Buildings and water don’t mix well. That fact was impossible to ignore when I had the old bathroom joists exposed. Those joists had been subjects to small water leaks through the old bathroom floor for years.

The more one can keep water away from and out of a building, the less can go wrong and the more built-in durability the building has. Yet, no one I know would like a building without a bathroom. So we are doing that risky thing: bringing water into the building.

Because we like the convenience of a bathroom (or two, or three) in our building, the exercise becomes one of risk management and reduction. There is plenty of building science, expertise, and strategies one can draw from. And there are time tested materials that help in the endeavour of bathroom risk management. (I should trademark this term!)

I wrote about the 1st floor bathroom layout, but I will leave this subject alone as the 2nd floor bathroom will be a mirror image. But I also documented our strategies and materials used during the basement and 1st floor bathroom installation. Because this is such a critical and potentially impactful subject, and because corners are still cut too many times, I will walk you step by step through the installation of our 2nd floor bathroom.

Hopefully I can fill in some knowledge gaps that I missed in the past. Stay tuned and enjoy the read!

Related posts:

• Bathroom grouting
• Bathroom wall tiling
• Bathroom floor tiling
• The bathroom corner issue
• 1st floor bathroom waterproofing
• Durability and shower drain flashing
• Bathroom cement board
• Slippery Slopes?
• Pouring the bathroom floors
• New bathroom floor
• 1st floor bathroom layout
• 2nd floor joist adventure
• Finishing the bathroom tile
• Fixing the mess
• Messing with floor tile
• Bathroom water proofing – walls
• Bathroom water proofing – floor
• Bathroom basics
• Floor joist adventure
• Problem area bathroom