The Bathroom Sub-Project

It is not strictly part of the extension project, but I am going to write about the renovation of the family bathroom anyway.  Apart from the very obvious fact that it needs doing, one of the driving factors behind embarking on this is to get all the remaining "dirty" work upstairs done, before putting in a carpet on the landing and stairs.

First, to set the scene for those of you that haven't seen it, it is completely tiled from floor to ceiling, with a pale cream coloured suite, sloping soffits up into the roof of a gable added to the original house, probably in the 1920's.  There is a single window opposite the door, which is a plastic double glazed replacement for a Victorian sliding sash.

It is in need of a complete refurbishment, and because I took so long over the other bathroom, this one has been out to professional tender.  We have chosen someone to do the majority of the work, but it has turned into a slight compromise, with them doing some of the work, and us doing some.

Here are some pictures of the start point.

Because of those sloping soffits and the relatively small size of the room, there isn't any scope for repositioning anything.  Even this awkward shower placement can only be (hopefully) improved upon slightly :

During one of the school holidays Jan asked Adam to do something useful and strip the polystyrene tiles from the ceiling.  This was the resultant mess, not his fault - the tiles came off easily enough but the glue didn't :

The "professionals" quote is to leave the tiles on the soffits and go over them with another layer.  However, for 3 reasons we didn't want to do that :

1. The extra weight pulling on the old plaster.
2. Further loss of precious head-height in the shower.
3. The unlikelihood of there being any insulation behind it

My involvement in this project started today with a brief investigation into point 3.  Sure enough, no insulation was found, so the soffit was stripped of tiles, fine dusty loose plaster, and wooden laths.  One filthy afternoon later, this is how it looked :

Fortunately the timbers and roof felt are good, so no alarming surprises.