Today: Counter-top bull-nose edging, applying wall surfacing material to the remaining bathroom underlayment surfaces, aluminum angle retainer for the under-bull-nose, and installing the ceiling light.
The remaining surfaces to cover (as you sit in the bathroom east to west) are the back wall (camper side wall) where it leaves the shower pan, up to the counter-top edge, then back horizontal over the counter-top surface, then a transition to the vertical of the wall behind and above the faucet area, then curving up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon - errr ceiling! Sorry, sometimes I break into song.
As the ceiling curves up and away, it continues over your head and smack-dab into a stopping point - where the ceiling meets the door wall. This is a tiny bathroom; there's not a lot of distance to the walls I just described right?
Wrong. It's greater than eight feet. Everything I found for wall surfacing material was no bigger than 4x8 sheets.
So planning in my head and with a tape measure - a long time ago - I concluded to make some logical breaks in the distance that might also aide in wet-bath water run-off - in a way that mitigates water pooling or leaking behind the material.
Enter - counter-top bull-nosing. Which I simply made out of a length of the biggest diameter "full-round" found in that one home center, that one day. I think it's 1 1/4".
Cut to length and then ripped (very carefully - due to it being round) on the table saw.
Once attached, it gave me a rounded edge (to locate the wall surfacing butt-joint on it's under-side.
Three screws, countersunk and angled into the appropriate behind-the-scenes cabinet framing.
It also slightly raises the edge so splashed water wants to stay on the counter instead of running off the front edge. Just like many kitchen or bath counters.
And then here's the bottom side.
We had also picked up some corner trim pieces (in almond for contrast - like a sort of beige gimp) for the material we were using. I tried it out in a few test fits and decided I wanted something a little firmer, stronger, better, faster, more able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So we'll take this stuff back.
Then after making my measurements (two pieces of stick - telescoping each other on adjacent stick surfaces, and clamped together to hold that position, makes a good tool for exact measurements on inside cabinet widths). So I marked my panels and cut the parts out. In addition to the longest length (over the ceiling) I had the door wall segment (like a long skinny upside down U), and the short segment below the counter bull-nose to the shower pan lip. Three pieces, shown here.
Spraying adhesive now would get all over the side-wall finished surfaces. Non-starter. So I broke into the can of contact cement and used a brush and roller.
One piece at a time, because once you get to installing, panic can easily take over. If things don't align, there is SOME opportunity to pull the material away from the underlayment and reposition it. But it is NOT forgiving. It IS minimal. And if things don't pan-out quickly, panic takes over.
If you've never seen a craftsman panic, you don't want to. It's not a sight (or actually a full-sensory experience) you can easily rid yourself of. Just walk away, do not look. Hold your hands over your ears if you aren't carrying anything. Leave the area immediately!
When you come back later, everything will be fine.
Note the one length, all the way from the door wall to ceiling corner, through the under-edge of the bull-nose. I think about 6-7 feet long.
I cemented the ceiling surface down to about the middle of the counter and stopped, both surfaces. Then I used a heat gun before cementing the rest, to form and fit the material end around the bull-nose.
But first, I cemented in the lower shorter wall segment from the bull-nose to the shower pan.
I was afraid the rounded counter-top edge would be too tight of a roll, and I was right, so in part of my panic, I grabbed a short length of angle aluminum, cut it to length, fitted and decided dimensions, ran back to the table saw (okay - skipped), quickly swapped blades to the metal cut-off, and ripped the angle to an appropriate width for the edge, then marked for holes and drilled that. Then pressed the part into position and screwed it down securely.
Then I breathed.
Now it had been very hard to measure and trim the material correctly. Because I had to use two hands to hold and press the material into the wall surface round, and then I had to use my third and fourth hands to measure and mark cut spots, whether on the left or right sides of the material. See - the camper is a rebuild, not a fresh build. That means some areas are not square.
Anyway, the part of the job that most required having the wide vocabulary tool-set handy was this gap problem.
The picture makes it look bigger than it is, but it was still a p****r.
This shows how it might be smaller than I feared.
I walked away. Did something else. Including allowing corrective ideas to come and go. The sub-conscious does a good job of organizing ideas.
I think I now have quite a decorative solution in mind (which hasn't yet been done in real time - so wish me luck).
At first I was going to caulk it, along with all the remaining inside corners. Like any shower. Still don't know for certain. The project is now in that state where you don't make any final decisions about anything, you just do one thing at a time, the thing that makes most sense, and THEN examine the entire place, to decide how to do the next step. This is the imaginative, fun part.
Except I keep looking at that gap. Too bad so sad. Moving along.
This side was better.
And without light.
Cutting out the sink opening was easy. Trouble light shining in the propane cabinet made the cut-out area quite visible from above. I simply ran the utility knife around the shadow edge. Still have to drill faucet holes.
I couldn't see real well in here. The light on the subject of most of the previous pictures was the hand-held trouble-light. I needed light while working with my hands, so let's get the ceiling light installed.
Here's the opening.
I used bullet connectors for install ease.
I grabbed a dot of butyl and sealed the wires hole.
Then positioned the light how I wanted it - switch toward the door, lengthwise for looks, equidistant from each wall, covering the hole, but casting a light angle that shown well on the counter while not being too shaded by my head. Just some things to think about.
Like on the other fixtures, I re-maxed the light labels to try and protect from melted lens covers.
Okay, that's better!
Note the back of the counter. The counter rolls right into the wall surface. Like a back-splash.
Next time we'll work on finish-framing the door opening and wall surface edge.
