DIY Bathroom Shiplap Tutorial

In this video I'm going to show you how I updated this half bathroom by making my own shiplap paneling and the total cost for this project will be less than a hundred dollars. Let's go! I decided the first step was to paint the walls. I plan on having a gap in between each shiplap board but don't want the previous paint to shine through so I taped everything down and painted the room the same color as the shiplap boards. However looking back if you're just going to paint the shiplap boards after you hang them I would recommend just doing it then. To move forward I need to remove everything from the room and I'll start with a vanity. Remove any bolts or anchors on the wall then grab a bucket or bowl to catch any water. To remove the pipes twist off the coupling nuts then remove the j-trap. Next twist the handle to turn off the water valves then grab some pliers or a wrench to take off the hoses. Again make sure you turn the valves to turn the water off or else water will get everywhere and your kids won't respect you. Also make sure to catch the water inside the hoses. With the water hoses detached and the j-trap removed we're good to take off the vanity. Simply grab it and pull it away from the wall. With the vanity gone the next step is to remove the toilet. Usually behind the toilet you'll find the water valve. Turn off the water give it a flush then remove the hose. Catch the water inside then push up the flush valve. Take off the lid move everything out of the way and grab a towel to soak up any remaining water. You'll next need to remove the bolts that are holding down the back tank. Take that off and you're good to go. Next grab a stud finder and a long level to measure out the studs throughout the room. However to measure all the studs I'll need to also take off the mirror. To do that you'll need to remove any screws or anchors around the mirror. However mine was still glued to the wall. If it's glued the best way to take off a mirror is to get a packet of these shims. They're about a dollar fifty and work great. I also recommend using a rubber mallet not a metal one. What you're going to do is hammer the shims all the way around the mirror. Put one or two in then go to the opposite side and pound the others. Go all the way around the mirror and you'll hear the glue separating. Be ready to catch the mirror as it will pop right off. Unfortunately on my mirror they really packed the glue so it pulled off some of the sheet rock. We removed the vanity, the toilet and the mirror and measured out all the studs throughout the room. So now let's go get the shiplap. I went with a one-fifth inch hardwood plywood underlayment that comes in four by eight sheets. It was about fourteen dollars per sheet and I ended up getting four sheets for the room. The bathroom we're measuring is 61 inches long so I came up with a pattern like this. We cut the sheet at 61 inches and use the remainder to cut four foot long strips. You'll want to come up with a similar pattern before you go and buy the wood. Once the wood is purchased you'll need to get it cut down. I was lucky and had mine cut in the store but they generally don't do that. If they do help you out make sure to buy them a drink to say thanks. If it's not cut in the store you'll need to use a table saw to cut them down. While you're there grab some sandpaper because you're gonna need it. The next step is the most important and that's sanding down the wood. I tried a hand sander but after about five minutes I decided to get out the electric sander. I threw on a 220 grit grain and spent the next two hours sanding. It was pretty intense. With the wood sanded I organized them by size. To hang the shiplap I grabbed some 18 gauge one and a quarter brad nails and I used a ryobi air gun and it worked fantastic. It became my new favorite tool. I went from the top to the bottom and I spent extra time making sure the two top boards were level. When putting on the shiplap make sure you're hammering into the studs that we measured out before. Now when hanging up the next board here's a trick I found to keep it straight. If you get two nickels and tape them together it makes a perfect spacer for hanging the remaining boards. Make about four sets as they're easy to lose and you'll need extra spacers when hanging the longer ones. After getting two boards down I had to take out the light set and it became a little dark while filming. To take out a light base like this it's actually very easy. Flip the breaker and underneath or inside the socket you'll find a screw which will allow you to take off the cover. Take off the base plate and anything else so only the wires are exposed. Get your board and measure out a place to cut a hole for the wires. To cut it I used a jigsaw but a handsaw will work as well. It doesn't need to be perfect as it's going to be covered up by the base plate. I then took a minute to cover up the holes from the mirror. I threw on a few more boards and saw that everything was starting to come together. However when I got about four feet down I encountered a problem. The drywall is not straight and bowed about an eighth of an inch inwards so I had to cut my boards to fit. With the boards cut and sanded I was able to go and finish one of the walls. I took a minute to hammer in any loose nails then fill all the nail holes in with putty and caulk all the corners. Caulking the corners is optional depending on the look you want. Now I want to take a minute to talk about a few lessons learned. The most important thing is to do a good job sanding the shiplap but you'll also want to go back and putty any blemishes found in the wood such as a long strip found here. The second most important thing is to make sure all the corners line up correctly. It really stands out if they're misaligned. I would recommend taking the time to check every board that the corners line up and the spaces are equal. I wanted to share those tips out now before we got too far along. Next up is to cut the shiplap around the pipes. You can see I saved the smaller boards for this section but need to cut smaller pieces for the right side. Again the cuts don't need to be perfect as they're going to be covered by the vanity but make sure to line everything up. Again the nickels work fantastic so thanks whoever thought of this. Alright the pipe section looks great. I also put a piece around the toilet then spent some time sanding everything down and cleaning it off. As mentioned before you'll need to caulk every single nail hole then sand them down. It takes time but make sure everything is smooth and clean. With everything sanded down the final step is to paint it. As I mentioned earlier it was about here that I realized I didn't need to paint the wall beforehand. Painting the gaps in between each board was sufficient enough to cover up the paint on the wall. Make sure to caulk along the ceilings as well. After three coats of paint everything was looking good so I decided to hook up the light. Just match the colors white to white black to black and you're good to go. Having a light shine on the paint made everything look so much better and the project so far has turned out great. While the paint was drying I went out and picked up a few more things to make the bathroom look better. I picked up a new faucet, installed a new towel holder and we installed a new mirror. They complement the shiplap very well. I also installed a matching toilet paper holder and built some custom shelves which I show how to make in another video. Overall these new additions really complement our shiplap project and we're done. Installing the shiplap is a huge improvement from what the old bathroom used to look like, to what it is now. I've done other home improvement projects like this so check those videos out as well. Thanks so much for watching and have a great day.