Bathroom Renovation – Progress Report

We are officially in week 4 of our bathroom renovation, but it feels like it’s been going for months.

The first couple of weeks were really stressful. Lots of unbearably loud noise and so much dust! Jackhammers and power saws at 7am is not my idea of a good way to wake up.

Poor Emma has had a hard time coping with all the work that’s been going on. She came to my room in tears one morning (after some really loud noise had woken her up abruptly) and declared she no longer wants a new bathroom. I can understand how she feels, during the height of the demolition, I couldn’t even think straight from all the noise.

But now the worst is over. The messy, noisy stuff is sorted and it’s mainly tiling and fitting off to go.

So here is the progress, when I’ve remembered to take photos. It’s interesting how everything looks like such a mess, and then suddenly it all comes together and you can really see how the space will look when finished.

I must apologise for the poor quality of some of the photos, most were taken at the end of the day when the light was waning.

See DAY 1 over here

DAY 2

The demolition crew finished gutting the room to discover a hidden doorway that once was an entry into my bedroom as well as electrical conduit running along the floor slab with live cables that service the downstairs light fittings. Old houses are always full of surprises!

DAY 8

The anxiety levels peaked, when the guy installing the floor panels managed to drill some holes all the way through our bathroom floor, and then straight through our lounge room ceiling (which is below the bathroom). The most frustrating thing is we’d just finished painting that room, and it was the only room in the house that was 100% done. The builders will repair the damage but it’s such a pain in the ass!

Luckily no one was in the room at the time as a big chunk of concrete fell down with enough force to dent the wooden floor.

The sky is falling!

DAY 9

Stud wall to allow for plumbing is up, the base floor is in, and the bricks are cut to allow for a new, bigger, window and plumbing to run in the wall. I can’t tell you how much fine red brick dust I’m still finding all over the house.

At this stage I was seriously doubting whether we’d made the right choice with this bathroom renovation layout. Everything was feeling super cramped and the space for the bath looked tiny.

DAY 11

What a difference a window makes! All that extra light really transformed the space and made it look so much larger. The window also helped the bath feel in proportion with the room.

You can still see the old cast iron sewer stack outside the window. That’s getting removed as I type, and is one of the jobs that added extra expense to this project. I’ve hated looking at that ugly pipe through my window for the last 8 years.

I was also excited to see how the in-wall cistern went in. It takes up hardly any space, and we’re going too need every square cm.

DAY 16

The space is starting to look like a room again after the wall rendering and the dry wall plaster installation. We had a new ceiling installed, the old one had a redundant manhole in it, and it will be finished off with a P50 shadow gap, rather than plaster cornice, for a cleaner look.

Outside, the bricklayer repaired the brickwork around the window so it looks original to the house.

DAY 23

We had underfloor heating installed, and today the waterproofer just finished with the last coat of sealant.

Next will be tiling and then fitting off. I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!

I’ll check in with my next bathroom renovation installment when the tiles go on. If you haven’t see the plans you can find them over here – Bathroom Plans and Design Moodboard.