Working outside toilet - DIY Newbie looking for guidance for painting.

[nettles20]

Hey everyone. 2 years ago bought a Victorian terrace as a DIY Newbie. I now realising I'm not really a DIY person at all but would like to tackle this project!
The property has a working outside toilet, which is perfect for what we need in the garden but is very old and a bit manky looking. Particularly for the summer, we’d like it to look nicer for guests to save them going upstairs to the bathroom. Currently the interior has just peeling paint and what looks like some kind of rotting layer of some kind of lining.
I’d love some guidance as to how to prepare the walls and then what steps I need to take to paint and what products I need.
Long term (5 years) the shed and toilet will be removed when we extend so it doesn’t need to be a job that lasts a lifetime!
Thanks in advance for any tips!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Are you seriously going to ask guests to use an outside toilet than rather go upstairs, what about washing hands?

Andy

 

[conny]

My parents had the same thing when they were alive. Dad just washed the walls down with bleach water, let it dry and then 'white-washed' it with some powder he bought from the chandlers. It's basically a white powder, water based paint that you mix up yourself.
Not sure if you can still get it though.

It seems these days you mix water and latex paint.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If that was an old car you'd call it patina!

 

[RandomGrinch]

Sorry, just a note of caution...

It's possible the vinyl floor tiles and cistern may have some asbestos content - not anything to be concerned by, but follow guidance for removal and disposal!

Asbestos - Floor tiles, textiles and composites

www.hse.gov.uk

 

[JohnD]

It will be very prone to freezing in a hard winter. You can put a pipe heater with a thermostat in it, but it looks like the door will be very draughty so cold air will blow in. You can lag the pipes but all that does is slow the heat loss. The roof is probably also uninsulated. You should add an indoor stopcock so you can turn off the water, preferably before it freezes, but you will need it after a burst.

You will need a light in there if it does not already have one.

The walls look to me like oil paint and distemper, paint might not stick to it well. On a test area, scrape off all the loose stuff, scrub it with sugar soap and see if a trial pot of masonry paint will hold (it is more durable and damp resistant than emulsion)

 

[nettles20]

Are you seriously going to ask guests to use an outside toilet than rather go upstairs, what about washing hands?

Andy

Ha! Actually must of our friends are fine with using it - and there’s a tap right beside in the wall so we just have gardeners soap there.

 

[nettles20]

My parents had the same thing when they were alive. Dad just washed the walls down with bleach water, let it dry and then 'white-washed' it with some powder he bought from the chandlers. It's basically a white powder, water based paint that you mix up yourself.
Not sure if you can still get it though.

It seems these days you mix water and latex paint.

Oh that’s interesting. There are many layers of paint so I’ll research the powder idea.

 

[nettles20]

If that was an old car you'd call it patina!

I do have an old car which looks about the same to be fair!

 

[nettles20]

Sorry, just a note of caution...

It's possible the vinyl floor tiles and cistern may have some asbestos content - not anything to be concerned by, but follow guidance for removal and disposal!

Asbestos - Floor tiles, textiles and composites

www.hse.gov.uk

Ok - good to know. For now the tiles and cistern are staying. Thanks!

 

[nettles20]

It will be very prone to freezing in a hard winter. You can put a pipe heater with a thermostat in it, but it looks like the door will be very draughty so cold air will blow in. You can lag the pipes but all that does is slow the heat loss. The roof is probably also uninsulated. You should add an indoor stopcock so you can turn off the water, preferably before it freezes, but you will need it after a burst.

You will need a light in there if it does not already have one.

The walls look to me like oil paint and distemper, paint might not stick to it well. On a test area, scrape off all the loose stuff, scrub it with sugar soap and see if a trial pot of masonry paint will hold (it is more durable and damp resistant than emulsion)

It’s definitely draughty! We had a stop cock put in on the water pipe entry plus lights when we put lights and power into the shed which is adjacent. The entire bit had no roof when we moved in so we had that fixed and tiled before anything else. Ok - this looks like a plan. I’ll just remove everything I can and try with masonry paint. Cheers.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Ha! Actually must of our friends are fine with using it - and there’s a tap right beside in the wall so we just have gardeners soap there.

Pouring with rain and freezing cold, you expect friends to go outside. You will see friends not coming round any more.

Andy

 

[JohnD]

Surely visitors will be in the garden in summer? For BBQs, tea on the lawn, games of croquet and so on?

 

[nettles20]

Pouring with rain and freezing cold, you expect friends to go outside. You will see friends not coming round any more.

Andy

When it’s raining and freezing cold I generally entertain indoors. Cheers for the advice though.

 

[nettles20]

Surely visitors will be in the garden in summer? For BBQs, tea on the lawn, games of croquet and so on?

Yes. The majority of summer is out in the garden either on the lawn or the terrace. We find on days like that the majority of people like to stay outdoors rather than traipse upstairs. It’s also novelty factor for kids because we all call it as the spider cave.