Well, this is day 5 of the bathroom rip-out I discussed earlier in the thread so thought I might as well use this instead of a new page...
I decided to try and fix a budget on this (we all know what that means
... ours is £1000/€1200/$1500) and so far it's sitting at approx 85% spent, so doing okay...
Saturday was mostly resting up and picking up the final items -about 10m/yds of tiles and stuff - sink + taps, cupboard and stand was in a sale at Ikea a month or so back 1/3rd off list, (German) Bette bath was from eBay and (delivered) price was less than 1/2 rrp - planning to use mostly existing plumbing fittings bought approx '93 during the house replumbing so that's not in the budget; mixer taps for bath are from the sixties and still in good order so (hopefully) reusing them...
Sunday was another visit to Ikea for some final items for the works - the wall cupboard is a bit of fun in itself - as I noted earlier the space is somewhat limited so planning is to cut a slot in the wall to inset the cabinet partly in and partly out - if I were redecorating the hall I'd probably cut right through and sit it right in, but...
Monday...
Hammer-and-chisel and off from all four walls came the tiles; unfortunately so did quite a bit of plaster, but that's been the story of this place... I'll post pics and update when I can so you can see the carnage... also ripped out the panelling around and beneath the bath and sink, which was boxing and non storage capable - all the old corner racks were chucked - Jackie want's a "TARDIS" so as much as possible will be hidden...
Our existing 500/700mm towel rad was looking somewhat shabby so a new, slightly larger (600/700mm) was eBayed for next-day delivery (late, so for Wednesday) for £27 - excellent and delivered price...!
Day ends with a
wee dram and a soggy in the tile-less room, post clearing all the bags of smashed sixties tiles and plaster...
Tuesday...
Starting to cut the slots in the wall for the pipes - all the plumbing here was "dropped" from above (we live in a bungalow) rather than beneath floor boards so a number of pipes used to be in rather ugly visible boxing - the bath pipes, both heating and water, were oddly run and have some "up-hills" which I fitted bleeds to years back; also, the boxing was approx 300/100mm 1'x4" all for two pairs of 22/15 - 3/4-1/2 pipes...
Cut the drop for the heating pipes (runs the bath and hall rads) adjacent to existing bath rad and for the bath/sink on the wall at the end of the bath to run pipework under/beside bath...
This was started by using an SDS drill and lots-and-lots of holes and lots-and-lots of chiselling, which was murderous in its own right - the walls are 60's "block" which is not like modern "breeze-blocks" which can be cut with a hand-saw, but looks like they are old compressed "slag" - some drills easily; some is like cutting iron...
[moment of madness] My circular saw needs a new blade and it was getting past 1900 and I had still not got the slots for the bath done and... five minutes and three 40mm/1.5" slots cut and chisel cleared by 2000 [/moment of madness] - not a recommendation but,
boy, was it so much quicker and neater...
Day ends with a
wee dram and a soggy in the still tile-less room, post clearing even more dust and rubble and detritus...
Wednesday...
The Slot...I seriously underestimated this bit of the works... well, I checked the blade on the circular saw (I can hear Scott's teeth grinding from here
) and there was still a little bit of life in it so set the cut to about 2"/50mm for a first pass and got nearly all for edges cut before it gave up the ghost...
Off to the hire shop for a 10"/250mm angle-grinder - first one was faulty...! back I went... used two discs cutting the slots and criss-crossing before the dust got so bad I could not see my hand right in front of my nose - ever been in a shop when the "fogger" has gone off...?!?! I've installed and worked on them so know how effective they are at stopping criminals...
Cleared the debris post dust settling and out came the drill and the hammer-and-chisel...
1900, work done, debris cleared and a quick trip to a "home" shop to check out some paper for the ceiling and new lighting, plus a couple of 22mm to 3/4BSP flexible "tails" for the bath taps...
[First Blood]
DON'T PUSH ME...!!! [/First Blood]
The cabinet will sit exposed to the same distance as the old one but inset in the wall by approx 2.5"/70mm and is a third taller so lost more storage - also will be fitting a "shaver" point for the tooth-brush charger within the cabinet...
The day ended with another wee dram, some pain killers, and another soggy then crashed out...
Thursday... today...
Woke at five and did some typing...
We have the car going in for an MOT (annual mandatory road checks) and service so grounded - I'll be in the loft clearing the areas for the plumbing, and all being well will get on with the heating plumbing works...
