Chard in Yorkshire: Project Bathroom: All coming together

So, with great excitement, the time came for our bathroom and all the lovely new products cluttering up our garage, to finally be installed.

Finding a Fitter

One of the reasons we were confident in going ahead with the project was the availability of a close family friend, Phil, who is an experienced Bathroom Fitter. He had worked on my In-Laws bathroom and done a great job, so we were more than happy to employ him for this one.

For most people, finding a tried and trusted Bathroom Fitter can probably be the most stressful aspect, as you certainly don’t want to get ripped off, but most definitely want a good job done. We were confident that the amount Phil charged would be more than fair. Plus, he understood our family situation, knowing we simply couldn’t be without the toilet and required use of the bath as soon as possible. And, even handier, he only lives a couple of doors away.

With all the junk that was about to be ripped out of the bathroom, we would need to hire a skip. I was a little reluctant.

The last time I had been involved with hiring a skip was when I was 21, whilst helping a family friend clear his office. The office was in a particularly rough part of Bristol and we ended up with mattresses, washing machines and industrial waste being dumped in it by the local residents. This was followed by the local kids making a den in it, before finally setting it alight and waiting for the Fire Brigade to turn up douse the flames. This then meant more space for dumped items. So all in all, my previous experience with skips wasn’t great and I was imagining myself a paranoid wreck as I sat guard watching it.

In the end, we went with a local company who charged us £85.

The Bathroom Log

And so it began. Every day I would go out to work; Phil would arrive later in the morning and be gone again by the time I arrived back home. Of course, this meant when I returned from work I was filled with excitement, finding myself rushing up the stairs like a child at Christmas time to see what had been done.

This was by far and away the day of the greatest upheaval and change to the bathroom. All the wall attachments were taken down in preparation, including the mirror cabinet, shelves and towel rail. Out went the bath and out went the basin. The radiator also went as it was old and pretty much on its last legs. Up came the floor tiles and down went some plywood boarding. Some of our floorboards were a bit rotten, so this would provide some stability. All that was left was the toilet and the remaining tiles, leaving the room looking very bare indeed.

DAY 2 – Wednesday

With everything out of the bathroom, the tiling could start in earnest. The Metro style tiles we had chosen were exactly what we wanted, but they were proving time-consuming to fit. By the end of the second day, only the wall on the bath-side of the room had been tiled. But with these now in place, we finally got a real sense of how the rest of the bathroom would finally look.

Off came the shower, just leaving the innards of the valve exposed. The bath meanwhile, sat ready and waiting, with taps attached, in our eldest’s bedroom!

DAY 3 – Thursday

I arrived home to find the bath in place and plumbed in. The boxed section behind the toilet and basin had been removed and the pipework lowered below the level of the floorboards.

The tiling on the bath-side wall was virtually complete with most of the grouting in. Phil had now moved onto the two end walls and things were really taking shape.

DAY 4 – Friday

We were onto the 3^rd day of tiling and things were certainly plodding along slowly but surely. By now the tiles had reached to the lower parts of the final wall. The grouting was close to completion on both the shower wall and around the window.

The bath was now sealed, and as Phil wouldn’t be working over the weekend, at least this meant it could now be used.

The one big change was that the old toilet had finally been ripped out, replaced immediately by the new one. I was happy to see it flushed perfectly. Finally, an end to the whistling cistern! I also spent a few minutes giving the new soft close toilet a few goes!

Still no basin and vanity unit, but this wouldn’t be far off.

DAY 5 – Monday

The tiles were certainly proving to be the most labour-intensive part of the job and it did make me wonder how much quicker it would have been had we selected a more common type of tile. By the end of the day, the majority of tiles around the window had been grouted, but there was still some tiling to be completed on the final wall, especially around the tricky waste stack.

DAY 6 – Tuesday

This certainly proved to be a day of frenetic action, where the bathroom, all of a sudden, looked very close to completion, with the biggest difference made by the inclusion of the Vanity Unit & Basin - all plumbed in with tap and waste ready to use.

The wooden Bath Panel was finally secured into place, covering up the unsightly floorboards and pipework, and the tiling on the final wall and around the waste stack were now virtually complete, although there was still a little grouting to be done.

The folding shower screen was now installed and sealed, plus the shower had been put back into place with a brand new slider rail and head.

DAY 7 – Wednesday

This was the day where all the finishing touches could finally be applied. After 7 tortuous days for Phil, the tiles were now all grouted and fixed firmly in place. The shelf, shaving mirror, mirror cabinet, towel rail and toilet roll holder had now all been attached back onto the wall, plus a spanking new radiator had been installed.

The only thing that now stood out as uncompleted was the flooring.

DAY 8 – Thursday

This was it! Handover day. My father-in-law and Phil came round early to fit the wooden coving around the gap between the tiles and the ceiling. This replaced some quite horrific polystyrene coving.