It Started With a Toilet Leak...Probably a Year Ago

So this post is the quintessential reason for the title of this blog. Last week we realized a leak from our main floor bathroom ceiling, which after removing the ceiling we deduced it was from the toilet in the master bathroom upstairs, which then led to this...

This wasn't exactly a huge surprise considering David and I had talked about expanding our bathroom some day since the total usable space (where you can stand up straight without hitting the ceiling) was about 40 sq/ft and the shower was 30"x30". Hey, we were not complaining, I thought it was nice with the plank wood walls, small enough to clean easily, enough space for the two of us. But with both of our brains considering ways to improve our home and its value, we figured one day we could update it to make it bigger. We figured we had the space to expand into the loft area and create the whole lay out of entering the bedroom to make more sense.

Well, a small leak from the toilet over probably the past year, which we would need to remove the damaged flooring anyway, gave us the excuse to pull the trigger and completely demo. We've made quite a bit of progress so far, with the hope of completion in 3 weeks. That may be unrealistic considering we're having to order things that might set us back, but we needed a deadline to shoot for to keep us moving and making progress even on days we feel like being lazy and not working on it.

Here is the progress so far from the past 5 days:

The culprit!

Flooring, toilet, vanity, shower doors and shower walls removed

Paneling and some dry wall torn out

The new entrance to the bedroom makes so much more sense now!

There will be a wall here but for now you can see the entrance to the bathroom            All closed off          

What's not seen:
-hours of removing nails from boards
-learning that the shop vac is awesome but doesn't do well with nails, they get stuck in the hose
-having an original plan for the shower and it changing
-lots of staring at wires and evaluating how they should/can be reused or if they need replaced with something longer
-insane amount of time researching vanities, shower bases, shower walls, shower doors, tiles and flooring
-measuring, measuring, and measuring some more
-sweating our tushes off in the attic prying up boards and playing in the insulation with our mice friends

Main lesson learned:
-Never caulk around the base of a toilet because you can't see a leak right when it happens