Master Bathroom – June 2023

Continuing with the master bathroom, I hung more drywall. I started with the ceiling on the other side of the door. While technically not part of the master bathroom, I’ve decided to include it here because it is the hallway to the master bathroom and I will be working that area at the same time.

Above you can see where the new attic access will be. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll have drop down ladder or simply put a cover that can be pushed up and out of the way so that a ladder can be put in place. More research will be required for that.

With the ceiling out of the way, I could start working on the walls. Walls are far more “fun” than hanging drywall on the ceiling, so it was nice to be able to graduate to the walls. I started with the west wall, which is an exterior wall. As usual, the insulation went in first and then I started hanging the boards.

This was the easiest wall to work on because it was straight and required no cut-outs.

Before hanging drywall around the toilet alcove, I had to fasten the water supply line. I picked up some dedicated hardware for that.

I like this because it did not require a 90 degree connector. I could simply bend the PEX 90 degrees and fit it to the metal bracket. I also added supports for the rest of the line as it rose to the ceiling.

After adding a couple of staples to keep the wires from the switch box together and secured to the stud, I put up the drywall around the outside (only) of the toilet alcove.

Before enclosing the electrical in drywall, an inspection was required, so I turned my attention to preparing for that. This meant securing any wiring I hadn’t and adding the required spray foam in the openings where the wire enters from the attic, which acts as a fire block. I also secured the water supply lines to the vanity, which I show below.

Here’s a closeup.

I scheduled the electrical rough in inspection on the weekend, so I had some time to wait for that, so I started hanging drywall in the places where I do not need pre-approval. This meant I could start on the entrance to the master bath and just inside the master bath.

Below I show a picture of the work in progress just so you can see that I have added sound insulation.

In the image above you’ll notice that I used some of the left over pieces I had of the water resistant drywall (blue). They were a suitable size, so I used them. I try to use as many of the off-cuts of drywall as I can. I have many hanging around, so I always look for opportunities to use them before cutting up a fresh sheet.

While working on the area I’m showing above, the inspector came and gave me the green light, so I was free to cover the rest of the master bathroom walls. Ideally I’d have started work on the shower, but the materials I ordered still hadn’t arrived, so I pushed on hanging drywall. The toilet alcove was next. As usual, I added sound insulation first. Very important in this area ;-).

Even though the toilet alcove is not fully enclosed (no door), adding the sound insulation does make a difference. It noticeably deadens the sound. The drywall was added next.

The next day, my kitchen cabinets arrived!

But there is an unfortunate story behind this, so we’ll take a bit of a detour before returning to the work in the master bathroom.

I first purchased cabinets from Chris Haley in December of 2019. I have referred to Chris on multiple occasions in much older posts. I paid in full for the cabinets and the installation. When Covid became an issue a few months later, I stopped work on the house. I contacted Chris and asked him to have the cabinets delivered. I wanted store them in the house because I didn’t want the order just hanging out there indefinitely. I didn’t know when I would resume work on the house. He was adamant that I not do that because of warranty issues, and that it was best to leave them in the warehouse of the manufacturer. So I took his advice and backed off.

It turned out that Chris’ insistence was really due to the fact that he never ordered the cabinets. When the time came to have them delivered, he stopped communicating. I could not reach him via phone, text, nor email. He blocked me. I did have one avenue open to me and that was via the fellow who he worked through to order cabinets. His name is Jared and just happens, by coincidence, to be someone I know. We used to work at the same company and had come to know each other from our mutual interest in working out. It was just a fluke that I discovered his relationship with Chris. One day Chris learned where I used to work and mentioned that his supposed “silent partner” Jared worked there too. When he told me Jared’s full name, I exclaimed “I know him!”. So that was kind of cool. Of course, this was way back before I knew Chris hadn’t ordered the cabinets. Jared was an engineer, but did this cabinet thing as a side hustle. It was only through Jared that Chris was able to get cabinets. So Jared was important to his business.

I hadn’t spoken with Jared in years, so when I could not get in touch with Chris, I contacted some former colleagues and they were able to put me in touch with Jared. My subsequent conversation with Jared made it clear to me that Chris never ordered the cabinets. Jared explained that no manufacturer would store cabinets for very long, let alone years. He was of the opinion that Chris could not have ordered them. Jared also tried to contact Chris, but he too had been blocked. It wasn’t quite as simple as this. It happened in stages, but I won’t bore you with the details. The bottom line is that I am no longer in contact with Chris and the money I gave him.

Fortunately, Jared did me big favor. Although he had nothing to do with this fraud, he volunteered to allow me to purchase the cabinets I wanted through him at his cost. That was very nice of him and I was very thankful for his help. We spent an afternoon at his house going over my order and he was able to steer me in the right direction. He was also able to speak directly with the delivery driver and the cabinets were delivered directly to my house. Normally they are delivered to Jared’s warehouse where I would have to rent a truck to pick them up and drive them to the house. So, despite being ripped off, my experience with Jared made this a whole lot better. Thank you Jared! Jared has since shut Chris off. Chris is no longer able to order cabinets through Jared. We both do not know what he is up to. I decided not to take legal action because it would mean more expense and effort that would likely not result in any benefit. I’m quite sure Chris doesn’t have any money, so would likely just declare bankruptcy. I mentioned the incident in a review on his web site and decided to move on.

Although I may never know, I don’t think Chris originally intended to rip me off. I suspect that when he cashed my check at the end of 2019, and knowing I would not be needing the cabinets for some time, figured he had plenty of time to place the order. That money should have been sitting in a separate business account, but I bet he wasn’t that organized. So it was probably just a pile of money available to him. He probably had some more pressing financial issues/desires at hand and used the money for them. After all, he kept in touch with me for more than three years, so he probably figured he’d come up with the money when needed (Charles Ponzi would relate). When time ran out, he just ran away, so to speak.

So that is the background and I am pleased that I now actually have kitchen cabinets. I’ve since moved the cabinets into the house to store them in an air conditioned space. I gave them a quick inspection and they looked fine. I’ve left them in the boxes to keep them from harm and then got back to work on the master bathroom.

Returning to the main thread, i started work on the vanity wall by first adding sound insulation.

Lots of nooks and crannies, so this was a bit of a chore. Since this wall backs onto the guest bedroom, it was important to add the sound insulation. This will also be added, and probably most importantly, to the area around the shower. The first board I added was the one that will be right beside the shower, so it was a moisture resistant board.

Unlike most of the boards I hang, I put this one up vertically. I did this because there was a pair of studs on the left edge where I could fasten it and retain the bevel (i.e., no trimming). But I also liked the idea of having no seem to tape, except up high, where there is unlikely to be any risk of splashing. It probably doesn’t really matter, but that is why I did it. The rest of the wall was hung in the usual manner.

I used regular drywall for the area further from the shower. Being far enough away from the shower, I didn’t think there was a need for the moisture resistant variety. I used some of the off-cuts of the blue board to cover the small area up top.

The wall adjacent to the shower entry was also hung using the blue board, since it too is subject to splashing.

I figured that after hanging the drywall, I would start working on the shower, but the Schluter products I ordered had still not arrived, so I pushed on with prefilling the gaps in preparation for taping.

After some light sanding, I moved on to taping.

While this was being done, I picked up the Schluter shower system materials and the floor tiles. But I didn’t just switch to working on the shower. Instead, I decided to continue with the drywall and take it further, adding two cover coats over the tape.

After the cover coats, I would normally start the skim coats. However, I decided I would leave that until the shower had been waterproofed. The waterproofing would have to interface with the drywall I just coated, and that interface will require a kind of taping that will overlap with the drywall. So I did not want to apply any finishing coats only to have to redo it at that interface. In preparation for hanging the Schluter Kerdi boards around the shower walls a few things would have to be done. The first was to hook up the shower valve and add water hammer arrestors.

This was done on the last day of June. Tomorrow, I start putting up the walls around the shower. But that will be chronicled in my next post.