Fixing up the house

Now that the toilet has been loosened and you are ready to take it out you need to know that there is a wax ring at the bottom of it that makes the seal to the plumbing and it sticks down under the toilet. This will need to be covered with plastic (like one of those grocery bags) or paper or removed so it wont make a mess if you set it down on the floor. I don’t think you are going to want to clean the wax off the floor.

Maybe you should get some help carrying the toilet out of the house. They are very awkward to carry alone. Now plug the hole in the floor so you don’t have to smell the sewer gases while you take the vanity apart. You can stuff an old rag in the hole or there are plastic plugs you can get from the hardware store that are made just for the floor flange.

If you have an old house that has the lead toilet plumbing you will need to upgrade this. I have gone and purchased a new flange that will slip down into the lead and then sealed it between the flange and the lead with the wax ring and then screwed the new flange to the floor. Use a new wax ring for this. The one that is just wax with no plastic in it. This is a little messy but it makes a seal that will last as long as the plumbing will.

If you can get to the main drain from under the toilet without tearing out your ceiling then it is better to change the lead to ABS and glue it together. You can get rubber grommets that hook the ABS to the cast iron sewer pipe and make a very tight seal.

Now back to the vanity. You should have the water supply lines disconnected now but if not go ahead and remove them. (turn off the valves so you don’t get a shower under the sink. Usually a clockwise rotation to turn them off.)

Remove the drain P-trap. Now it is time to get the top off the vanity. You will have a few different possible ways to get the sink off. If it is a one piece top with molded sink then it will be glued somehow to the vanity so you will need a putty knife to wedge under the top between the vanity and top to get it cut loose. If the screws holding the vanity to the wall can be accessed when the top is in place and you can get them out then the top can just remain on the vanity and the screws removed and the vanity carried away complete.

The other way of getting the sink off is a drop in sink that is simply glued with adhesive caulk to the top. Once again the putty knife comes into play and you wedge it under the sink edge and cut it loose. (Caution here, if you are reusing the sink be careful and gentle when cutting it loose so you don’t chip the edge and make it ugly.)

Now the counter top pulled loose and the screws or nails that hold the vanity to the wall are removed and the vanity carried out.

Now you should be down to the bathtub on a simple bathroom.

You will have already made the decision on whether or not to keep the tub. If you are keeping it then maybe you want to cover it up to protect it. You can purchase a thin plastic tub liner-protector from the Home Depot or Lowes that will work great. They are cheap and worth it.

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Ok, let’s review for a moment:

1. Planning the remodel, this is where you decided what extent you were going to with the bathroom.
2. Removing the toilet, step by step instructions to remove a toilet
3. removing the vanity, step by step instructions to remove a vanity

If your plans involve removing the bathtub then you are in for a little work now. To get a regular tub out you have to remove the wall covering on the front sides, top sides and back. There is a flange that sticks up behind most tubs that stops water from seeping back behind and it is also used to fasten the tub in place.

The tub/shower valve handles need to be removed. There should be a little cap on the top of the handle or handles. pry them out and it will expose a screw head. If the faucet valve is really old there could be rust in here and if you can’t get the screw out you may have to figure out how to get it out. A good drill bit and drill straight into the top of the screw will remove the screw head and you can get the handle off. Then you can grab the screw shank with a pliers if you are going to be saving the valve. Just leave it if you are replacing it. That’s about the easiest way to get one of those screws out.

Now remove the fill spout for the tub. There are a couple ways these are attached. Some have a set screw just next to the wall and under the spout. Loosen it and pull the spout out away from the wall. Most likely it is an “allen wrench” about 1/8″ or so. The other way is screwed on and a counter clockwise rotation will get it off. It may be on there pretty tight.

If you have a shower door the frame needs to be taken apart. First thing is to remove the doors. They should lift up to get the wheels off the track and then pulled out on the bottom (or in) and lowered then they should be loose. There may be a guide bar screwed to the bottom to keep it in the channel and that has to be removed first before lifting. Then once the doors are out of the way take out the screws for the frame and take it apart. There may be a bunch of silicone caulk around it so prying may come into play here.

If there are tiles on the wall or a plastic/fiberglass surround for the tub that will need to be removed as well so you can get to the drywall or tile backer board that will have to be removed. I find that a drywall taping knife works pretty good to get under older tiles and sometimes a little hammering action with a masons chisel under the edge of the tiles.

The same goes for the surround with a big drywall taping knife to wedge in behind to get it loose. Don’t worry if you pull off some of the paper on the drywall. This can be fixed or replaced when the new tub is in place. When I am replacing a tub I take all of the sheet rock off and start over with new and if I am using tile I place a tile backer board instead. This way if the grout has any leaks the board behind will resist the water and make it cause no damage.

Now that the tub is all exposed and the flange edge has any fasteners removed it is time to remove the plumbing drain. The drain on the bottom most commonly screws out of the hole. You can take a pair of pliers and a big screw driver to get this out. Stick the handles of the pliers into the hole so it goes through the cross grate in the drain. (You know that spot that always catches all the hair and stuff you have to clean out or the tub fills up when you shower.) There may be a screw holding a screen in place that has to come off first. Put the screw driver through the middle area on the handles so you can use it to spin the pliers counter clockwise. Now when you have that out you can take the overflow apart. First take off the cover and remove the drain stopper if there is one. You should have two screws for the cover and then a rod going down the hole. Just pull the rod all the way out and there should be a pipe looking thing on the end that will have to be wiggled a bit to get it out. Now there should be just two more screws to remove that hold the drain up against the tub right where you just pulled out the drain stopper. Take them out and the tub is free.

There you have it. The tub is now ready to be lifted out of it’s space.

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