wingless’ Master Bathroom Remodeling

winglessMember since Nov 2017Apr 26, 2026 10:03 AM CT

The master bathroom in my 33 year old home was showing it’s age. There was lots that was very nice, like the expansive usage of matching synthetic marble, but even that had degraded from years of usage scratches on the vanity. The faucet metal had surface corrosion spots. The shower valve dripped into the shower during usage. The bottom edge of the mirror had black instead of shiny, caused by water capillary action working up from the sink backsplash. At some point someone used a paintbrush to paint the vanity cabinet faces, making it ugly to me.

Changing all the bathroom light fixtures was one of the first projects when I purchased the house, so that was already done.

A local glass company was contracted to remove / replace all the glued on bathroom mirrors. They remove the mirror and leave the bathroom for me to finish w/o the mirror, then return w/ a new mirror. The mirror in all three bathrooms had bottom edge degradation, from capillary water migration up from resting on the vanity backsplash. My attempt at preventing that damage is for the new mirror to now be mounted 1” above the top backsplash edge. To that end, they screw an aluminum angle iron to the wall to hold the bottom edge of the mirror. I’m probably going to modify an aluminum angle iron prior to replacing the next mirror so that it only holds the corners, instead of the entire bottom edge. That glass company will also be bonding a tall mirror to the wall, hidden by the open door, on their next visit to the house.

All of the mismatched towel racks and toilet paper holder were removed and discarded.

The walls were sanded and cracks filled. I used my decades old / thousands of operating hours Festool RO150FEQ sander along w/ my new Festool CT36 EI AC dust extractor, starting w/ Festool Granat P80 abrasive discs and finishing w/ Festool Granat P100 abrasive discs. The several layers of thick texture paint roller orange peel are removed to restore a smooth wall finish, prior to painting the walls w/ a smooth 3/16” nap roller. Ceiling cracks were filled and sanded (knock down ceiling finish), then roller painted.

The walk-in shower had a glass half wall and a door. Those were removed and discarded, I had previously noted during usage that water never reached that glass and I prefer the appearance w/o the glass.

My old-school preference on the fixture’s water supplies is to use rigid chrome-plated 3/8” copper risers, cut and formed to the specific length and shape for each supply. I also dislike the old multiple turn shutoff valves and instead use the ¼ turn valves. My preference on those ¼ turn shutoff valves is the type w/ a compression nut connection to the ½” copper water supply pipe.

When I implemented those supply connection changes, I first shut off the house water, blew air backwards to clear those valves / pipes of water, then unsoldered those old multiple turn shutoff valves from my ½” copper supply pipe stubs. I then cleaned and polished the exterior of those pipe stubs w/ heat and w/ emery paper.

My pipe stubs also had an accumulation of internal crud at the end of the stubs. I used an old pipe brush to clean that as much as possible.

One thing I discovered is that my entire house is plumbed using the thinner wall Type M copper pipe. Whenever I’m doing plumbing, I ONLY use the thicker wall Type L copper pipe. For this project, the BIG effect of having the thinner wall pipe is that it’s MUCH more difficult to attain a drip-free connection on the shutoff valve compression fittings w/ Type M pipe than w/ Type L.

A VERY nice aspect of using compression fitting shutoff valves is that it is EASY to fine tune the rotation when connecting the rigid supply pipe.

The wall bottom edge behind the toilet had prior water damage, affecting the Sheetrock and the baseboard. I removed and discarded all the baseboard. I cut off the bottom edge of the Sheetrock behind the toilet for replacement. One concern I had was that the new toilet, that was going to ne installed in all the bathrooms has a wider rear edge than the prior one, so I relocated the pipe stub farther away from center to avoid the possibility of problems at the final stages. Of course I used Type L on this new stub.

The original single-handle shower water valve dripped to the shower floor during usage and was going to be replaced w/ this core and this trim. To effect that change I needed to remove the adjacent laundry room Sheetrock wall, to expose the copper plumbing for rework. The old / original shower valve was narrow. The supply pipes were waaay to close, so I NEEDED to add some 90° bends for the new valve. I built up and soldered the new shower valve as a sub assembly outside on the driveway, then made the final connections inside, in the wall cavity behind the shower synthetic marble / Sheetrock wall, in the laundry room.

As always, whenever I’m using my torch inside, I use my flame / heat blanket and also have a pump spray bottle of water to quickly extinguish ANY problems.

After the new shower valve was installed, I replaced and refinished the laundry room Sheetrock.

This adjacent wall shower valve method will also work well when I replace the hallway bathroom valve. I am probably out of luck on the pool bathroom because the shower valve is on an exterior wall, made of concrete block covered w/ knock down stucco.

This Moen Magnetix Dual Shower Head w/ this Moen 14” Shower Arm were used in the shower. The standard 6” arm was replaced w/ this longer arm so the spray could be directed downwards instead of sideways. A typical shower wand connects at the base, this one connects at the head, so IMO the longer arm is required w/ a Magnetix wand to permit spraying down.

All of the synthetic marble was sanded, then wet sanded, then polished, to remove all the usage blemishes. WHAT A HUGE improvement! This vanity had LOTS of usage scratches.

The synthetic marble joints had been filled w/ white caulk. That never looked and worked well. ALL of that was scraped off and scooped out, also used the shop vacuum. Removing ALL the old white caulk was VERY time consuming. I DIDN’T want random old white caulk showing w/ new off white grout at the joints. The shower has floor-to-ceiling synthetic marble panels. The bottom corners under the narrow wall had large gaps. Off white grout, matching the synthetic marble base color was used on all the joints. In the shower bottom corner large gaps LOTS of grout was forced in to fill those cavity voids. Each bottom corner took several cups of grout. VERY glad I used this method. I’ve used this shower plenty since completion and this looks like it will outlast me (my current longevity standard).

At some point someone used a paintbrush to paint the vanity doors and drawer faces. I attempted to vacuum sand those so I could aerosol paint the faces. I was VERY disappointed w/ the results and abandoned that plan. I selected and ordered custom Schuler Cabinetry Manhattan doors and drawer faces in maple wood, painted Sea Salt Classic White color. Very, very, very glad w/ this choice. It was expensive, took a long time and was difficult to install, but the results are amazing. Now the bathroom vanity no longer has the old, dated appearance.

The prior knobs were fine. I just cleaned them w/ WD-40 and a paper towel. Now they again look new.

Used my laser beam for a precise installation. What I found was that the vanity was / is slightly off level, so I REALLY like that my DeWALT DW03601 laser level may be toggled from providing an automatic level red laser line to instead provide an off-level line. I used the off-level line to have the new faces exactly match the cabinet. Someone screwed up my special order entry and one drawer face was 3” too wide, so I need to wait for a correct replacement drawer face to fully complete the MBA.

It would have been sooo much easier / less expensive to swap the vanity, but I’m pretty sure that would have destroyed the synthetic marble sink / countertop, w/ that matching material used throughout the MBA, so that wasn’t an option.

The ceiling, walls, door, trim and new baseboard was painted. Everything that I can sand / paint on saw horses, I use that method. When I installed the new baseboard (using my DeWALT DCN660 16 gauge finish nailer) I used joint compound, not caulk at the top edge, to improve the paint line between wall and baseboard. All of the nail holes are filled w/ wood filler and touched up.

The faucets are installed on a bed of plumber’s putty. The instructions CLEARLY state to NOT use the rigid 3/8” chrome-plated copper risers and instead MUST use the flexible risers that I would never use. “Install using 3/8” or ½” IPS faucet supply lines only. DO NOT USE RIGID SUPPLY RISERS (3/8” COPPER OR PEX) WITH COUPLING NUTS. THE USE OF RIGID RISERS WILL RESULT IN CONNECTION FAILURE AND POTENTIAL LEAKS. I REALLY like that this faucet set includes an EASY tool for removing / replacing the aerator, both for initial flushing and for later cleaning. I REALLY like that this faucet has a plastic drain set, w/ a push to stop, push to drain plug. No drain corrosion possible AND EASY to clean for those suffering w/ hair.

All three house toilets are changing to this Kohler 38484-0 Transpose Comfort Height toilet. This has the ContinuousClean system to automatically dispense cleaning solution with every flush. I use a Clorox Ultra Clean tablet in the internal special bin. This tablet plus the CleanCoat™ surface treatment keeps the toilet VERY clean. One of the reasons for my having selected this toilet is the smooth flat lower sides, instead of the typical curved cylindrical water passage shapes.

The MBA now has Moen Genta LX towel rod, towel hook and toilet paper holder. My DeWALT laser level was again used to get these level and the towel rods at the same height on different walls. The hardware provided w/ those Moen Genta LX towel rods included these TOGGLER Drywall Anchors. I liked those sooo much that I purchased an additional box to have on-hand for future projects.

The glass block window now has a motorized blackout roller shade. Artwork was selected and hung in the bathroom.

Other than the last drawer face, it is very nice to have the Master Bathroom DONE!

Old Shower Glass Half Wall and Door