After removing the vanity, and wall tiles I got back to work on the floor.  At first I was using my chisel (in the upper left) but after awhile I realized that the easiest way was to just hit the tiles dead on with the hammer, after a few hits they would break up and come off the mortar.   Actually ended up being much easier than I thought.

After removing the vanity, I set upon removing the tile that was behind it, and removing the medicine cabinet that was recessed into the wall.  The tiles came off quite easily using a large cold chisel, and the medicine cabinet was attached with just a few screws.

Before I could demo the rest of the floor I needed to remove the old vanity.  I was hoping to get it off in one piece, however this proved to difficult and I ended up breaking it apart to get rid of it.   After carefully undoing all of the plumbing connections on the sink, I lifted the sink up.  To my surprise, the drain did not come apart at the spot where I had undone it, but had instead just ripped in two at the trap.  After taking a moment to be impressed with my own strength, I realized that the walls on the drain pipe were incredibly thin, and I was once again happy that we had decided to get rid of it, as it seemed like just a matter of time before it failed.  Another interesting note is that this appears to not have been the original sink, as it looks like there are holes in the tile to support a pedestal sink.

The demolish has begun!  We’ve finally taken the plung, and past the point of no return.  I started demolishing the old bathroom today, starting with the floor of the bathroom.  The floor is made of small tiles set in a bed of thick mud, over a metal lath.  Using my regular hammer it was very slow going, and alot of work.  The obvious solution? Buy a bigger hammer!  I swung over to Lowes on the first of many (many, many, many) trips and picked up a small (3lbs?) sledge hammer.  Since this was on the second floor and I didn’t really feel like destorying my house, I refrained from getting a full size sledge.  This new hammer made the work much, much easier and soon I had a nice size hole going.

This is the real cause of the bathroom remodel.  While the rest of the bathroom is ugly and dated, it is still perfectly functional.  The shower however is leaking.  It appears that the shower pan has failed, and that combined with the cracking grout is causing the problems.  The preivous homeowner had tried to seal the cracks with caulk, however this was only a temporary fix. 

Well this is what the bathroom originally looked like.  Its old, its dingey, and yes even a little gross.  The sink coated in soap scum is quite nice, and while you can see it there is a nice pile of mold, and/or mildew growing  in the shower!  The window is also quite filthy and the aluminum frame is just wonderful for transferring the heat out of the bathroom.  My personal favorite however is the wallpaper, which is a nice brown metallic, and its even on the ceiling!  In the coming months, I will hopefully transform this 70’s era commode into a nice modern bathroom, and thanks to the power of the interweb, you can see the whole progress!