Beginner taking on downstair toilet...

Hi All

Just under two weeks ago my girlfriend and I moved into a new house (new to us...it was built in 1950 apparently) which needs a whole lot of redecorating and doing up which is why we got it at a good price!

I would define myself as a beginner when it comes to DIY and a bit lacking in confidence. As such I have decide to make a start on the downstairs toilet which as you can see from the pics below is in a bit of a state!!!

I figured it would be a good place to start as it is only small and is not a room anyone will be spending too long in, so in the likely event that I do not achieve perfection it won't be too much of an issue...

My starting point...peeling yellow paint, mould, exposed pipe work, dodgy electics for the light, an old metal window and a hideous vent.



The window (plus plenty of mould)


The Vent (with mould)


Pipe work entry point


Horrid plastic sliding door



As you can see it is in a sorry state but I think it has potential to be quite a decent toilet. The mould present is due to it being a single brick construction which is literally a single brick thick, so it gets very cold and a bit damp.

My intentions in no particular order (more on that later):

Replace the horrible metal window with a nice uPVC one
Replace vent with an extractor fan which will come on with the light
Tidy up wiring for the light
Add a small handwash basin
Scrub down, rub down and treat the walls for the mould
Take measures to prevent mould returning (dry lining etc)
Carpet the floor
Remove sliding door and install a proper door


Ok so there are a fair few jobs to be done but I'm fairly confident I can achieve what I want with this but I will need plenty of advice and encouragement on the way I'm sure!!!

My first question would be what order would most people do the different jobs in?

I have an idea in mind but owuld love to know how more experience people would tackle this project.

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated!!!

I can't really help you with the order of things, but I would suggest against the carpet in there - it will pick up all sorts of smells if/when it gets wet - especially if someone gets pi$$ on it.

Good point, though I will make sure there is a nat round the toilet once done. I'd like carpet as at the moment it's tiles on concrete and is absolutely freezing underfoot!!!

It could be worth looking at some underfloor heating, and use something like aquastep that won't get as cold as normal tiles/stone

Under floor heating would be a bit tricky as the downstairs toilet is basically in what would have been an outhouse, so is not part of the main house and is separated by a rear lobby so would be very hard to run pipework etc to it. Also I don't really want to spend too much on it.

Biggest thing for myself when faced with a similar situatation wss making sure it is warm enough. If the room is cold and moldy, everybody is going to use the main bathroom anyway.

You've not got a lot of room obviously, but a small radiator (either plumbed or electric) and insulation of external walls, ceiling & floor would go a long way.

I'd probably go along the lines of...

- Replace window with UPVC one
- Remove airbrick, replacing with extractor fan (with the flaps to stop draughts)
- Baton the floor with 50mm Celotex between
- Baton external walls with Celotex or Multifoil (as thick as you can spare)
- Add as much insulation to ceilding as you can (100mm celotex if possible!)
- Mini electric towel rail (maybe above cistern to save space)
- Laminate / bamboo / wooden floor (with nice thick floor mats)

Fill all holes with expandable foam, and make sure you have the tape to keep that vapour sheild. Two of the big sheets of Celotex (50mmx1200x2.4m / £28.99) would do it I'd think.

(I'm no expert, but that would be my way of going about it)

I think I'd be treating the mould first. It's important not to try scrubbing it or anything before you've killed it - I've been shown a photo of what that black looks like under a microscope, it's like a forest of mushrooms just waiting to be disturbed so they can throw out the spores. Get some mould killer, and follow the instructions.

I assume there isn't room to build a second skin of bricks on the outside to make a cavity wall ?

You are right that if it's cold and "uninviting" then people won't want to use it. Also consider that plastic seats are "ooh, cold" in a cold outhouse Reminds me of my gran's old house - that was across the back yard and she had to leave an oil lamp burning in winter to stop it freezing. When the wooden seat broke and got replaced with a plastic one, well it certainly dissuaded you (if any more dissuasion was needed) not to hang around.

A second skin of bricks would be tricky as the outhouse bit also house a couple of cupboards and the ground outside is concrete and on different levels (quite what they thought they were doing during building I'm not sure!)

My plan is to start with the mould and the window/air vent then move onto the walls which will be batoned and insulated etc.

Mould killer is at the ready but I wanted to be sure I know what I'm doing with the window before I get started really.

At present the window goes all the way up to the (concrete) ceiling, however I would like to lower the ceiling just a little in order to hide the wiring for the light and the extractor fan I intend to install and also to allow for a little insulation too. It would probably only need to move a brick or two downwards.

The current window is approx 48cm x 60cm and Id quite like to keep it a similar size though would be prepared for it to be a bit shorter if needed.

You an just about make out the fact the window meets the roof of the out house in this pic



And this shows it a little more clearly.



I thought I had taken a pic to show that just below the white sill of the windo in the first pic, there is an old sort of tile sill which would need to be removed if the window were to be lowered.

Can anyone give me any pointers how I would go about changing this window?

I'm guess, just take it out (sounds easy...) and cut away any brick that I need to at the bottom for the new window to fit. I'm guessing I would use a concrete lintel above the new window and then fill any remaining gap with bricks (which would probably only be a single row anyway?

If you leave the window touching the roof you wont need a lintel, as I'm guessing thats a concrete roof (which would fit with the period of construction).

I added a new topic in the windows section and was advised that the best thing to do would be have a window made up to the same size as the existing window but with 60mm addon on the head then it can go in the same gap, not need a lintil and allow me to lower the ceiling too!!!

I second treat the mould first otherwise it will eventually ruin what you have done. You can bleach the walls down and then protect them before insulating and plaster boarding over.
I would slightly raise the floor and insulate that as well before maybe tiling.