DIY Efforts - Bathroom

Now.., all my other DIY Efforts have been of my own doing, or with the assistance of family and friends... but for this one I'm cheating a bit!

With no plumbing skills to speak of, it was just sensible to get someone with expertise to do it.

My bathroom isn't exactly the biggest space, it is basically just over a bath length square, so there's no room for anything too extravagant.

As you know, I always take before and after shots... but as this is a week long, more detailed change than most of my endeavours I've been getting sneaky between photos when I can.

I can't remember if I ever put up pictures of the bathroom from when I moved in, so I'll add a couple for your... enjoyment..? Blue walls... a colour that should never be found in the world... ever. It was a truly blinding colour first thing in the morning when the artificial lighting hit it. Something like a dark sky blue. Some shell shaped fittings... I'm honestly surprised that the toilet seat wasn't shell patterned too. It did however have a delightful dolphin transfer stuck on in, as did some of the tiles... I really hope I still have a picture of the pig light pull somewhere!

So...

T-minus 3 days:

I cleared a space in my living room for the delivery of all the fittings. It's probably the clearest the living room has been since I moved in. The space was short lived though as in the afternoon all the tiles, ceramics and knick-knacks arrived. So then I was left with two days of trying to step round the boxes and bath without smashing my leg on anything.

T-minus 1 day:

Time to clear out all the crap and for some reason clean... everything... I guess it's just one of those things! It looked a little sad without anything much in there, but I just had to keep in mind that something better was coming. No more getting stuck to the stupid shower curtain, no more getting my shoulders wedged in the bath. I'm already feeling more relaxed just thinking about it.

It is also essential, of course, to bribe your workmen. So I got in a wide array of yumminess... biscuits, crisps, bananas, and I even made them a quiche. (Jumping ahead in the story a bit... these are the only workmen I'd ever met who didn't stop for tea breaks. I basically had to yell at them as I was leaving each day to try and convince them to eat some biscuits. FYI, on day three of the install they finally ate biscuits and had tea!)

Install Day 1:

I worked part of the day at home, I'm never sure what the etiquette is in these situations. Although being as they were ripping out my only bathroom I knew I was going to need a break at some point for... erm... relief.

The entire morning was clattering and smashing, but everyone in the household was working hard. Around lunchtime they had to nip out to B&Q, and I decided to nip off to work. At this point I decided to poke my head in the bathroom, and I'm glad I did...

This was the building site I was greeted with, That was pretty damn productive for a morning of work. Had I not popped my head in I would have completely missed this amusing stage, as this is what I was greeted with when I returned from the office...

I was amazed what they managed to achieve in just a few hours.

I was also amused by their discovery... Now, one of the problems in my bathroom was that apart from the small window, there was no ventilation. Even the shortest shower would leave the walls "sweating" and turn the whole room into a sauna. I never understood why there wasn't an extractor fan in there. Come destruction day, they found a hole for an extractor fan in the wall. Who knows why they had the thing taken out!? I've just added it to the "weird things about this house" list. But on the plus side, it meant less drilling!

Install Day 2:

I worked at home all day today... mind over matter... and no liquids! The guys are really a pick me up for working, they listen to Kiss FM on their radio, and one of them constantly sings along (and quite well to boot).

Today they told me they were going to be taking out the old toilet, and then replace it with the new one. The work was a lot tidier as there wasn't really anything left to destroy! The amusement came when they got back to make the switch with the toilets. One of them very kindly asked if I needed to use the facilities before they ripped them out... but I decided that I could suffer through... as, with the door off the bathroom and the whole room being in the hallway opposite my front door, that situation was just a little too awkward.

Here's how it looked by the end of the day...

Bath in place, floor tiling done while the toilet was out. The older guy did tell me to be a little careful as the toilet was only in temporarily as they were going to be tiling behind it the next day. I did point out that the previous one wasn't exactly the safest thing in the house, so it really wasn't a problem!

Oh, and for your amusement...

This is the view from the toilet... don't worry, I wasn't using it at the time!

Install Day 3:

Today was tiling day, I unfortunately missed it all as I had meetings at work. It was also the elusive day that they decided to consume food and drink!

So, voila! Basically looks like a bathroom right? They were angels too and painted behind the radiator for me... I wasn't really looking forward to the prospect as it is what I have dubbed as the "death" paint.

When I got home they were just packing up so we had a bit of a chin wag. And a discussion about grout... who knew being a grown up could be so much fun?! Easy decision of white grout for the walls, but the floor tiles were slightly more complicated. Obviously not white, but he suggested cement grey or a dark grey like the tiles.

          "I think the cement grey would probably be good."

          "Yeah, that will make the tiles stand out nicely."

          "Yeah... and it'll need less cleaning."

There was a bemused look on his face, but I was thinking logically. Anything too dark would show up dry shampoo residue, and anything too light would show up general dirt. Practical thinking! That's how it's done.

Install Day 4:

Another day at work for me, but this one came with a pleasant surprise. A phone call to tell me that they'd finished all the work a day early. I'd have to leave the water in the tub for a day, but after that I'd be able to use everything.

So that means only one more day of showering at the office!

Day 6:

So the bath is drained, and I've cleaned the bathroom itself... I'm leaving everything else until after the electrician has come... or that's what I'm telling myself.

The idea was that today was for painting, and to be fair, I did repair and paint the whole of the window frame, and the rest of the woodwork got one coats of white... aaaaaaaaaand that's where I got bored. The coloured edges need doing, especially around where the tiles came off, but the bathroom looks good.

Day 8:

The electrician comes today to install the board that I evidently need (even though the ones I have clearly works as everything is wired into it... not that I'm bitter about the extra money I had to pay).

He's a lovely guy, but brought me to the verge of tears. Surprise surprise there was a problem. He installed the new board with no issues and all he had to do was test some sockets... and at that point the worst possible thing you can hear is the sound "hmm". Back and forth, and some more hmming.

As it turns out, my cooker wasn't earthed... he was very surprised that I'd never had a shock off it. If I'm honest, so was I, as I get shocks of the most random things all the time. He pulled up the carpet on the stairs to find the junction and that's when the news gets worse. The problem isn't anywhere between the box and that junction, which means it goes somewhere under the floor boards. All I could hear was carpet being ripped up, but at this point you kind of give up caring. But, as it's not part of the B&Q requirement that it is fixed, technically he should just turn off that circuit and leave me to sort it myself.

Well I didn't want that, it's enough trouble finding people who will call you back about jobs. So I told him to go ahead.

Bad news should get better sometimes, right? Not just yet. He comes downstairs and tells me that the fault isn't in the flooring upstairs... which means that it's in the kitchen wall. Luckily the guy was really sensible, and the previous person to do the work was really shoddy. He could tell where the wire was in the wall because of a lump where the replastering had been done.

Thankfully, since I gave up caring, the gaping hole isn't bothering me too much right now... although I will have to fill it at some point.

You might be wondering what you're looking at in that red circle... you see that little black dot? That's a nail hole. And that nail managed to go through the earth wire, and part of the live wire. I honestly don't know what the chances are that they managed to go through the cable like that, but I really would have liked to have bet on those chances so that I could recoup some of the money that I had to dole out to fix this idiotic mistake.

But it's all fixed now and that is all that matters.

So what things have I learnt?

B&Q bathrooms are expensive. If you can find someone to do it instead of B&Q then go with them. Admittedly I'm getting a 10 year guarantee on it all... but I'm not convinced the £2,000 on the price tag is really worth that. (Just to clarify, I'm not paying that much extra for the guarantee, it comes as standard, but other quotes were around £2,000 cheaper.) The guys who were doing the work were great though, I couldn't fault them for a second.

The big over head showers are beautiful, but be prepared to have half your bathroom wet if it's over a bath and not in an enclosed shower. I've tilted the head away from the edge slightly... so now there's just a small area that gets wet from excess spray that bounces off you when you're under it.

Shower screens and large radiators make small bathrooms claustrophobic.

A Jacuzzi bath was the best investment I ever made. And on that note, I'm off to get in one right now.