Bathroom Project Week 4

So we've been working on the bathroom for 4 weeks now. I've started putting some time in during the week to catch up with the goal of finishing by the Super Bowl (Feb 7).

We had our electrical inspection, and for the most part we "passed". However, there was one notable mistake that I had to fix.

By taking the old bathroom electrical wiring off the old circuit, I had spliced the rest of the circuit (hallway light, adjacent room receptacles, etc) and put it in its own box below the new dual switch box seen here.

The idea was to just cover this junction box and 'bury' it behind the drywall, but apparently that's an no-no. He suggested putting a splice in the new switch box, but after running the numbers I found that I needed a slightly larger box to accommodate all the wires. I also had to cut out half a stud (non-load bearing) to access the switch for the other room so I could re-wire it. The old wire wasn't long enough to reach the new box, so I went ahead and replaced the wiring for that switch and it's receptacle.

Here's the splice in the new box. The new switches were taken out to install the new box.
With the electrical taken done, the next step is drywall. Here's the ceiling above the shower with a new recessed light. The trick for tracing the circular cut-out is to put some lipstick on the edge of the can and press up your drywall panel against the can so that it "kisses" the panel with a circle. Next some construction adhesive and drywall screws secure it into place.
One panel up, two to go! It's green which means it's moisture resistant.
Two down!
And done!
Next up, tub...

It's a fiberglass tub, so the instructions call for it to rest on foundation of plaster to help support the bottom. I've read that Sand Mix is also appropriate. It's a mixture of sand and Portland cement that's combined with water to create a concrete-like slab for the tub to rest on.

The tub to placed on the mound of wet concrete. Next we stood on the tub to smoosh down the concrete so that it bears nicely on the bottom.

Since the alcove isn't perfectly square, so we use some shims to nail the tub to the studs.
This wall next to the tub will have a niche for shampoo bottles, soap, etc. That's what we have framed out in this picture.
And since the alcove isn't square, new studs are nailed to the old ones so we'll have walls that are parallel to the tub flanges.
The new medicine cabinet will be recessed between two wall studs. Here we find that the medicine cabinet is 1/4" too wide so I had to cut one of the studs to create a larger opening.
Luckily I didn't damage the drywall for the adjacent room when removing the old stud. A 1/4" is all we needed.