Renovating the upstairs
bathroom was one of the first projects we did after moving into our house.
Since them, one line of horizontal grout has cracked in the wall tile.
This was the weekend to
repair it. I used a dremel attachment to grind out the old grout where it was
cracked. Where there is the band of accent tile, I roughed up all the grout
lines with a hand grout removal tool. These areas have always been a little low
on grout, so I decided to just put another layer over top. I know this is not
strictly recommended, ‘experts’ always say you can’t just coat over grout, but
I did 2 coats in a small area of tile in the powder room and it’s held up fine
for 6 months now.
After cleaning up a bit, I
put in new grout, white to match the rest. The shower looks a lot better with
the refreshed grout, we’ll see how it holds up.
While I was creating a mess
in the room, I decided to address 3 things that have been bothering me. The
first were the cracks in the walls in 2 areas. These got a couple of coats of
mud, primed and painted.
The next was the window.
When I tiled I wasn’t really sure how to address framing it out, so I butted
the tile to it and caulked around. It’s always looked unfinished and a little
sloppy.
This time I picked up some
PVC trim and used construction adhesive to glue it in place. A little caulking
around the inner and outer edges and the window looks much better.
The final item was the shelf
in the shower where we keep our toiletries. As this was my first tiling job, I
was unfamiliar with edging pieces and so used regular tiles around the
perimeter. This meant that the built in spacers on the tiles were visible. It
was okay looking just a little ‘homemade’.
I removed all the tile with
a hammer and chisel, it came up easily in large pieces.
After evening out the surface a bit, I cut and
installed new tile complete with proper edge pieces mitered in the corner.
The next day I grouted this
area aswell and once it was dry, gave all the grout 2 coats of sealer.
Although the updates are
minor, the bathroom looks new again and much more polished. It’s really those
small details that make a project look professional and not so DIY.
And now we know: I don’t
particularly enjoy re-doing stuff, but I’ve learnt so much in the past 4 years
since I completed the bathroom, that it was worth re-doing a few things.
Sometimes its the little things that don’t cost a lot that make the biggest
impact. I already had the grout, so the extra edge tile and the window trim
cost only about $25.
