The Bathroom Diaries: Week 9
Plastering, tiling and window installation.
This week we waved goodbye to the builders, and it’s a huge relief knowing all the external work is now finished. The scaffolding is down, and we have officially started the fun part of the internal installation.
I’ve realised my expectations of being completely finished for Christmas were maybe a little unrealistic. However, there is no reason why the majority of the bathroom can’t be finished.
This week hasn’t been without the odd drama, although we really are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Sunday 8th December:
There’s nothing like ripping down a bathroom ceiling on a Sunday morning.
Part of the ceiling in the existing bathroom has been re-boarded, ready for the electrician, who’s arriving tomorrow to arrange first-fix electrics.
The other half also cut out chasers for the wiring of the light switch, mirror, and toothbrush holder, as well as cutting out the space for one of the bathroom niches to be positioned.
By the end of the day, I was ready to put my feet up, enjoyed a couple of mugs of mulled wine, a mince pie, and watch That Christmas.
Monday 9th December:
Our electrician arranged all the first-fix electrics, and I came home to a lovely surprise; the bathroom window had not only been delivered but installed too!
I really had visions that I was going to be informed there’d been a further problem and the window wouldn’t be until after Christmas.
As they often say, “one step forward, two steps back,” and with the delivery of the window, I was then informed the blind (which needs to be installed before we can finish boarding this wall) was delayed by a week. Sending an email to the company explaining the urgency of receiving the blinds, I now need to wait to see if they can improve on the date once they’ve spoken to the production team.
To continue with the theme of good news, the roof is finally finished with all the lead work cut and fitted. There was a slight blip that one of the ridge tiles had been knocked, causing the cement to crack. Whether it was from the high winds over the weekend, where the tarpaulin and wood battens were blown down, or one of the builders deciding to set up a scaffolding board right on the corner (to continue to beat the lead sheets, which feels like he’s been doing for days) and possibly knocking it, I’ll let you decide.
The main point is it’s now all finished, and we’re ready to have the scaffolding removed, just in time for us to get some Christmas lights up on the outside of the house.
Tuesday 10th December:
Good news! The blinds order has been fast-tracked and is due to be shipped tomorrow.
Today, the last part of the build was finalised, digging up the trench inside the garage to run the pipework for the drainage into our existing soil stack.
The other half spent the day plastering the ceiling and either side of the feature wall, which will be painted.
Wednesday 11th December:
Now things are starting to get exciting with the arrival of our bathroom fitter. The feature wall was the first job he completed.
The wall at the back of where the bath will be positioned has been tiled, as well as part of the main wall.
Having super large wall tiles means you get almost instant results in a very short period of time.
The other half boarded the rest of the existing bathroom ceiling when he got home from work, which means it should now be a lot warmer and no longer have traces of insulation falling down randomly.
Thursday 12th December:
The scaffolding was finally taken down this morning! It feels so good to have the house back to normal, at least from the outside, and I’m so pleased with how it blends in.
The floor has been laid, and the pipework for the bath has been lined up, ready for connecting.
As we’ve some painting to do either side of the feature wall, we’ve delayed the bath being plumbed in until next week.
The shower tray is plumbed in, and we’re just waiting for the blind to arrive (which is due today) so it can be fitted. Then the other half can get the rest of this wall boarded, ready for tiling.
Some more tiling has been done, including the windowsill.
Although I thought we might only be one or two tiles short, as we want to extend the tiling past the shower enclosure, we may need a few more. Not ideal, as they’re on a 4-6 week lead time. However, other than delaying the project being finalised, it’s not actually going to hold anything up.
Friday 13th December:
Today was a day of lots of fiddly little jobs in preparation for getting more of the bathroom complete,
The other half has spent the day filling in chasers, in preparation for plastering.
The niche, which is going to be positioned at the end of the bath needed some block work cut out so it fits snugly.
The reveals of the window (which is going to be blocked) up was plaster-boarded ready for the blind to be fitted before blocking up and then can be boarded ready for tiling.
We’re also positioning a niche in this space so preparations were made for the positioning of this, to make it easier when it comes to fitting.
I’m taking a break from the bathroom this weekend and plan to share the final instalment (for this year) next Sunday as normal and the final phase in the new year, with my first post landing in your inbox on Sunday 12th January, which may be a bumper edition depending on what we choose to do over the Christmas break.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support over the year and wish you a wonderful Christmas break and all the best for 2025.
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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:
Ooh, it’s cracking on now Sonya! Looks fantastic from the outside, you must be so happy! The light at the end of the tunnel gets larger every day! Hope you get another successful week of work done 🤞😊