The Bathroom Diaries: Week 4
Lifting a 125kg bath, laying bricks and bubble wrap dilemmas.
The big question, I’m guessing, is whether we got the bath into the new extension unscathed. Yes we did!
It wasn’t easy and involved a JCB Telehandler (industrial forklift) and six guys to help get it up.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the bath being loaded firsthand, which might have been a good thing, as my anxiety levels would have been through the roof! However, a friend kindly stepped in on my behalf and captured plenty of footage.
I’ve created a short video showing the events, which you can view at the end of this weeks post. It’s just over 50 seconds, so shouldn’t take up too much of your day if you do fancy having a watch.
Although there is still a lot to do, I feel we’re really starting to break the back of the build. We’ve been very fortunate with the Great British weather, with little to no rain, which has allowed us to steam ahead with the brickwork.
We just need to keep everything crossed for the next week or so to get the roof up, which will make us watertight.
Monday 28th October:
After being let down with our bubble wrap delivery over the weekend, (needed to protect the bath as we prepare to lift it into the extension), I found myself messaging removal companies at 7:00am to see if they had a large roll of bubble wrap I could purchase.
I ended up racing to the neighbouring village, where I randomly managed to find a removals supplier that stocked large rolls of bubble wrap.
Time wasn’t on our side with the JCB Telehandler scheduled to arrive by 10:00am, and I needed to get into the office.
It took a bit of time to find them, as I was looking for a warehouse (based on the name Warehouse 14), and when the sat-nav directed me to a housing estate surrounded by open fields, I was rather confused. Fortunately, the owner directed me to his business, which was a small storage unit on his drive by his house, not the 10,000sqm warehouse I was expecting.
Anyhow, within the hour, I was back with two 100-metre rolls of bubble wrap. I decided to take both rolls to be on the safe side and could return one roll if we didn’t need it. Better safe than sorry, I always say.
Later that morning, I received a selection of photos and video clips showing the complete process of the bath being lifted into the extension.
From what I’m told, everything went as smoothly as it could, although lowering the bath into the extension was slightly problematic. It had to be dropped at enough of an angle to avoid catching any of the block-work. The solution was to stack a pile of blocks on the inside and gradually remove them one row at a time until the bath was at a position where a scaffolding board could be placed at the right angle for the bath to slide down.
My other half had recently purchased a dolly (a wooden platform with wheels, not an actual doll), so once the bath was in the extension, it was positioned onto the dolly. This will allow it to be moved around once we start work inside, as there’s no way of moving it once it’s on the ground, it’s not budging for anyone!
Following the dramas of getting the bath in, we got back to building the actual extension walls.
All the insulation cavity wall sheets were placed against the blocks, ready for the brickwork to commence tomorrow.
Tuesday 29th October:
The bricklayer has started laying actual bricks, and if everything goes to plan, the brickwork should be finished by the end of the week.
This afternoon, the window company came by to check the dimensions of the windows we need. To add further complexity, the front window needs to be essentially a false window; so from the front of the house, it will look like a real window, but internally we plan to board it up as this will be where our walk-in shower will be positioned.
Wednesday 30th October:
The scaffolders arrived first thing to construct the second section of scaffolding, allowing the bricklayer to get over the existing garage roof at the front of the house and continue building the front wall.
More bricks were laid, and the rest of the internal blocks were brought to full height, both at the front and back of the extension and we now have a front window opening.
Thursday 31st October:
Further bricks were laid, and we’re now as high as we can be until the scaffolder arrives in the morning to construct the final tier.
The company making our roof trusses came by to take all the necessary details, and they should hopefully be ready for delivery next week. We’ve also picked up the lintels for the windows, ready for the remaining brickwork to be completed tomorrow.
So far, so good!
Friday 1st November:
Nothing like an early wake-up call with the scaffolders arriving just after 7:00am. However, the earlier they finish, the sooner the rest of the brickwork can be completed.
I was delighted to arrive home yesterday evening to see all the brickwork complete!
Well, to be fair I didn’t actually get to see anything as it was pitch black when I got home. Don’t you just love daylight saving? However, you get what I’m saying.
I wasn’t quite so happy to hear that the dolly we were planning to use to help move the bath around once we start the internal work had broken when it was attempted to be moved. Particularly when there was no reason to move the bath as the last bit of brickwork which needed to be done was easily accessible.
Not only that, this happen on Thursday and no one chose to let me know. The only reason I found out was because they mentioned it to the other half today, who shared the good news with me when I got home. Nothing like a great start to your Friday evening.
So, with my phone torch in tow, I scrambled around on my hands and knees checking the base of the bath for any damage. Luckily, everything seems to be fine.
I certainly needed a couple of drinks after that!
We’re now at the point where we can’t proceed any further until the roof trusses are delivered.
If I’m able to, I will share a post next week, though it may only be a mini-update, or there might not be anything to share at all. I’ll keep you posted.
Until then, why not have a watch of how we got a 125kg bath into the bathroom extension.
Enjoy your week.
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The Bathroom Diaries is an additional weekly post every Sunday, sharing the progress of our first-ever renovation journey, documenting the creation of my dream bathroom.
If you missed any of the The Bathroom Diaries series you can catch up here:
This is all going to be worth it! 👏
I am so much more relaxed about your bath now, as it looks like it has a nice chunky edge.
The one in your design image was very narrow, so I was fearing the worst! Those thin edged ones look great, but must be so uncomfy! 😂
Bubble wrap is an essential commodity. We also use it for stress relief (popping it).