My current PPOR reno - bathroom

I've bitten the bullet and started on a bigger downstairs bathroom/laundry.

Came up against the typical problems with old houses.

- Discovered that the power for the existing bathroom was all coming off a light circuit. It then went on to feed rooms beyond. That part of the house needs to now be rewired.

- Found loads of termite damage - in hardwood! - when I took the ceiling lining down. Looks like old termite activity.

- Took the side wall out and being sandstock bricks a bit more than I wanted came out.

- Realised that the existing drainage really should be replaced. So I borrowed a jackhammer and got rid of most of the slab. Did some digging and found...... another slab.

I'll got some before and during photos that I'll post.

Sitting here contemplating what to do this weekend - I'm hoping things stop going backward and inch forward soon.

Scott
 
Good luck with it Scott.
Old wiring can be a pain. When we bought our current PPOR we had an electrician friend around to do a minor job. Found out the pool was wired to the stove circuit (illegal) and a few other things. He worked all day. Glad I wasn't paying him.:D It's great to have a handy hubby with handy friends. They all help each other out which saves money.

Our reno wasn't as much fun as I envisaged.:D

No, really most of it was great. Hubby and I were very surprised that we got through 6 ten hour days without an argument. That's a truly amazing feat in itself.

Those little surprises are not fun though. Also when you start you inevitably want to do more than you originally planned.



Lynne
 
Got some photos

A couple of 'before' ones first.

So this was the downstairs bathroom. A pokey little one just inside the front door. The front door is now gone - we've never used it. That whole area will be the bathroom and laundry. Up till now we've had the washing machine stuck under the stairs.

So the wall between the two spaces came down. And the outside wall came out.
 

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Some 'during' photos.

A few hairy moments pulling the side out of the house - sandstock bricks with lime mortar means more wall than you want usually comes down.
 

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I see you have a Black Inspector Cat, they always have to investigate anything new. Toilet now has a nice outside view!


Cheers
Sheryn
 
Now I remember why when I did a bathroom rebuild 15 years ago in another PPOR I said I would never do another one. I had forgotten what a layered process a bathroom is.

That box sticking out (that will be sheeted in FC and screened) will house the laundry.

Tiling the floor this weekend. I've got some beautifule pieces of 600 x 600mm Brazilian slate that I'm going to break into pieces and lay in a 'crazy paving' pattern. Not my idea, but it will look great.
 

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i know exactly what you mean - currently reno-ing an old house. all lime motar between the double brick walls (all walls were double brick, internal and external, but lovely and cool) so bits were falling out that weren't supposed to etc ... and the bathroom floor!

ripped up the tiles, crumbling slab underneath, ripped up the slab, infilled with dirt up to floor level, dig out the dirt to allow new joists to be installed - 500mm deep worth of dirt in a confined space to be removed, full of half bricks and other rubbish - guess whose job that was! i think for the second bathroom i'll just tile over the existing damaged tessilated tiles ... that are laid into the cement slab. had to redo the floor of the old bathroom as the bathroom was moved to a different area of the house. tiler is here atm but having trouble getting his mojo going after a hot week and long (12hr) days trying to get all the work in before christmas.

p.s. new bathroom area looking good.
 
Right, I'm back onto the bathroom reno. Has it really been going this long? Got distracted by another PPOR reno and a few holidays. I've made a deal with missus to get the bath in by October 12 - her birthday.

And I've made a deal with myself to finish the bathroom 100% - I usually lose interest with renos when I get to 95% complete.

Dunny is in (with a concealed cistern that will give me grief one day). Laundry went in ages ago. Ceiling is beautiful - nobody sets Gyprock as well as I do.

The floor killed me. 600mm x 600mm pieces of black slate broken to create a 'crazy paving' look. Slate breaks the way it wants to, which often wasn't what I wanted, so I had 50% wastage. The bloke over the road is a tiler. He reckoned I was mad.

Bath is showing up next week.

So is a flash light fitting.

I had forgotten how expensive a nice PPOR bathroom can be.

The chosen wall tiles are a crazy price.

I'll take some pics next week.
 
Way to go Scott. Your renos always come up trumps in the end. Loving watching them unfold. My little project is on a slightly larger scale... ;)

Cheers,
Michael
 
I usually lose interest with renos when I get to 95% complete.

LOL! Hubby is the same, except when there is a "proper" deadline to be adhered to, like a tenant moving in, or the place is getting sold, etc. Trouble is, he gets bored when they are less than 95% complete. He is an electrician by trade. For six years we lived with a wire hanging from the ceiling of the lounge room where a light fitting was supposed to go.:(

At the moment we have just over half a retaining wall for the pool that was started last year, the tiles half removed from the ensuite, again, started last year. Some bricks missing from the front of the house because we can't find a brickkie to do such a small job and a bucket on the roof covering up where a chimney used to be, that still hasn't been finished off since we moved in.

When we bought this place we had tenants lined up for tha old one and all the half started stuff got finished in around two weeks. The place looked great, but we never got to live with the finished product.

Apparently the back yard is going to be finished by Christmas because all the rellies will be coming. The ensuite, though, is hidden in the bedroom. I don't know when that will get done.:(
 
I had a builder over last week to help me do something. It was a two man job and I thought it might be an idea if I was getting an extra body to get one who knew what they were doing - as opposed to the blind leading the blind.

I thought it would take us most of the day to do what I wanted to do, but it was done by 10.30am.

'What else do you want me to do?' he said.

We got through a bunch of unfinished jobs. He was great. I'll get him back next month for a few days and line up a heap of annoying unfinished jobs.
 
I had a builder over last week to help me do something. It was a two man job and I thought it might be an idea if I was getting an extra body to get one who knew what they were doing - as opposed to the blind leading the blind.

I thought it would take us most of the day to do what I wanted to do, but it was done by 10.30am.

'What else do you want me to do?' he said.

We got through a bunch of unfinished jobs. He was great. I'll get him back next month for a few days and line up a heap of annoying unfinished jobs.

LOL! When you've finished, do you want to send him my way?
 
I'm getting alarmingly close to being finished. So as per my form with previous PPOR renos, that means I'm only spending the odd hour two on the bathroom as I have well and truly moved onto other things.

Bath is in and the girls have commissioned it. The bath side will be white Corian (or similar).

White tiling on the low wall behind the toilet is done.

Steel window at the end of the bath is in - that was a bugger to make.

Water proofing (the yellow stuff) is done and the world's most expensive tiles are sitting in boxes ready to go on.

Scott
 

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