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Project #3: The Guest Bath

BEFORE


This is how the guest bathroom used to look. You'll notice the obvious lack of showerization. Bummer! Well, we'll just have to fix that... .

CUTTING HOLES

The Master Plan called for the riser (pipe) for the shower head to run through a wall of eight-inch-square glass block. After piddling around with a hand drill and carbide spade bits, ruining two blocks, I called around and finally found a specialty glass shop that said they could cut the holes for me -- for $15 per cut, and they wouldn't guarantee zero breakage. (Plans required 10 cuts.) Ouch!

So I bought a drill press for a bit more than $150 and a carbide hole saw for $22. The beauty is that I get to keep the drill press.

All was not roses: I had to devise a scheme combining cooling and shock-conditioning to protect the glass. This is what I came up with: a plastic box filled with water, just large enough to hold one block. I used a spade bit first to drill a pilot hole that relieved the internal vacuum and allowed the block to fill with water, then just buzzed on through with the hole saw. It worked great!

Kids, note the safety goggles. This is not a joke! There was I time when I thought I was The Flash, and that my everyday glasses were plenty. Then one day I managed to get a chip of mild steel embedded in my left cornea while running a lathe. If you enjoy operating power tools, consider whether it would be as much fun with your vision limited to one eye... .

AFTER

Here's the more-or-less-complete project. I went about 30% over my estimate on this one, and couldn't afford to extend the existing tile tub surround into a shower surround, so I picked up a sheet of plastic "tileboard" for $20 as a temporary measure. Eventually I'll install cementatious backer board, continue the 4x4" tiles up the wall, and put in a sliding shower door. For now this is functional.
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