hidden bath tub

[ryan]

Hello,
First time poster here.
We are just starting the renovation of a circa 1910 stone terrace cottage in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. On lifting the carpets in the sitting room we have discovered a beautifully crafted hatch door in the pine floor boards that revealed a built in, sunken cast iron bath tub complete with original copper fixtures. It is positioned immediately in front of the fireplace that currently has been filled in and tiled with a 1970s style gas heater. Hopefully more original surprises are awaiting our discovery there! Has anyone heard of or seen these before? Can't seem to find any information online. I will take some photos in the next couple of days. thanks, Ryan

 

[ryan]

attached are some pictures of the tub. Hopefully the fireplace will reveal some secrets this week!

 

[ryan]

and another

 

[fluffytail10]

That sounds amazing. Due to the cold/damp nature of my house I have seriously been considering getting a tin bath to put in front of the fire - so you never know it may come in handy.

yes lots of pics please
fluff

 

[angrybird]

Hello Ryan and welcome to PPUK x
That sounds like an amazing find! I would be so excited
we love pictures on here so please please post some

 

[ryan]

tried posting pics last week, not sure why it didn't go through but here is another shot

 

[ryan]

Hatch open. I have just opened up the fireplace, has a nice big stone lintel so starting to feel a little more 'original'

 

[angrybird]

Thats brilliant! are you going to keep it ?
I'm sure that idea could catch on! I could imagine a cold winters night the fire lit and me lying in the bath with a nice glass of red and in the summer fill it full of ice to chill the beer and wine :lol:

 

[LadyArowana]

Gosh you were brave to open that! To me it has the disctinct shape of a coffin :shock: I'm glad it was just a bath though, and very interesting.

 

[tobydog]

That is fascinating. It would be interesting to see how it's all supported. Shame about the holes. Can't believe they smashed through it just to get the gas pipe in. Could have gone around it.

I'm with Lady A though. My first thought was a sleeping vampire that didn't want to get frost bite. Sorry, I know that's awful :roll:

 

[ryan]

thanks guys. it was a really exciting find. I must admit that it was some kind of burial did cross my mind as the carpets came up! Can't believe that someone has smashed two holes in the tub in order to run the gas pipe through. Amazing lack of appreciation for some historical design and tradesmanship. My plan at this stage is to repair the ironwork with epoxy/fglass from the outside then refair and refinish the inside. It will look like new but not for actual use as a bath. Might be a nice wine storage and conversation piece. Attached is a picture of the bath feet on its stone mounts.

 

[ryan]

Here's the fireplace. We have removed all the 70's gas paraphernalia and exposed the original chimney, stone lintel and back boiler. Plan for now is to support the upper chimney walls with a steel plate and empty out the entire cavity. Then fit a small wood burning stove. Does that seem right to you guys?

 

[ryan]

And yet another picture! This time the smaller 2nd bedroom showing another fireplace and floor hatch where the old galvanised water tank was recessed into. One question for you period experts...... all the walls and ceilings are plaster and lathe at a mixed state of condition. Can these be restored/re skimmed with much success? I have a feeling that as the old wall paper comes down, most of the plaster will come with it. I really don't want to use plasterboard but am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the ceiling in particular. If we can save the plater and lathe, do you think most people appreciate that it is original and a bit lumpy and bumpy or people think it should be all perfect and flat? All opinions are welcome....

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I think it's unlikely that a c1910 cottage would have had a fireplace that looked like a miniature inglenook. It's possible that that fireplace had a back boiler to supply the bath, but the fire opening and grate would have been quite small and its size is probably indicated by the central open section of the "infill" (which may be original) of the structural opening. There'd have been a conventional fire surround of the period too, and the lintel etc would have been covered over, not exposed.

 

[wobs]

Am I the only person here wondering whether the bath should be used by old men to go down hills in? What with it being in Holmefirth and everything.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Am I the only person here wondering whether the bath should be used by old men to go down hills in? What with it being in Holmefirth and everything.

If it's Compo's bath, it's never been used...

 

[JoceAndChris]

And yet another picture! This time the smaller 2nd bedroom showing another fireplace and floor hatch where the old galvanised water tank was recessed into. One question for you period experts...... all the walls and ceilings are plaster and lathe at a mixed state of condition. Can these be restored/re skimmed with much success? I have a feeling that as the old wall paper comes down, most of the plaster will come with it. I really don't want to use plasterboard but am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the ceiling in particular. If we can save the plater and lathe, do you think most people appreciate that it is original and a bit lumpy and bumpy or people think it should be all perfect and flat? All opinions are welcome....

Hello and welcome to our friendly forum Ryan. I love your hidden bathtub! What a wonderful find! Personally I'd want to restore it if at all possible, and if the back boiler is still there use that too. We still use ours! I wouldn't put in a wood burning stove, but a recreation of the sort of thing that might have been there - if you have central heating already do you really need the powerful heating of a wood burning stove? There's nothing like an open fire in a room, wood burning stoves are effective but inelegant and have nothing of the charm that this would have:
http://www.britainsheritage.co.uk/antique-fireplaces/cast-iron-tiled-inserts/ATI471-antique-edwardian-insert.htm

A deep bubble bath in front of that with a glass of wine is my idea of heaven. In fact, you've made me want to sink one in the floor of our music room!

As for the quoted question above, yes, please do save the lath and plaster. These properties should never be made bland with dull flat plaster board. Lumps and bumps, cracks and dings, dents and blobs, that's what we want to see in a period property (Though clean and painted!) We spent £1000 saving our very very damaged lime and reed ceiling. The surviving bits were gently pinned to the supporting wood above, and the huge cracks filled with lime. This was after me stripping 5 or 6 layers of woodchip and papers and plastic paint, thinking the whole time it would fall on my head.

Labour of love but worth it to keep the fragile original fabric of the house - think what stories it could tell, what changes, what horrors, of the 20th C - and now in your safe keeping. It's a wonderful responsibility to have.

 

[ryan]

Thanks for the feed back. We will definitely try to save all the lathe and plaster. Some of the ceiling has nasty Artex texured pattern on them so it will be interesting to see how things fair up trying to get that off.
Fire place wise, I think we will hold on doing anything for a while and have a good hard think about the different options. I certainly want it to be fitting to its era, although clearing out the void would make the room feel larger. It's only a small 2 bed terrace house with downstairs sitting/living/dining room approx. 4.5m square and a galley style 4.5mx1.7m kitchen running along the back.

I have booked in plumber and electrician for full start over on both systems including moving the toilet from the landing into the bathroom.

I'll keep you updated as things progress. Have to go away to work for a month or so coming up so things will slow down a little

 

[ryan]

time for an update....
we have managed to collect as many of the broken bath pieces, epoxied them back together and glass/resin reinforced the outside. Then filled and re-faired the inside and refinished. Despite some PP advice, I have opened up the fireplace. I understand that this may not be fitting to the original, however it really has made the room feel much bigger. We have managed to keep all the lath and plaster walls and skimmed with plaster. Once again, perhaps not quite exact to the PP philosophy. sorry!
Original slate roof tiles have been re-laid, only needing to replace 10% or broken ones.
Plan is to return to exposed timber floorboards and centre rug.
thanks for your interest,

 

[ryan]

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