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With the gate done we now move indoors. The bathroom layout is kind of weird at the moment. We have a bath and a vanity in one room. In the other, we have the toilet. Then in the washhouse, we have the shower.
The original plan was to knock out the wall between the toilet and the bathroom, rotate the toilet 90º, then move the shower into the enlarged bathroom. On reflection, it looks like the shower will take too much space. We've decided on another plan.
We'll move the vanity opposite the toilet. We'll replace the toilet with a smaller footprint one which should move it closer to the wall. We'll then replace the bath with a larger one and put a rain head shower over the bath. We'll move the taps for the bath from the end to the side.
I prefer this new plan, and to be honest this is what I suggested from the outset. The benefits are numerous.
First, we will get more space. By not having a dedicated shower we will save 900mm square. That's a lot of space when you think about it. By moving the vanity to opposite the toilet, we make access to the window easier. Not that we need it because we will be adding a fan/light unit.
By having the taps at the side of the bath we make it more comfortable for those kinky nights in the tub with the missus. No more taps in the back or neck. It also makes it easier to get to the taps when filling the bath for Little Wookie.
By having a rain head then it just makes for a better shower experience. All that water flowing over you instead of whatever decides to reach you is in my mind nicer. Getting wet all at once rather than piece by piece, with revolving to get a full cover just makes sense.
And last, but by no means least, it just makes the room more practical. It also frees up more space in the washhouse for better washing machine and dryer access. We'll also be able to move the switchboard into that room and get it out of the hallway.
The thing with all these plans is they are pretty easy to make but at the same time just make everything so better. I'm looking forward to this project. But, I'm under no illusion that this is going to be a cheap change. The plumber on his own is going to be most of the cost. Funnily enough, that's the reason I wanted to become a plumber.
We've pretty much reached where we can do it all by ourselves so the rest of the finishing can't be done until the plumber comes in. So it's going to look like this for a wee while:
Well, it didn't take you long to get started on the inside @woodenwookie.
That's the benefit of living in a house before purchasing it; you realise the functional issues that need fixing.
I'm really looking forward to seeing your project come together. Please remember to let us know if you need any help.
Many thanks for sharing.
Mitchell
It's been a while since I've been here. Work has got out of hand lately with people leaving and their roles needing filling. We were embarking on doing some landscaping but, winters here in Taranaki suck. It's been very wet and wild, so we moved our efforts inside.
We moved all of our efforts to the bathroom. The story behind this was quite funny. We had some friends around for dinner. We had ulterior motives because we wanted to get his opinion about what we should do with the windows. As the ex-owner of a construction firm, he seemed like someone whose brain we should pick. We planned to remove the toilet window then move the window from the bathroom to centre it up. Instead, our friend suggested that we add a smaller window at the end of the frame. We would still have light, but it would also give us a large wall area for a mirror over the basin. We liked this idea, so we went with it.
The next night we had some more friends over for dinner. These happen to be the daughter and son-in-law of the friends we had the night before. The son-in-law was also co-owner of the construction firm before they sold off. During the night, we talked about what we came up with the night before. The next thing we knew, pencil and paper were out, and the bathroom was getting redesigned entirely.
The plan ended with us removing the hallway and extending the wall, which used to be the toilet wall, to the edge of the lounge. We get an extra 900mm doing this, so now we can move the shower from the laundry to the bathroom. It did create a big problem. Moving the shower unit would require 900 x 900mm, which would mean the door can't open into the bathroom. Opening into the rest of the hallway is also not an option. A cavity slider would work, but it would be a lot of effort and affects a load-bearing wall. We decided the only option was a barn door. Bunnings has a great set, but to make it look more natural, we'd need something longer. Bunnings doesn't supply anything that suits, so we found something elsewhere.
Mrs Wookie's parents had done their bathroom last year, and they went for a wet room. On reflection, the wet room is the best option for us. Even with a barn door, we still only had 600mm to squeeze through to get into the bathroom. With a wet room, we'd be able to have a proper door and plenty of room to move. So that's what we decided.
At this point, we had already knocked down the front wall of the bathroom. We built the opening for the door and the wall to join the end of the hall. Because the decision to go wet room came after, we had to cut a section out of the door frame to fit the new door. We got a friend to do this and install the new windows. Mrs Wookie found some cheap, double glazed windows which suited perfectly. These have just been installed and look great.
The biggest issue we had was with the ceiling. When we removed the old front wall, we removed the part that was holding the battens up. I had to build new battens to go the length of the new room. It was something I was nervous about doing, but it came out great.
COVID reared its ugly head again, and New Zealand went into its second national lockdown in a year. Not bad, considering. But it meant the plumber we had jacked up wasn't coming. It also meant we couldn't get any GIB or Pink Batts in. All our plans were on hold. Once we came out of lockdown, we found another issue. We were out of lockdown, but Auckland wasn't. Sadly, over the years, businesses decided that making stuff in New Zealand was too expensive, and so the only place making products is Auckland. Guess who wasn't working and therefore brought down the entire building industry for an extra month.
Things are slowly getting back to normal now that Auckland is in Alert 3. It's slow going, but now the ports are open, suppliers are finally shipping products. The fact New Zealand is so reliant on Auckland is causing the nation to wake up. The dumb thing is, New Plymouth has an international port, but no one is using it to import building materials. We're shipping a tonne of logs a day OUT of the country, which seems dumb.
But today, we just received a drop off of plasterboard from our local timber supplier. I'm using a company called Timberco instead of Bunnings for two reasons. One: it's just down the road, and their delivery fee is considerably less. Two: Bunnings is getting hammered by tradies, so their stock is too low to support DIYers.
I'll add a third in that the New Plymouth shop sucks. It inherited a limited footprint when it bought the old Placemakers site. It's got limited stock and does not feel like a Bunnings store. Luckily Bunnings is rectifying this, and as luck would have it, it's right behind where I work. Admittedly I can't buy long lumber while at work and take it home because I'm sure there are laws against riding a motorcycle while carrying a 2.4m length of 4 x 2.
To date, we've done a fair amount of work. We've GIBbed as far as we can. We're waiting on the plumber, but before that, we need to get our bath. Hopefully, it will be here on Monday. Once the bathtub is in, the plumber can move the taps to fit the new ones coming in November. He can then tell us what we need to do to cut drains and move the pipes for the new shower area. Once the concrete gets cut, the plumber can come back and do the pipework. Once the pipework is complete, we then batt and GIB, and the plasterers can finish off.
Here's what we've done so far:
Wow! Thanks for the in-depth update, @woodenwookie. You've really bought us up to speed. Congrats on the amount you've got done despite the circumstances. It's awesome to hear that you'll have a new store opening up nearby.
Please keep us updated as I can't wait for the next instalment.
Mitchell
Wow, the last post I made of our bathroom renovations was October 2021. I haven't really done anything to the bathroom since then as I've been so busy with work. In fact, ever since New Zealand went into lockdown in March 2020 I've got busier and busier. It's been worse since around September last year as I've got 3 workers off, two with broken legs - one on the job, and one with issues from previous injuries years ago which have caught up with him.
But last weekend I finally got a chance to finish at least a small part of the reno - sticking the last of the Gib on the ceiling. I'd left it off because we needed to get a sparky in to move our metre board before we progressed. That's now done. I'd also had to leave it open due to ceiling access being cut off if I did. However, I'd already cut the hole for the new attic stairs so I figured I could finish of the ceiling in the bathroom. I also built the wall needed for the back of the shower. I've not put the nogs in yet though. I realised that the wall we want to partially remove had bracing on it so I needed to be able to access that side again so nogs are not in yet.
After completing this I got onto another project that I had on the go. When we moved into the house there was this weird kitchen bench that didn't seem to fit anywhere. I suspect it was the righthand corner of the bench which is where the stove and oven is.
So I used my rail saw to cut the bench down to size. We had purchased a new fridge about a month ago but there was no way we could fit it into the cavity for the fridge. But cutting the bench down solved that space issue.
I got my friend who's a retired builder to come check out the bracing. He said it is needed but when we demo the other side we can brace the wall then, using steel strapping. Good to know.
His visit led to this:
Finally, the boxing needed for the attic stairs is in. Unfortunately our friend had a prior engagement so we had to wait until this weekend to get the attic stairs in.
I moved the light switch from where the metre box is which is where the old manhole was. In another post I'll show you what it's like up there and why I'm real exited about our plans for this area.
Next weekend's project is to visit the House and Garden show at the TSB Showplace. We're wanting ideas and see what new products are available for our bathroom.
I am hoping Stop Drilling is going to be there. I really want to speak to them because I want to use their product for our deck when that project comes up.
You have made some incredible progress @woodenwookie!
I really love your repurposing of the old cabinet to create your coffee nook, very clever design. I hope that the H&G show is successful, please share with us what you are inspired by.
Looking forward to seeing what your attic looks like and your plans for it.
Katie
