Retired nurse, Laura Allen loves her historic city of Mobile, Alabama, but her 1970's bathroom vanity was a relic she was ready to replace. Laura asked Ron for some help with a complete vanity makeover. Chipped silver on the mirror caused unattractive black edges.The countertop was outdated, and the sink was badly worn and scratched. Even the light fixture was ready for a new look. Laura could not wait for Ron's help.
Click Here For a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Take down light fixture and mirror:
- Since the vanity area was a bit tight, Ron began by handling the first few simple but hard-to-reach jobs, like removing the lights fixture and taking down the mirror.
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- Ron asked Laura to remove the drawers from the vanity while he ran outside to get his plumbing tools
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2. Disconnect plumbing:
- Under the sink, Ron showed Laura how to disconnect the P-trap with multi grooved, adjustable pliers.
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- Laura went to work unscrewing the drainpipe nuts and then removed the u-shaped P-trap. They placed a pan under the trap to catch the water that spilled out when the trap was removed.
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- Ron explained to Laura the purpose of the P-trap. The curved section is always full of water. This acts like a valve to keep the gases in the sewer from coming back up into the sink.
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- Next, Ron and Laura disconnected the water supply lines.
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3. Remove old countertop:
- First Ron had Laura ran a utility knife along the backsplash to cut through the paint and caulking.
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- Next, Laura attempted to separate the backsplash from the wall by gently hammering a putty knife between the two. Unfortunately, the adhesive bond was too strong and the putty knife would not do the trick.
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- Ron suggested that Laura try a pry bar next. Using a putty knife to protect the wall, Laura tried to pry the backsplash away from the wall. Unfortunately, the putty knife was under too much pressure and broke through the sheetrock leaving a hole in the wall that would need to be repaired.
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- Before repairing the hole, they still needed to remove the rest of the backsplash and the countertop. Once they finally pried it free, they lifted the old countertop away from the vanity.
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- Ron got a little help from Laura's son-in-law, Charlie, to carry the whole piece out of the bathroom.
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4. Hole repair:
- This next step was a slight detour that hopefully you won't encounter.
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- First, Ron cut a rectangular drywall patch and placed it over the damaged area, tracing around it with a felt pen.
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- Next, he cut out the shape with a drywall saw. Ron then blew up an ordinary balloon for a handy trick. He called the balloon his special wall-patching tool.
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- The balloon acted as a clamp for a piece of dry wall that Ron cut slightly larger than the hole he was going to repair. He called this piece a backer board. Ron applied some glue to the front surface, inserted the balloon into the hole and pressed the backer board against the balloon and inside the hole. The balloon pushed the backer board forward, forcing the piece of drywall against the backside of wall and holding it in place while the glue dried.
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