DIY Network

Finished In 48: Peek-A-Boo Bathroom Gionni Thompson helps a couple out with a rather unusual bathroom remodel. His list of tips, broken down by project elements, may help you with a bathroom renovation of your own. From "Finished in 48" episode DF48-102

A couple with an older home with — of all things — a shower in the middle of their kitchen hopes to renovate their entire bathroom in just 48 hours with the help of DIY's Gionni Thompson. Whether you're making over a bathroom, closet or kitchen, here are some of Gionni's choice tips for taking on a renovation project like this one.

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	Before: A shower in the middle of a kitchen is no luxury spa experience.
	After: With some wall additions and a glass tile feature, the new bathroom is quite the improvement.
	Masking tape placed in a criss-cross pattern over the glass surface prevents a broken-glass mess when pryinf off the old mirror that was affixed to the wall.

Demolition Tips

1. When removing mirrors that are glued to the wall, be sure to thoroughly cover them with masking tape before doing any prying. Apply the tape across all of the glass in a zigzag or random pattern. That way, if and when the mirror breaks, the glass shards will be small and won't fly out all over the place, potentially causing injury. Also, wear safety glasses and don't stand right in front of the mirror while you're working so if glass does break out it won't hurt you.

2. The Merkels wanted to recycle as many materials as they could salvage after the demolition. A lot of the two-by-fours were in good shape but they were still covered in nails and screws. Rather than waste time unscrewing all the screws, you can simply knock off the heads with a hammer. Just give the screws a good whack right where they meet the wood and they should break off flush. The nails you can pull out easily with a hammer. Now, you can reuse the boards if needed.

Tips For Working With Old Construction

3. As much as you can, plan for setbacks when working on older buildings because once you start ripping things apart, you never know what you're going to find. Performing renovations on buildings that are close to a hundred years old can mean one headache after another. There's a reason they call these kinds of places "money pits." Often, it's a case where multiple previous owners have attempted to update the building to suit their individual needs, building on top of more previous construction. The layers of change can be numerous and almost impossible to track, making it difficult to foresee just what all a renovation project may entail. Better to be prepared for the worst.

Old Wiring

4. A lot of time was spent on this project trying to figure out where all the old runs of wiring came from and led to. While electrical can be a big job and should usually be left to the experts, here are some tips if you're having trouble.

• Alwayws make sure the power is turned off at the source before handling, moving or cutting any wires.
  
• Double and triple-check that the power is off before you get started.
  
• Wear gloves and use insulated tools.
  
• You can purchase a relatively inexpensive voltage detector, which will beep when you've got a hot wire and need to shut off the power before working any more. Live wires are very dangerous!
  
• If you ever get stuck or confused with electrical issues, call a professional for help. A big part of DIY is knowing your limitations. A rookie mistake could be deadly the first time. Don't take any chances!

5. If you need to cut into a wall or ceiling to track down or install some wires, you can precut a piece of drywall to the size and shape of the hole you need to work in, making repair of the hole that much easier. Place the cut piece of drywall up against the ceiling, draw around the piece with a pencil, then score the ceiling along those lines with a box cutter or the like. Do not blindly cut into the ceiling with a saw, you could hit loose wires or copper piping. Instead, bust through it with a hammer and pull the loose drywall down. The lines you scored should make this possible, just be sure you scored deep enough. Once you're done, you can simply put the pre-cut shape into the hole and tape and mud over that, which is easier than trying to measure and cut a piece of drywall after the fact.

6. If you end up having to drill holes in the ceiling to provide access for a new wire or to reroute an existing one, make sure to be safe. After all your electrical becomes set, you should spray some polyurethane foam into the holes you created to plug them shut. The reason for this is to cut down on the amount of air reaching up into the ceiling where your electrical wires are hidden. These holes can be a big fire hazard. By sealing them off, if there is an electrical spark or fire up in the ceiling, instead of spreading it will be suffocated instantly without oxygen able to reach it.

Pocket Door Tip

7. When hanging pocket doors, there are two clips that are supposed to hold the door in place with the glider, one on each corner (front and back) of the door. In this episode, Gionni and the Merkels read the manufacturers' instructions that came with the door and found that they suggested putting one of the clips on the back corner of the door. But, they quickly realized that once the jambs and trim were in place the clip would no longer be accessible if they needed to change anything about the door in the future. This problem was solved by moving the clip forward a few inches before hanging the door. That way, if the Merkels ever want to remove or replace the door for any reason they won't have to take all the trim off, too. Just make sure that the trim does not hide the clip for future use.

Glass Block Installation Tips

8. Mix only as much mortar as you can use in about an hour. You don't want it to dry out before you get to use it. Ideally, the mortar should be the consistency of peanut butter when you begin the mortaring process. Work quickly once it is made so that you don't wind up wasting too much of it.

9. The bottom row of blocks is the most important because this is the foundation for the rest of your window/wall. Apply about a half inch of mortar then put down your first row of blocks. You'll want to use plastic spacers to make sure the blocks sit a quarter-inch apart from each other horizontally. If you use too much mortar it will squish out of the sides and you can wipe it off. It's easiest to wipe off the excess mortar while it's still soft. Just use a wet rag. If you don't use enough mortar, you can't pack any more in once the blocks are set, so it's better to use too much at first. In this episode, the Merkels used their fingers instead of the trowel to pack the mortar in between the blocks. This got the mortar into the cracks a little easier and gave the dried mortar a nice round-looking finish.

10. When measuring the opening for your glass block window, multiply the number of glass blocks you want to use horizontally by the width of the blocks, and don't forget to account for the mortar, backer board, spacers and foam expansion strips. Do the same for your vertical measurements. If you do not allow yourself a little more room than you think you'll need you may run out of space for your last row. The Merkels ended up having to take out the foam expansion strips on the bottom and the backer board from the header to squeeze in the last row of blocks on top.

Note: When contemplating how to "make it fit," if you find at this point your measurements are off, the foam expansion strip should be the first thing to go. The purpose of these strips is to provide your glass and mortar, which are both inflexible once the mortar dries, room to expand and contract without cracking the glass. This should not affect it if your glass block is being used indoors, in a controlled climate, and is being placed up against wood and/or drywall. But, if the glass block is being used in an exterior-facing wall, against metal, or in a place where there could potentially be a lot of drastic temperature changes from day-to-day it is not a good idea to forego the expansion strips.