Major Bathroom Re-Work

Just started on what was initialy going to be a quick pull up the old wooden floor and replace with tile's job in my Bathroom. It all started when a few of the floorboards started to tent and before I knew it the wife and I had decided on a new shower cubicle, new bath, new loo and new sink vanity unit all with new taps etc Oh unfortunatly theres not enougth room in the bathroom as it is so the airing cupboard is coming out and part of the wall and the door is being extended about 700mm into landing. Even then the bathroom is still going to be too small so the stud wall between the bathroom and our bedroom is coming down and being rebuilt 600mm into bedroom. This will allow us to fit a corner bath unit and a large shower cubicle. Of course a total re-tile of the wall's is now also included in the project! Talking of tiles did I mention that the previous home owner used white wall tiles with black grouting on the ceiling? Yep, the ceilings going to come down, replaced with new plasterboard and flat skimmed.

First step is destroying the short stud wall partion between the end of the bath and the way to small shower cubicle before removing the shower. Had to fit service valves today to do this. Then have a Man coming round to knock the wall down and rebuild it next week. Next step will be replastering and painting bedroom (only done it 18 months ago!)

A few "before" pictures

Shower Cubicle with short stud wall

This is the ceiling!

Shot of shower

Need to re-position toilet as right by window.

Amazingly at the moment there is NO heating in the bathroom so going to fit a large towel radiator. Also when the ceiling is replaced going to get rid of those stupid spot lights as at least one bulb blows every week.

Planning to do the work over 3 months or so and have a bottle of Champagne left over from chrimbo to toast the project when it's done!

edit: had a result today when I popped into wicks and they were selling ex display taps for a tenner. Picked up a nice mixer tap with shower attachment and set of basin taps

OK, so the current ceiling looks a little... interesting... but with respect, they didn't do a half-bad job of it. Who on earth would want to tile a whole ceiling?!

The last bathroom refit I did, I decided to tile everything... 20 square metres in all, then found I didn't really enjoy tiling. It took me a week to rip out the old bathroom, knock out a wall, replace ceiling and replumb everything. Then 6 months to do the tiling!!!

Good luck with the project

How many bottles??? Build 'er indoors a cupboard while you're at it!

Whats wrong with the toilet right by the window? Ours is. But then again, when the room was made into a bathroom, the window was bricked up by 4 courses. Still, you have blinds and frosted glass. A lot of work moving a loo.

Steve said:

Whats wrong with the toilet right by the window?.....
...A lot of work moving a loo.

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Last thing I want is to look at the finished job and think "Why didnt I do that?" Have already planned the route for the soil pipe and it involves boxing up the waste in the downstairs loo. This will also give plenty of slope on the waste.

Shower cubicle is now removed only to discover that the previous owner had tiled over tiles and not carried out any water proofing leading to the plaster board on the wall being damp and crumbaled apart in my hands. Going to remove all the plasterboard off that wall and replace, Then going to cover any areas that will be exposed to excess moisture with a tanking compound.

Man, this is "little" project is going to cost a small fortune

Tee hee. This is the story of my life: you agree to do a small change then it grows into a major project. I make my living fitting bathrooms and love this sort of thing. I admit to encouraging the lady of the house to just "go for it".
Regarding moving the loo: you are, of course right. If you are going to all this trouble, and I'm sure you are aware, it will be quite a bit of work, then moving the loo will only be a small task compared to everything else and you don't want to be sat on it when it's all finished and find yourself thinking "why didn't I move it".
I wish you all the best for the project. I'm sure you'll be mega proud of yourself when it's finished, and you should be too.
If you hit any snags you can't see a way round, give me a shout: I'm more than happy to advise, like I said; I do this sort of thing a lot so have a solution to most things,
Cheers

Last couple of weekends have been productive and seen the wall moved 600mm into the bedroom and 600mm into the hall way so basic shape of bathroom is there.

Had a little side project yesterday. Because the hallway is now L shape have the space to fit a larger loft access hatch with fold away ladder (Wickes £99.99), Ment having to cut a joist to fit it so had to cross brace and strap all the new wood work down before fitting but it's all there now so no more climbing a rickity step ladder to get into the loft.

Bedroom is all plastered, painted and back to normal so can now concentrate on the bathroom. Next weekend the plan is to replace the ceiling in the bathroom, re-insulate and replace existing electrical fittings.

Oh managed to blag my dad into popping down for a weekend at the end of Febuary, told him to bring his decorating clothes and a few paint brush's

If it’s a separate bathroom & not an en-suite, stud walls between a room with a w/c & a habitable room (your bedroom) must now be sound insulated to comply with current Building Regs; Minimum is wallboard 10 (not standard wall board) & 25mm mineral wool sound insulation within but this doesn’t apply to any walls forming an en-suite within the bedroom it serves.

Some of the other work your doing also comes under B. Regs. &, strictly speaking, may require submission as will any new wiring or electrical work unless you use a registered spark; just be aware, you could be asked to provide compliance/certification paperwork at point of sale!

Richard C said:

If it’s a separate bathroom & not an en-suite, stud walls between a room with a w/c & a habitable room (your bedroom) must now be sound insulated to comply with current Building Regs; Minimum is wallboard 10 (not standard wall board) & 25mm mineral wool sound insulation within but this doesn’t apply to any walls forming an en-suite within the bedroom it serves.!

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Done Also used Moistureboard on bathroom side and will be applying tanking compund before tiling and fitting bath.

Richard C said:

Some of the other work your doing also comes under B. Regs. &, strictly speaking, may require submission as will any new wiring or electrical work unless you use a registered spark; just be aware, you could be asked to provide compliance/certification paperwork at point of sale!

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Such as?

No electrics on stud wall but I was wondering about moving light socket's/switch in bathroom. If need be I will get a sparks in to move them or cert them at same time as getting him to fit under tile heating and electric element to towel rad. Rad will also be plumbed to heating but want warm dry towels in summer as well.

As for selling the house. God no! Hope to be here till I pop me clogs! Massive 4 bedroom with seperate lounge and utility room. Love the place

Nitronick said:

As for selling the house. God no! Hope to be here till I pop me clogs! Massive 4 bedroom with seperate lounge and utility room. Love the place

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Aspirations and ambitions change as you grow older.
Previous house I was in I thought the same, but ended up selling and buying one here one abroad. Yep, and starting the improvement/refurbish/renovation all over again.

Nitronick said:

Such as?

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Possibly cutting/strapping the joist, waste runs, forced ventilation, any new connections/rerouting of foul drains/stacks which in some cases may require inspection/test.

Nitronick said:

I was wondering about moving light socket's/switch in bathroom. fit under tile heating and electric element to towel rad. Rad will also be plumbed to heating but want warm dry towels in summer as well.

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All notifyable Building Works unless you use a Part P registered spark.

Nitronick said:

As for selling the house. God no! Hope to be here till I pop me clogs! Massive 4 bedroom with seperate lounge and utility room. Love the place

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As RedHerring states; situations can change & it’s best to ensure what your doing is compliant & has the required documentation or it could come back & haunt when you want to sell; it’s not a lot of extra effort to do it right.

Thanks Rich and Red

Will take everything into consideration and if need be will contact the relevent people to make sure every thing is tickety boo. As you say people change and circumstances change so dont want this project to come back and haunt me. Spending a few quid on this and one of the things I am adamant on is having it done right. If I need the work inspected and signed off, it will get inspected and (hopefully) signed off.

3 weeks into project and things are going as well as expected.

The Partion wall has been moved and the bedroom side repainted and back to normal. The old shower cubicle is no more and just spent the weekend replacing the ceiling including 2 skims of plaster, those awfull ceiling tiles are now gone. Down side is that we have no lighting in the bathroom right now! Going to wait till a bit more work is done before getting sparks in to wire up lights and extractor fan.

Working next weekend so project on hold till the weekend after when I plan to de-tile the remaining walls and replace old plasterboard with moisture board. To do this going to temporary move bath in center of room. Then its time to tank the shower/bath area in preperation for tiling before getting a new bath/shower in place.

Getting there!

Had a plumber mate in for the last 3 days moving soil pipe, plumbing waste, setting up radiator and running all pipe under the removed floor.

Have now refitted the floor and got tiler coming tomorrow to tile the wall so I can get the bath in place.

Had a bit of a disaster today when plumber managed to lose balance and put his foot through the plasterboard ceiling into the kitchen. NOOOOOOOO! Thankfully had a sheet of moistureboard left over so found the seams for the damaged board, ripped it all out and replaced it. Looks like the wife is getting a flat skim ceiling to kitchen now.

Have things gone to plan? No! have changed the planned layout with bath going where the shower was, shower going into the new area made by knocking airing cupboard out and toilet along with vanity unit basin going where the old bath was. Oh and towel rad going where the old toilet was. Bath is now a corner whirlpool bath so sparks need's to wire that up before I get the floor tiles laid.

Had a result when I went into wickes a week or so ago. They had a 900 quad shower inc tray and waste on special offer down to £195 from over £400! Well chuffed.

Nearly there just starting to very quickly run out of cash as project has ended up costing twice as much as I originaly planned.

Nitronick said:

Thankfully had a sheet of moistureboard left over so found the seams for the damaged board, ripped it all out and replaced it. Looks like the wife is getting a flat skim ceiling to kitchen now.

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What’s “moistureboard”? If it Moisture Resistant PB, make sure you use a bonding primer (not PVA) on it before it’s skimmed or the plaster won't bond particularly well & could eventually fall off.

Richard C said:

Nitronick said:

Thankfully had a sheet of moistureboard left over so found the seams for the damaged board, ripped it all out and replaced it. Looks like the wife is getting a flat skim ceiling to kitchen now.

Click to expand...

What’s “moistureboard”? If it Moisture Resistant PB, make sure you use a bonding primer (not PVA) on it before it’s skimmed or the plaster won't bond particularly well & could eventually fall off.

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Yes its the green skinned plasterboard. Have used it all the way around the bathroom walls to prevent a reocurance of damp issues caused by poor sealing of shower/bath and general pants construction by previous owner.

Going to be a few weeks before I get round to skiming kitchen so plenty of time to look into and purchase what I need to finish it 100%