Colfax Historic Bathroom Rebuild
Pre-1940 in-town Colfax home, 7×9 ft single bathroom. Full rebuild including subfloor replacement, plumbing modernization, real exhaust ventilation, and period-respecting hand-glazed tile work.
A representative Colfax project: pre-1940 in-town home, 7×9 single bathroom. Original cast-iron tub, tile shower with cement-board substrate, galvanized supply lines, no real exhaust ventilation. Walls measured a half-inch out of square at the corners — typical for this era.
What we changed
- Demoed to studs and replaced 8 ft of compromised subfloor under the original tub
- Replaced visible galvanized supply with PEX up to the manifold while the wall was open
- Built a Schluter Kerdi-membrane walk-in shower with a linear drain and bonded waterproofing throughout
- Ran a real exterior vent for the new exhaust fan (the original vented into the attic, as is common in this era)
- Worked the tile layout around the out-of-square walls — a deliberate Schluter shadow-line trim at one corner absorbed the variance cleanly
- Specified period-appropriate small-format hand-glazed tile, warm walnut wall-hung vanity, brass fixtures
Result
The bathroom reads modern but doesn't feel out of place in the hundred-year-old house. Active build was five weeks including the subfloor and plumbing scope; permit was pulled with City of Colfax.
