With most of the T&G panels primed and undercoated, it was time to start fitting them. The rebated skirtings and dado rails will secure the panels at the top and bottom, but for added security, grab adhesive will keep them flat to the walls. Do you think I bought enough???
First to be fitted was the back wall... the challenge here was to cut the holes for the basin waste and 15mm pipe in exactly the right places. The hole for the waste pipe was cut using a 35mm hole saw. Fortuitously, the hole for the 15mm pipe was right on the edge of a board so I just needed to cut a suitable sized notch.
I fitted the panels in groups of 3 or 4 at a time, checking that each section was perfectly vertical before moving onto the next. A generous bead of grab adhesive was applied to the wall at the top, middle and bottom before slotting the panels into the rebate on the skirting board and then onto the tongue of the previous section. A firm shove ensured that the adhesive made good contact with the backs of the panels. The final panel was scribed into the corner to take account of any misalignment of the walls.
With the panels complete, the dado rail was screwed firmly in place to pull in the tops of the panels.
At the end of the bath will be a storage seat. I've constructed the frame from the same C16 kiln dried framing timber as used for the bath frame. This is screwed to the floor, walls and bath frame, forming a very solid structure...
...and then more T&G panelling was cut and fitted around the seat frame.
The screw holes in the skirtings and dado rails have been filled with 2 part wood filler and sanded smooth. With the WC removed, the cladding was then given 3 coats of the "Gorse" acrylic eggshell paint.
I ordered some special fixings to secure the WC pan to the floor - these have plastic bushes to protect the porcelain and caps to cover the screw heads. I also bought some 100mm basin fixings to hang the basin on the wall. These have plastic bushes with eccentric cams which allow the basin to be finely levelled once fitted.
My cheap old tile drills aren't up to the job of drilling through the rock hard 10mm porcelain floor tiles, so I had to invest in one of these... an 8mm diamond grit drill bit. Not cheap at over £15, it's self sharpening and self lubricating (has a wax core)
This made fairly light work of drilling the floor tiles so was definitely worth buying.
So now the WC could be screwed down firmly to the floor and the cistern to the wall. The cistern was filled with water and left for a while to check for leaks. Once watertight, the mains water feed was connected up to the cistern float valve using a 15mm to 1/2" braided hose and the isolating valve was opened up to allow the cistern to fill.
A few test flushes later, we have a fully operational WC so no more hurried visits to Waitrose or Sainsbury's!!
The old chrome plated basin waste has been cleaned up and re-set into the basin, sealed with white sanitary silicone sealant. This will be left to cure fully before fitting the basin.
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