Weekly update 29.11.2015

In preparation for installing the cistern, the new internal components have been assembled and fitted. These include an Opella Dual Flush siphon, a Wirquin Telescopic Jollyfill inlet valve and a traditional Victorian style flush lever. The latter was a bit loose in its mounting so I added a couple of lengths of adhesive lined heatshrink sleeving to the shaft for a better fit...

 ...and on the underside, a close-couple kit with new "doughnut". The cistern will be fitted once the T&G cladding is in place.

With the bathroom floor tiles now complete, grouting could get underway.

Once again, a few fraught hours were spent pushing the grout residue around the floor until enough of it had been removed to allow it to dry without fear of staining the tiles.

We'd decided on a Torus profile for the bathroom skirting and, on a chance visit to B&Q, we spotted just the thing. They do a Torus skirting with an 8mm rebate at the top... perfect for the 7.5mm T&G to slot into!  Not only do they sell the skirting, but also a dado rail, also with an 8mm rebate... perfect to top off the T&G!

This has all been cut to length, chamfered, drilled and primed back and front.

I had to rout the skirting to clear the basin and w/c pipes.

...fits quite neatly.

The skirting was fitted temporarily to check the joints before being removed for further painting.

...and where the plaster had been stopped short of the floor, due to the earlier damp proofing work, timber spacers were fitted to the wall using grab adhesive to provide a flat surface for the skirting to sit against.

Much of the week has been spent priming and undercoating the T&G panels... all one hundred of them!!

...and a quick preview of the panels slotted into the rebate in the skirting board.

With the flooring complete, the bathroom door frame has now been finished off with new architrave. This has been treated with knotting solution to prevent resin from seeping through the paint.

The dado rails have been mitred into the corners and chamfered to meet the architraves.

The skirting boards and dado rails have been given a first topcoat of Johnstones Trade Acrylic Gorse before being fitted. They will have another coat or two once fitted.

With Christmas fast approaching, we thought it a good idea to put the fireplace in so we have somewhere to hang Christmas stockings! This will be a temporary fit at this stage as we will remove it again for decorating.

First, the granite hearth was centred on the chimney breast.

The timber surround had originally been secured using exposed brass mirror plates. These were removed as we're using invisible fixings. These consist of a set of four brackets secured to the wall...

...and corresponding "L" brackets screwed to the inner edges of the fire surround.

 

The cast iron insert has, for now, just been stood in place on the hearth...

...and the timber surround simply lifted onto the brackets and lowered. The brackets pull the surround firmly against the wall.

Weekly update 22.11.2015

The bath frame has now been assembled using waterproof PVA adhesive to secure the joints and 3" screws on the corners... should be sturdy enough!!!   The bath was then filled with water to add a bit of pressure to the joints whilst the adhesive set and this also served as a useful leak test for the waste and trap.  With the bath still weighted down, patching plaster was applied around the edges to neaten things up a bit before tiling.

15mm braided hoses were used to connect the hot and cold water feeds to the bath taps. The bath waste is connected to a 40mm trap and 40mm Polypipe has been solvent-welded to form the waste pipe to the gully outside. This will get sealed into the wall later once I'm happy that there are no leaks.

The walls and ceiling have been primed with No-Nonsense Trade Bare Plaster paint followed by two coats of No-Nonsense Trade Contract Matt emulsion applied with a roller.

The areas which will be covered by the tiles and T&G have been left unpainted. No point in wasting it!

The window sill was previously tiled so the surface was quite rough where these had been removed.

A ready primed 22mm MDF window board was cut to size, shaped and fixed in place using grab adhesive before being sealed round the edges using decorator's caulk...

...and at the top, a new length of architrave was fitted. This has been treated with knotting solution to prevent knot resin from seeping through once painted.

Next, with the emulsion dry on the walls, the extractor fan could be fitted. We opted for a simple pull switch fan although I've wired it via a 3 core cable from the bathroom light in case someone wanted to change it for a light triggered model in the future.

Now to the floor. A lot of the old floor tiles were starting to lift so I decided to take them all up. This left a sticky residue so the whole floor was sealed using a diluted PVA solution and left to dry.

The same wood effect floor tiles as used in the kitchen/lobby have been continued through into the bathroom providing a seamless surface.

Today (Sunday) we decided to take the plunge and rip out the old toilet. Not that it took much ripping out... I'd known for some time that it had been a bit loose, but I just lifted it and away it came, complete with the four "securing" screws still attached and the cement collar around the waste pipe!

The glazed soil pipe was surprisingly spotless inside but there was a bit of a whiff emanating from it.  I put a dust sheet in a plastic bag and stuffed it into the pipe as a temporary seal.  This would also prevent too much debris from falling down.  The top of the soil pipe was quite jagged and parts of the concrete floor around it were raised so I had to level this with an angle grinder.

The next challenge was to work out how to cut a neat 100mm diameter hole in the floor tiles. I found a suitable template to draw the arc using an indelible marker onto the tile surface.  Then, using the electric tile cutter, I made a series of straight cuts into the tile, stopping just short of the marked line. By making the cuts just a few millimetres apart, most of the unwanted pieces of tile broke away in the process.  The rest were chopped out with another pass of the tile cutter.

The edge was then neatened up by carefully trimming using a stone cutting disc on the angle grinder.

So, with one tile done the second one was marked out and cut in exactly the same way.

With all tiles now cut to size, I mixed up the rest of the adhesive and fitted them.

The top of the soil pipe was dressed by backfilling with excess tile adhesive and smoothed off with a palette knife.

The various w/c components could now be temporarily assembled to gauge position. All new internals have been sourced for the cistern. A standard syphon was chosen as we wanted a traditional flush lever and the only pneumatic flush mechanisms we could find had modern levers.

We chose a space saving waste pipe, but with the additional depth of plaster plus the T&G cladding, this may need to be replaced with a conventional pipe in due course. It will do for now and fits nicely into the newly prepared hole.

Add one "new" pan, et voila!! Thomas Crapper would be proud.

Having sourced the correct type of bulb, the bathroom light could finally be fitted. None of the fixing holes aligned with any of the joists so I used some zinc plasterboard fixings. These screw firmly into the plasterboard and provide a really secure mount into which self tapping screws can be driven.

Nothing special, but the light looks smart enough.

Jacqui has made a start on priming the 100 or so T&G boards ready for cladding. These need sealing on both sides as any moisture will cause them to expand.