Washroom Gets a Cleaning

The laundry room is small, but it took a lot of work to repair. Although the shingles were new, the roof above it leaked, and the original installer could not find and fix the leak.

I tore out the sagging ceiling and discovered that if I stood on the stairs, I could look up and see light where the roof met the brick wall above the room. I called in a roofing expert, and he finally found the problem was the flashing. He fixed it so I could go ahead and repair the ceiling. I ripped out some of the lath and plaster and blown-in insulation fell everywhere. I had to haul away insulation and dirt from under the stairs, bucket by bucket full. I insulated the ceiling area and the wall facing the kitchen. My trusted drywaller replaced the ceiling and the wall with drywall. He also repaired places were the plaster was badly damaged.

Some of the casings were missing, so an old family friend carved replacements. He did a wonderful job matching the original.

I replaced the beadboard with MDF (was easier and smoother than pine in this room), floor mouldings, chair rail, and stripped the paint off all the hardware. I painted the room my favorite cream color with white trim and installed a blind, painted and organized the original shelves and added a large boxed light.

The linoleum was in bad shape. My handyman rebuilt the sub floor and laid ceramic tile. The plumbing had to be redone for the new washer and dryer. I put up a handy unit to hang up the mop, broom, duster etc.