Yeah, the old bathroom (above) doesn't exactly deserve a round of applause.
Though I encountered a lot of challenges while redoing my new home, the bathroom was one of the most difficult. This bathroom had a lot of water damage, and the vanity was literally disintegrating. No, really -- when we removed it it fell apart! We tossed that and the old toilet, and got ready to trash the floor too. I wanted to lay down new floor, but to do that you've gotta get rid of the old first.
Me and my team first tackled the nasty peel n' stick that you see in the picture above. But once we got through that, there was another peel n' stick layer. Once we got through THAT, there was a layer of green and yellow linoleum! I almost stopped there, but I kept going. under the linoleum we discovered an inch-thick layer of adhesive... and below that, something amazing:
Peeking through the adhesive was this original, and adorable honeycomb tile! I really wanted to save it, but that adhesive was, well, adhering to it pretty good.
We tried scraping, we tried melting, we tried chemical remover. Only after letting the remover sit and then attaching it with razors and flathead screwdrivers could we get the goo off. It took three cans of remover and 15 hours of scraping over a five-day period to get rid of it all. There were points where I almost changed my mind (usually after yelling "SONOFABITCH!" at the gunk), but after a few hours of labor I was resolved to save it.
And save it we did! I'm so happy with the end results. It's cute, and a piece of the house's history. I think that this tile (and me n' my crew's blood, sweat, and tears) deserves a real standing ovation!
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