Bathroom Demolition: Two Burst Pipes and a Masterclass

Days thirty-one and thirty-two. The bathrooms’ turn came — and with it, the first taste of what our mentor had warned about.

Sofa-table reconnaissance. Day 31 was a half day: insulation boards finished in bedroom 2 and the eok-kan, then my brother and his wife toured furniture showrooms for the main dining piece. Their selection — a sofa-table hybrid — solves our missing-sofa problem inside the dining footprint, and (a point close to home for anyone with small children) lets parents eat with kids corralled comfortably beside them.

The teardown, in correct order. Day 32 brought back our demolition contractor from day one to direct the bathroom strip-out. The professional sequence: fixtures first — toilet, basin, mirror cabinet — then ceiling (that far counts as “basic demolition” in the trade), then wall tile, then floor tile. Each layer removed before the one below, so you can see what you’re about to hit.

We hit it anyway. Twice. The dread scenario in bathroom demolition is striking live plumbing under the floor — and despite reading the fixture positions and steering around likely runs, we burst the supply line twice. The response, both times: water meter already closed (the one precaution that turns a flood into a repair), then to the hardware store with a photo of the damage — the owner supplied a pipe cutter and repair sleeves and pointed at what to buy. Cut back the torn section, sleeve it, move on. We ended the day knowing our bathroom’s arterial map by heart, which no drawing could have taught us.

We left the ambiguous edges for the plumber — marked up the new toilet and shower positions against the existing lines so his day starts at full speed.

The waste run: a heaped one-ton load of accumulated timber and mixed debris — ₩75,000 transport (including a loading-wait surcharge), ₩160,000 disposal. The site breathes again.