A full bathroom remodel in Marina del Rey, taken from demolition through to a finished, tiled and fitted room. The scope included stripping the existing bathroom back, correcting the substrate, waterproofing the wet area, tiling the shower enclosure and floor, and installing the new vanity, toilet, shower fittings and glass. The green vertical tile was set with tight, consistent joints and the layout was planned so cut tiles fall in the least visible corners rather than at eye level. Coastal properties in Marina del Rey and the surrounding beach communities deal with constant humidity, so the waterproofing detail behind the tile matters more here than almost anywhere else in Los Angeles. We use a full membrane system in the shower area and seal every change of plane. Most bathrooms of this size run two to three weeks depending on fixture lead times and whether plumbing is being relocated.
A condominium in Marina del Rey, built in 1989, on an upper floor. Working in a condo close to the water changes almost everything about how a bathroom gets built: there is a neighbour directly below, the building has rules about working hours and about what can go down the waste, salt air has been working on every metal fixing for thirty years, and there is no margin for a leak.
A full refit of the main bathroom in a light stone-look tile, a larger shower without a step, and better light. She also asked, quite reasonably, that the neighbour below never find out we were there.
The original shower had a moulded pan with a bead of silicone doing the work that a proper waterproofing detail should have been doing. It had already failed at the joint between the pan and the wall, and the substrate behind was damp. Fixings in the wall behind the vanity had corroded, which is normal this close to the ocean. The existing fall on the shower floor was inconsistent, and the waste position meant a curbless floor would have needed the drain moved.
Moving the shower waste so the floor could be genuinely level with the bathroom floor. The alternative was to keep the drain where it was and either build a step or accept a fall that runs slightly the wrong way at one edge. Clients accept that compromise all the time and then live with a puddle in the corner of the shower for the next fifteen years. Moving a waste in a condo slab is the least fun part of a job like this and it is the reason the finished floor drains completely.
In a house, a shower that leaks slowly damages your own subfloor and you find out eventually. In a condo it damages the ceiling of the unit below, and you find out from the building manager. Every decision on this job, the liquid membrane, the banded corners, the flood test, the flexible joints instead of grout in the corners, exists to make sure that phone call never happens.