26 Year-Old En-Suite Refurb

[charliegolf]

We have had our ensuite as it is for 26 years now, since we built the house. Time for a refurb, we thought (often wished we hadn't lol) we would pull it out and start over.

I didn't take a pic of it in its full 26 year old glory, but here's a pic or two soon after ripping out started. You will see the pride and joy; the deep soaking tub we've had from the start. It has a whirlpool which we've more or less never used, and I looked into capping it all off and having just the tub... more of that later.

The construction is pb on studs, so any tiled surfaces have to come off and be re-boarded.

These pics show that in progress.

 

[charliegolf]

Next was re boarding. In another en-suite, I talked myself into using aqua panel, which cost a bomb, and was replacing good, dry, tiled plasterboards. I decided to skip that this time, seeing that all the boards I pulled out were dry and solid. So ordinary PB is was, with new noggins inserted as needed. No pics, sorry

 

[charliegolf]

SWMBO (pretending it was 'we') decided on wainscotting on the 'dry' walls, and white tiles on the bath/shower area. I glued the t and g with 'sticks like ****' and pins to hold it while it went off. I accepted the gap at the bottom, as a compromise on huge amounts of waste otherwise, given they came in 2400mm lengths, and I had to go up and cover the PB join.

Not a great pic, but half in undercoat, half not. The pipes appearing out of the wall are for the vanity unit, and are Hepworths 15mm. I managed to get them around the 90 degree corner in the pic from the water inlet to the room, without joins; and obviously through the studs.

 

[charliegolf]

Next came tiling- basically in the bath corner and under the window. Fairly pleased with the job, but there's a 'but' later!

 

[charliegolf]

Then we did a mock up of a few bits on the vanity side, and threw a few bits of flooring down for a look.

The old lights are still there, new rad hung for effect and the 2 new mirrors herself chose. You can see the shelf going around to hide the join. Reasonably pleased with it, using hidden L brackets sunk in the PB, filled over and painted.

Edit you can see the brackets lol. You can't now!

 

[charliegolf]

By now it was time to be thinking about getting the bath and stuff back in, so flooring was next. I used Quickstep Lima rigid 600 by 300 vinyl tiles. Never again! They were so hard to lay, as opposed to eng wood planks for example. So glad it was onlt 4 sq m.

Nice non slip finish mind.

 

[charliegolf]

Next time to replace, but not permanently fix the bath, so we could look at wastes and h&c etc. Wifey wants goldy/brass coloured fittings, and they are a pig to get, but we did get taps. The search for a waste for the bath... epic. Tiling is grouted, wainscotting satin glossed, and the room all painted ish.

The tile edges need trimmed, there was an internal power struggle about how high to go. I won! I will be sorry! The 'but!' I mentioned earlier is about the shower 'hole'. The one we decided on was pig ugly when up, so the wall now looks like this...

I'll close that up, and fit a remote pack shower with just the control panel and pipe on show... It's only extra work, right?

 

[charliegolf]

That's where I'm up to this side of the room, but the new lights are in on the vanity side; and herself has gold-leafed the 2 £30 mirrors and they look great in my view.

.

 

[conny]

Looking good but my concern is the radiator position. Most of the heat will be directed to the side of the vanity unit, (could put some reflective foil/material on the cupboard possibly), but access to the far side of the rad will be very tight.

 

[nitro23456]

Nice. Looks good.

Is that Hep20 pushfit? Did you just use isolation valves to kill the water or stop ends too?

 

[charliegolf]

Just 2 isolation valves for everything in the room. The stop ends are where I was pressure testing it. They don't need to be on there.

 

[charliegolf]

Looking good but my concern is the radiator position. Most of the heat will be directed to the side of the vanity unit, (could put some reflective foil/material on the cupboard possibly), but access to the far side of the rad will be very tight.

Agreed, but it's a straight redo of what was there before... such a small room, it always worked well.

 

[nitro23456]

Just 2 isolation valves for everything in the room. The stop ends are where I was pressure testing it. They don't need to be on there.

I only ask as im ripping my bathroom out and thought id use both as belt and braces.

 

[charliegolf]

Bath, shower and vanity in, tested and working.

Well on now, bath cladding and some making good and we're done.

 

[charliegolf]

Prob need a shower riser too! On the shower, brand new... leaked. Triton, fair play, out next day (today). Missing 'o' ring...