that were in the corners.

To prepare the solution that I'm going to use to clean the cabinet, I took a bowl, dish soap and a scrubber. I put a good amount of dish soap into the bowl then poured hot water over it until it became runny but not too watery, then I mixed it with my hand to make it foamy, after that, I put the scrubber in the bowl to let it soak a little bit.

I removed the shelves from the cabinet one by one and put them in the sink to clean them.

As usual I forgot to bring gloves so I took the scrubber with my bare hands, squeezed the excess of the solution and started scrubbing the shelves in a circular motion until the stains were gone. When I was done scrubbing, I dried the shelves with a sponge and put them outside in the sun to let them air dry.

I went back to the cabinet, took another scrubber and started scrubbing the inside and outside of the cabinet the same way I did to the shelves.

This oil stain took me the longest to remove, it was kinda sticky but really dry on the wood so I kept scrubbing in a circular motion again and again until it was completely gone.

After I finished scrubbing all the cabinet, I wiped it with a dry sponge to remove the excess water and left the window open so it can dry faster.

I came back the next day, with gloves of course, and I brought with me white paint and a paint brush. I started painting the shelves one by one, then left them to dry.

I went inside to the bathroom and started painting the outside of the cabinet with covering the handles of the doors with aluminum foil to protect them from getting stained.

I painted the inside parts of the cabinet.

After I finished painting the inside and outside of the cabinet, I painted the top and bottom.

I left everything to dry, then took the shelves and put them back in the cabinet. I noticed some small holes in one of the shelves so to seal them, I took some spackling paste, applied it on the holes and left it to dry.

The radiator was so rusty and needed to be cleaned, I removed the dust with a brush, then took rust removing treatment and applied it on the radiator using an old paint brush. Before doing the treatment, I wore my face mask, face shield and left the window open because most rust treatments have a strong toxic odor that shouldn't be inhaled. I applied it, left the bathroom and let it sit for 30 minutes to dissolve the rust.

After the time has passed, I grabbed a wet sponge and wiped the radiator to remove the treatment and as you can see it did a great job in removing the rust. I dried the radiator, then grabbed a paint brush, white paint and started painting the radiator. After I was done, I left it to dry.

There were small holes in the bathroom door which indicates the presence of woodworms. Luckily, the infestation was only in a small area and looked recent. The wood of the door was in good condition so there was no need in changing it. I took a wood bug treatment and applied it on the door using a syringe. I treated the whole door to prevent the infestation from spreading.

After the treatment completely dried, I applied spackling paste to fill the holes and small cracks on the door, then I painted the door. Later, I changed the lock.

The window was dirty and the paint was peeling off in some areas, so I cleaned it with a sponge soaked in the dish soap solution, dried it, then applied Vaseline on the glass so it won't get stained with paint. I usually use tape on the glass but I didn't have any that day. I painted it with the paint brush and left it to dry.

Some tiles had excess thick grout that made the lines uneven, so I took the putty knife and started scraping thick grout pieces and dirt between the tiles, then I collected them in a dust pan and brushed the tiles with a brush to remove debris.

There were yellow stains on the wall near the bathtub, I soaked the toothbrush in bleach and brushed the stains vigorously and left the bleach there for a few minutes to dissolve them.

The bathtub was dirty, so I ran hot water on it, then started cleaning it with a scrubber soaked in dish soap, baking soda solution first, then used the toothbrush to clean the corners and grout lines. When I was done I rinsed it with water.

The bathtub had a bunch of random holes that were dirty or badly sealed, so I cleaned them very well with the cleaning solution and sealed them with the spackling paste and then I fixed the grout between the tiles and the bathtub the same way.

The mirror was damaged, held with tape and basically falling apart, so I had to remove it from the wall and carry it out of the bathroom carefully because it was heavy and I went and bought a new mirror.

I took a sponge, soaked it in dish soap solution and started cleaning wall tiles and the sink in a circular motion until all the mold and dirt were gone.

I took the toothbrush, dipped it the cleaning solution and started brushing the dirty grout, then wiped it with a wet sponge.

The grout was mostly damaged, so I decided to regrout the whole bathroom, I took the putty knife and used it to apply grout between tiles then I wiped the excess with a slightly wet sponge.

I moved to floor tiles, I scraped the dirt between tiles, swept the floor with a broom, then wet moped the tiles. I noticed that most of the grout was gone probably from using abrasive cleaning products, so I applied new grout and left it to dry.

After regrouting the tiles, I was done with all the repairs. It was getting dark so i collected my equipment and left to let everything dries and sets in place overnight and come back the next day to install the new mirror and show you the final results.

After days of work, the bathroom became very clean, bright and usable, I'm really happy and satisfied with the results.

I hope that you enjoyed this project and found it interesting.

My other blog: https://medium.com/@ypipijou

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