Bathroom progresses- coping with chaos!

[JoceAndChris]

I really don't know how the building site dwellers amongst you have done it! It takes huge patience and not getting in a flak I think! Now my bathroom is hideous and it's my only bathroom
I'm going to have to shower in the tennis club for a long while I think. At least we do have a functioning loo and sink.

We're both in continuous arguments about the order of things and that's stressful!

I also don't know what to do about the plaster! The bathroom is going to be a mix of tiles behind the shower above the bath, and wooden panelling. So the plaster underneath can be pretty rough, is that right? It's a mix of original lime plaster and gypsum skim. I'm quite unhappy about the gypsum skin on the exterior wall ( which is stone then lime plaster then limewashing) but Chris is saying I'm making a fuss and it can be left. Urrggh.

We found an old doorway bricked up leading into the dining room which was interesting. I think this room was a food prep area. A kind of ante room for the dining room.

Some piccies:

1930s wallpaper and our bath for this week

Got the glass out

Worst section of damaged lime plaster so far

Bricked up doorway

This week I'm going to repair the holes in the ceiling myself then repaint. Then continue with preparing the walls for wainscotting, which is hours with a hammer and scraper trying to get the mastic off the lime plaster!

Sometimes it all feels a bit overwhelming

 

[Bogart]

Looks fine to me the " lived in look".

 

[Zebra]

Oh Joce, I do sympathise. Not with the filthy bathroom, I see that as entirely par for the course. But with feeling overwhelmed. Perseverance, that's the key! Never mind that it feels daunting. Start somewhere, make a bit of progress, then do a little bit more and a little bit more, and soon enough you'll marvel at what you have achieved!
Just to make you feel better though, I shall add some photos of my bathroom circa 2012.

 

[paulc]

This week I'm going to repair the holes in the ceiling myself then repaint. Then continue with preparing the walls for wainscotting, which is hours with a hammer and scraper trying to get the mastic off the lime plaster!

I recently invested in an Oscillating Multi Tool which accepts a variety of different blades from high speed steel through to diamond coated. Aside from being useful for (fairly) accurate plunge cuts in timber, it is great for grinding/cutting brick, grout, cement, and plaster without kicking up too much dust. For heavy duty hacking off cement, there is also an air powered chisel in the armoury (a cheap one from Lidl).

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wow Paulc that sounds great! Much kinder on the hands than what I've been doing!! I will investigate. Thank you.

Zebra, ohh that bathroom. I have thought of you and that pic in the last few days, thanks for posting! Have you got a now pic? Does it get better? You did so so well to live through so much war zone and do that house up so beautifully! I have been spoiled in giving the render and roof job to others! The rooms we've slowly done but it's different having areceorion or bedroom as a war zone. You can just shut the door! The bathroom is different I have to use it and it's only going to get worse for a period!

Great advice just to chip away, It will be done though we can't quite see the answers to all the issues at present.

One issue is that if we cap off the back boiler in the music room and light a fire in there we will create a bomb! It probably needs the fireplace removing in there but that room is done and beautiful :?

 

[JoceAndChris]

I should point out we have just cut off the pipes in the bathroom serving the back boiler as they were in the way.

 

[88v8]

Mastic... use a heat gun to soften it.

Luckily, our old and new bathrooms overlapped. But then there's dry shampoo, talcum powder, I should think a wash every fortnight or so in the winter would be fine.

Back boiler is not a bomb if there's no water in it.

The tiles will be impervious, so from that point of view the presence of a bit of gypsum plaster is not a practical sin. However, it will be texturally different to lime and will absorb limewash differently.

Our previous bathroom, sob.... :?

Ivor

 

[mims&pip]

Gosh Joce, you have my sympathies having tackled a few bathroom projects ourselves - albeit not quite as 'hands-on' as you and Chris - over the years :wink: We have done all the gutting, plastering, tiling, joinery, decorating and curtain-making ourselves though.......

It will get better, as Zebra and Ivor have testified and the results will be worth all the hassles and hardships you have to bear along the way! We've 'inherited' some stunners in the properties we've restored over the years, but nothing a little vision and hard work won't rectify. The worst we took on was at our last house where the previous owner had gone all 'Heath Robinson' with the cistern for the high level loo, placing it on the floor of the attic bedroom above - complete with handy pull cord dangling down through a hole in the ceiling :lol:

I'm attaching a few piccies to spur you on. They will have to be spread across two posts as I've still not mastered the art of adding more than three in one post. The first one is the only shot I seem to have of the bathroom we put in at our Hampshire house. I have no 'before' pic, but it was formerly one of the six bedrooms there and was masquerading as a kitchen when we bought the house which had been converted to flats by the previous owner.........and no, the loo wasn't actually that close to the bath, it's just the way the pic came out!

The next two are of the en suite at our last house, a thatched property in semi-rural Wiltshire. Again this bathroom started life as a bedroom, but conveniently had a blocked-up door leading to the master bedroom which we opened up. The room wasn't quite complete in these piccies, but they are the best I can find.

More to follow.........

 

[mims&pip]

The next three are the 'befores' of what was the 'family' bathroom at the Wiltshire house. This tiny space was intended to serve five of the six bedrooms - the sixth being a ground floor annex bedroom/bathroom set-up added by a previous owner in the 1980s. Note the fantastic, previously mentioned cistern arrangement with string dangling through the ceiling, lol :lol:

I'm afraid the 'afters' will have to follow in a third post :roll:

 

[mims&pip]

Here we go......

We made this room quite contemporary, but made up for it with the en suite in my previous post

While this work was ongoing we were without hot running water and central heating for six months (although I'm sure our stripey friend can go several better than me here, lol!) as it was part of a much larger project that included adding a large kitchen extension - involving delays with custom built double-height windows - resiting the oil-fired boiler that the previous owner had recently had installed in a delapidated, crumbling ruin of an outbuilding and first fix of the rewire that was to bring electric lighting to previously unlit rooms! Fortunately those six months were Spring/Summer, although not so good for the build as it was that wet Summer of 2012.....cue more delays and plenty of mud for our new puppy to bring indoors :roll: Taking a bath at home was fun as it involved boiling numerous kettles and saucepans (on the electric hob and woodburner), then running up the stairs to decant them into the bath........

I'm sure you guys will have your beautiful new room completed in the blink of an eye. In the interim, plenty of wine* is called for Can't wait to see the 'finished' piccies!

Mims x

*To drink, not to bathe in!

 

[JoceAndChris]

What beautiful bathrooms Ivor and Mims! Such a treat to see and a real inspiration. Wow it must have hurt to leave them behind!

Mine isn't going to be anything like as show stopping, it's only a little space in the cottage and there was really nothing we could do about that. We discussed giving over one of the reception rooms - perhaps the music room that used to be a bedroom, but not sure it's a good idea, really, to lose a room. Plus Chris said the drainage issues would have been horrendous and maybe involved digging another septuc tank.

Anyway it's great to see how hard work pays off - loving the bathroom porn! 8)

 

[Zebra]

Have you got a now pic? Does it get better?

It is thoroughly modern. White suite, beige tiles, chrome fittings. I could post a pic, but it won't elicit the response that Pip&Mims' or Ivor's have.

That's quite something, that cistern in the loft. Why on earth......

we were without hot running water and central heating for six months (although I'm sure our stripey friend can go several better than me here, lol!)

I had that bathroom for four years. And no central heating. But I had the woodburner, and a power shower. You wouldn't take a shower without your flipflops on, and washing up was done in a bucket. But I was happy! It's surprising how much satisfaction can be gained by a lowering of expectations.

 

[Flyfisher]

Back boiler is not a bomb if there's no water in it.

Be very careful about how the back boiler is disconnected and drained (it may not actually be possible to fully drain it, depending on the pipe arrangements). Even with no water, the remaining pipe work must not be capped and venting of the uncapped pipes will need careful consideration in case the back boiler should one day fail in some way, allowing fire gases to enter the boiler cavity and subsequently exit from the ends of the uncapped pipes.

Some useful guidance here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/localgovernment/boilers.htm

 

[JoceAndChris]

Eek. For now, no fires in the music room then! Chris is talking about drilling into the back boiler to release the old sooty muddy water. We last used the back boiler in 2009 I think. The previous owner used it a lot as he disliked paying for oil forcthr Rayburn. Thanks for the link - will send to Chris.

Zebra I would actually find the piccies of your contemporary non show stopping bathroom very inspirational, we cant achieve the dizzy heights of Ivor's and Mims'! Amazing how much you put up with and so cheerfully! I'm not so easy going! Well done on your completion such a fabulous achievement xx

My hands are really hurting today so I may switch to sanding which is a different action.

 

[88v8]

Until the bathroom is done...

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: that's the way to do it!

 

[mims&pip]

Love it, Ivor :lol:

Joce, I'd love to see Zebra's bathroom too - I wonder if she has a set up like Ivor's pic for Giraffe? I think apart from deserving a huge pat on the back, anyone that manages for four years in such conditions should proudly show off their achievements* when the work is complete Moreover, many of the bathrooms we've installed over the past few years (seven in the last three houses, not including here where we've only resorted to a coat of paint!) have been less than show-stopping. I only showed pics of the nicer ones :wink: If your previous projects at Beacon Cottage are anything to go by though, I'm sure yours will be fab!

Right, back to the decorating! I'm doing the reverse of you, Joce as my wrists are aching from all the sanding I did yesterday so today it's stripping lovely textured wallpaper......

Mims x

*Gosh, that could be misinterpreted as we're on the subject of bathing, lol!

 

[Zebra]

Oh, well, if you're going to ask nicely like that....


Love the outdoor shower, especially as it's thermostatic. Very well thought out....

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wowzer!! You can't believe it's the same room! Looks amazing Zebra well done. Did you do the tiling yourself too? How about the window fitting? Looks like a really pretty window you put in!

Mims I hope you are recovered from sanding!

 

[mims&pip]

Crikey Zebra, what a transformation! Like Joce, I can't believe it's the same space.....it must be wonderful to have such a lovely room to relax in after a hard day on your hooves

Fully recovered, thanks Joce......aided by ample quantities of wine last night, lol :lol: You too, I hope?