The Bathroom Project at No 8

We return from Bunnings with toilet roll holder, collapsible wash basket and a new soft-close loo seat. Peter fits the last item. We now have 2 towel rails, a hook, and a toilet roll holder to fit. Toilet brush and holder on order, so we might wait until we have that and then get Chris back to fit the lot. Options for a drip-dry rail still being explored.

Peter and I try the new walk-in shower together in the morning and it's great. The European-style mixer tap with one knob for temperature and one for pressure means no more fiddling or adjustment. And despite the lack of a door and two bodies in the shower recess, hardly any water fell outside the shower limits.  We did some washing today as well, so all aspects of the revised bathroom-laundry now tested. So it's finished? Well, almost... We still need to: fit a towel rail and a hook on the back of the bathroom door (purchased but not yet fitted) fit a toilet roll holder fit a toilet brush and holder sort out where to store a laundry basket and an airer. We used to keep the laundry basket on top of the dryer and the airer beside the washing machine. Both looked untidy, and we don't want them there in the new arrangement. We are thinking of tucking them behind the washer/dryer, but need to do some work to make that possible fit a long rail across the shower and trough for dr

We work all day Sunday, mostly rehanging all the pictures in the hallway (eighteen of them, but who's counting). Helen has the job of sorting the boxes of stuff from the old bathroom cupboards and putting the contents back into the new and old cupboards in the bathroom. Quite a bit of aged stuff finishes up in the bin, which is all to the good. It's twelve weeks since we moved into 1A, and over time more and more stuff has crept from one house to the other, more clothes, more food, more books, a computer, a desk chair, assorted cat equipment. We trek back and forth all day between houses, carrying rubbish to the bins, retrieving items from 1A. We stow the spare tiles in the roof, and some of the residual paint in the garage. Tools come out to fix things and hang pictures, then go away again. We sweep, vaccuum, mop, dust, mop, dust and mop again. The fine sanding dust covering everything seems immovable. If we were starting again, we'd make sure we covered everything beforeh

First step is to move the washing machine and dryer back into the bathroom. Fortunately neighbour Cam is mowing nature strips (as he does regularly, such a good bloke) and is happy to come in and give Peter a hand to raise the dryer into position on top of the washer. Everything we move is absolutely covered in dust, so much cleaning goes on. Even though the bathroom was cleaned by both the carpenters and the painters, it still needed another sweep and floor wash, and basins and benches needed going over. We have to then connect the washing machine to power and water inlets and outlets, ditto the dryer (out only). This is a finicky job requiring water off water on again exercises. We had asked if the toilet could be moved a bit to the right as the washing machine and dryer take up less space than the old shower recess. The toilet was moved quite a lot to the right, and we were fearful that it would feel cramped, or even that it would be just too close for comfort. To our relief it is O

Painters work flat out on Thursday, Olsi returns on his own on Friday to do the last coats on the woodwork. It all looks so good freshly painted, especially the hallway which has had an unpainted ceiling since the cornice fell down and had to be replaced about two years ago. And they've done a great job colour-matching to the Bellessi panels, so the bathroom is now much more integrated.

 Armando and Olsi arrive and start prepping. By evening we can see what a perfect match they have made between paint and the Bellessi panels.  And they reckon they'll be finished by Friday. What could possibly go wrong now?

 Caulker comes to do all that waterproofing stuff around the sinks, between the wall panels, around the base of the shower. He's finished by mid-morning. Just as he leaves the guys arrive with the glass for the shower sides and fit that. That makes it pretty much finished, so we call the painters, and, wonder of wonders, they can start tomorrow.

 Nick the Plumber comes. Cannot find leak. Decides the water just the result of testing. Andrew the Electrician comes to fit fans, lights, finish off power points, switches etc. Finds himself standing in a puddle. Plumber returns. Finds leak and fixes it. The water was coming from the mini shut-off tap below the laundry trough. Chris the carpenter comes to clean up the site ready for the caulker.

 Hoping that the leak proves easy to fix.

We return from a long drive on Friday morning to find there is still water in the shower area, and more rather than less. We put some paper towel down and wait to see what happens. When we return later after shopping at the market, the paper towel is sopping, and putting down more of it just keeps soaking up water. We phone Tony to tell him we have a leak and on his advice we turn the water off.  This means that we can't even cook in no 8 - have to move more completely into 1A. Of course, it would be Friday afternoon before we realise that we definitely have a problem. If only we'd looked a bit harder at the first puddle on Thursday... Now we have to wait until Monday for the plumbers to come back to diagnose and fix. <<sigh>>

 In the process of finalising the plumbing, plumbers find that the water pressure is exceptionally high and recommend pressure reducing valves. They come to fit these on Thursday morning. We notice a bit of water on the tiles in the shower area later in the day, but assume they were testing the shower mixer after the pressure reducer was fitted.

 Chris returns to do all the architraves, and other finishing off. He cuts the hole in the plaster for the cat tunnel, and because it looks messy, he puts an architrave around that as well.

Plumber comes and installs the two new sinks and their taps and waste outlets, the shower taps and shower rail, the washing machine taps and outlet. And most importantly, reinstates the toilet. Bathroom is really beginning to look like a bathroom again. Vanity and toilet Laundry trough, with Peter having a pretend shower.

Carpmenter Chris returns to complete the wall panelling, and rehang the door.

 The only thing to do is to finalise the tricky instructions on how to get four splashbacks out of the remaining Bellessi panel. We didn't actually allow for this when we bought the panels, but as we've decided to put a mirror where the extra panel will go, we should have enough for all the splashbacks. It has taken a lot of measuring and head scratching, but we think it can be done.

When we renovated no8 in the major project several years back, painting was done by Armando. 1A Little O'Grady was done by Olsi, who used to work for Armando. We ask Olsi to quote for the bathroom and hallway for the current project. To our surprise, the person who turns up today to quote is Armando, who is now working with Olsi. He's now bearded and greyer, so we don't recognise him at first, which he finds amusing. We're now waiting for the quote, which will probably be scary, but what the hell, it's only money.

 Tiler returns and does the grouting. Not as exciting as tiles, but the result is more satisfactory...

 Matt the tiler came.

 West City cabinets are scheduled to arrive at 10am, and they are actually in the door at 9:55. The two cabinets are fitted by lunchtime. Finally, it starts to look like a bathroom again. Laundry trough & cabinet Vanity

 Zzzzzz

 Dave comes with Chris to put up the Bellessi panelling in the shower area.

 Nothing happening, so we take off for the bush on Friday, return Sunday night.

 The man who does the waterproofing comes today. Entire floor and half the walls now a surly grey.

Mick finished off sanding of repair work in the hallway. Here are some pics of the most recent works: Shower area, showing the tiler's cement work and some extra plaster board round the taps. Repairs in the hall - walls... ...and the hall ceiling.

And you guessed it, nothing happened.