Here is the shower after the first layer of tile was removed from the floor. Unfortunately, with most demo work, surprises are rarely good. Our first surprise with the shower was that they never removed the original layer of tile (which was wet, of course). They just tiled over it and let mold and rot develop underneath. I'm sure they left the original tiles because they're those little ones that take hours and hours of painstaking work to remove.

Here you can see the threshold, which is badly rotted out. The baseboard fell off when I grabbed it. Moisture makes some of this work easier, but it's really sad to see the state the place is in!

Next surprise. I pulled the trim off around the shower, and discovered wood behind it, not proper bathroom drywall. Of course it's totally rotted at the bottom from all the water that has leaked through.

And the last big surprise for the day. I pulled out some of the rotten wood at the bottom of the wall. And what did I find behind it? More of the original tile!! I think Mike Holmes would have a thing or two to say about this reno job. I wonder if it was done by a contractor or the previous owners.

Close-up of the tile behind the wood, behind the tile. Here you can see on the left some of the top level of white tile. Then on the top the wood wall with mold and glue. And near the bottom the original tile behind the wood.

Door pictures to follow. We need trim first, and then we'll post before and after pictures. It already looks a lot better! And we feel a lot more secure having a proper door and lock in place down there.