Bathroom panelling finished!

We moved in just over 17 months ago, and every day, I've looked at the paneling I made in the bathroom, and thought, "I must finish that".

The problem was not the material, as I've had that at least that long, but the fact one board was too short, so I hd to lengthen it. Without a table saw, I could not cut precise enough to butt-join two pieces without a gap showing, so it was only recently that I got help from a friend to get a suitable cut.

Once cut, the two pieces were joined with a biscuit joiner, and a strip was glued underneath, to give the impression of a thicker board, much like I did with the window sills, so long ago.

The front was then planed and sanded, to make that join as seamless as possible.

The wall behind the sink is pretty uneven, so some careful marking, then cutting with a jigsaw got as near a perfect fit as I could manage.

To take the hard edge off it, i used a hand router to put a 3mm radius curve on the top edge, so it matches the window sills, and to take the weighty look off it a bit, I used a more decorative cutter on the bottom edge, which mirrors that of the bottom skirting. Then the whole thing was given 4 coats of varnish and glued in place.

Job done!

Next for the bathroom will be to rig some system to hang a mirror and extra storage from.

Spot the difference

We should be very happy. The heavy work has begun. But I'm not feeling the love. Having met with three of the firms last Monday, the brickies, who are to do the heavy demolition work, were to begin the next morning, between 8:00 and 8:30, we were assured. Nobody arrived, and there was no call, no explanations. On Wednesday, two experienced, mature men arrived, and by Thursday they had completely removed the extension at the back. Brilliant work! Having spent two days away for work, it was quite a sight to turn the corner at the back of the house have have a completely new view of the garden. So much space has been released behind the house, we now get a feel for what it might be like to sit outside the kitchen on a warm summer evening. Lovely

Before.

After. Rear facade, July 2011.

The only problem i had was the sacking used to cover the gaping hole where the extension roof was. But, it was Thursday, and they were to return on the morning to put some plastic sheeting over it, and to take the top off the left chimney. This has to be completed this week, as they go on holiday next week, and the chimney has to go before the roofer starts in just over a week.

Adding water to the general dirt is not nice.

Friday morning, up at 6:30 to go open the house by 7am. Nobody arrives. We don't have the boss's mobile number, for some crazy reason, so we call the architect who is told they had to deal with a gas pipe problem, and they'd send someone on Monday to cover the hole properly, and besides, the forecast was for no rain. Then, at 5pm, it rains. Heavily. Luckily I had put some small sheeting in the floor under the hole, carrying most of the water away, but no way could it hold back the torrent. Water literally poured in, and went through the floor into the kitchen below. In desperation we call the boss's home, and his wife calls him, and soon, the poor chap who had worked on this the previous two days, and who had been sent elsewhere for the day, left home and came over. I helped him put up the new sheeting. I don't blame him, but the management and communication is dismal and unprofessional. And I foolishly thought that German builders (or rather the management) would not conform to the stereotype!

That's more like it! Still only temporary.

Having punched holes in the plasterboard ceiling in the kitchen to release trapped water, I think I'll take the whole ceiling down tomorrow, as well as removing the corrugated iron roof on the machine room, which needs to go before the scaffolding goes up next week.

Still, let's think happy thoughts, and stop with a new vista of the barn.

Before.

After!

I really hope things improve with this firm's attitude when they return for more major work in two weeks.

Introducing the Extension/Bathroom

Location of bathroom, January 2011.

At the rear of the house, connected to the former slaughter room, is an extension housing the current bathroom. The extension itself it utilitarian and a bit ugly, with only one small window letting in light to the current bathroom. We think it was built in the 60s or 70s, and the pitched roof has impacted the roof structure, in that original rafters have been truncated. Every cloud has a silver lining though.

While we originally played with the idea of keeping this extension, but inserting a door and a large window in order to crate a kind of porch, the plan is now to demolish it and restore the original footprint, while putting a new rear door and large window in it's place to bring more light into the proposed kitchen. This will also open the rear of the house up a bit, as the outbuilding, the former pigsty/tobacco drying house immediately to the North - you can just see the edge of the roof-line to the right in the photo below - is a little close if the extension remains.

Extension housing bathroom, January 2011.

We've joked several times about whether the bathroom itself is under protection, as it is  modern classic of design, and will probably come back into fashion in another 10 years or so.

We are applying to replace this extension with a taller gable dormer, of sorts, in which the new bathroom would be housed in the level above the planned kitchen. This new element would be in line with the walls of the original façade, although the details may alter slightly from the planned image below. As the rafters have already been compromised at the upper level, this should be OK, however it does have to go through many other planning criteria, including the neighbours. In any case, we'll most likely knock the extension down, so must put a bathroom somewhere within the main body of the house.

Planned rear façade, January 2011.