Work has started on the downstairs bathroom, but needless to say it hasn't been straightforward! I think we are resigned now to the thought that every room we work on will have some kind of "issue" to be dealt with that we weren't expecting LOL By the way, in case you were wondering, the wooden battens across the window were an emergency measure earlier in the year when a north westerly gale almost blew the window in 😲
You may recall that St Abbs originally only had this downstairs bathroom ~ not exactly convenient for night-time loo visits! After the important exterior work had been done, our next priority was to have a new bathroom fitted in the little box room upstairs and that was finished earlier this year.
It became clear that the downstairs bathroom would have to be completely stripped, right back to the concrete walls. The lath and plaster was not in good condition and there had been a lot of water damage from the leaking roof.
You can see in the photo above that the window surround was rotten ~ no wonder it moved so easily when that gale blew!
Everything was stripped out ~ I didn't envy poor Shug, lath and plaster is horrible to remove!
We had to have a mains pressure water cylinder fitted when the new bathroom was put in upstairs, and I must admit that I was rather concerned about how the guys would be able strip the walls around it.
I needn't have worried, though, as Shug and the plumbers knew what they were doing!
The water cylinder was originally in a cupboard in the little lobby between the dining room and bathroom, but now we have a new "feature" in our dining room 😉 To be honest, I'm just glad that we still have hot water LOL
The expansion vessel is still in situ until Shug and the plumber are both here together, then Shug can sort out the wall whilst the plumber does his plumbing thing!
The photo above shows what would have been the original exterior house wall before the bathroom extension was built back in the 1940s. Just to the left of the copper pipe was a rather large hole, which Adrian temporarily plugged with a big wadge of bubblewrap! There was an airing cupboard here, at the back of the chimney, where the old water cylinder was housed. We think that at one time there had probably been a back boiler fitted, hence the hole.
Talking of holes.....see that one in the floor where the old basin pipes had been? Well, that was where the next St Abbs surprise began! The floorboards had to be lifted so the plumber could get to the pipes, and that was when it became clear that because the old joists had had so many bits cut out of them over the years they would not be man enough to support the new shower tray ~ nor the washing machine and tumble-dryer which we are planning to put in what will become a little utility room. So it was agreed that the old floor would come up and a nice new concrete floor would be layed.
Whilst the house itself appears to have been built on granite, the bathroom was put up on a dirt foundation which is not unusual in older houses. There was a mass of lead pipes (which apparently plumbers are now obliged to remove if they come across them during any work they are carrying out) not to mention a root from the sycamore tree we had removed last year!
I think the soil foundation was adding to the damp issues in the bathroom, so although it's been an added expense we could really have done without, I think we would have to say that this particular cloud has had something of a silver lining.
George and Dylan came to the rescue, and very kindly fitted our floor in around their other work. Thankfully they didn't have to dig out too much to make space for the insulation and concrete.
This is looking towards the front of the house, into the area where the little lobby used to be. The hole in the wall beneath the window was an air-vent, which was directly behind the trunk of the old sycamore tree, so not much ventilation was actually taking place!
Once George and Dylan had got the floor dug out, the plumber came back to fit all the new pipes ~ you may have noticed that the toilet pipe is now closer to the wall. It was noticeable how the smell of dampness was so much less once the old wooden floor and joists had been removed.
Once the plumber had done his thing, the guys were able to come back to put down a damp-proof membrane, insulation and set up ready for pouring the concrete floor. Needless to say, the damp smell dissipated even more at this stage.
We had to wait a while for the guys to have another window in their work schedule to pour the concrete, but we were really grateful that they were able to fit us in at all 😊
Whilst the saga of the floor was going on poor Shug wasn't well, but he is back on the job again now and the framing-out has started.
Plasterboard has gone up on the ceiling of the new bathroom area, too. We are now waiting for the plumber to come back again to put the pipework in the walls, then Shug can continue with the insulation and plasterboarding.
This is looking into the new bathroom from what is now going to be a small utility area.....
and here looking out of the bathroom into the utility. The plan is to move the washing machine and tumble-dryer out of the kitchen, standing them to the left of the vacuum cleaner, with a small cupboard on the wall opposite. Shug will also build a cupboard to house the water cylinder, just to keep it all looking neat and tidy.
Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done yet, but now that the framing for the new internal wall has gone up it does feel like things are moving along 😊
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