We have finally reached the last room in the house for renovation.
It is true to say that the bathroom was the 'nicest' room when we bought the house, but it now looks old and tired compared to the rest of the house.
On Monday of this week, I began removing the appliances and the wall tiles so that we could create a nice new space. We also hope to install a bath which, after such a long time without, will be a novelty.
It seems to be the normal way to simply apply new tiles on top of the existing tiles - which obviously makes the task much easier. But, because we will have to make alterations to the plumbing and electrics, we need access into the walls and floor, so away with the old tiles.
It took a couple of days to get the tiles off and remove the stair treads - whilst at the same time keeping the washing machine in use 😁
The final task, before taking off the water heater and clearing that small wall, was to remove the shower tray. I had previously spent a lot of time carefully dismantling the shower cabin with a view of donating it to someone who may be in need, it was not in bad condition. Unfortunately, while moving the glass panels from one part of the room to a 'safer' place, one of them simply disintegrated in my hands. So the whole shower is now scrap.
My first task today was to remove the shower tray. That turned out to be not so easy as one would think or hope, it seemed to be stuck down somehow, which is a little unusual. After spending some time carefully levering up each accessible corner little by little, I managed to get the thing off the frame.
This revealed a surprise, though we have come to expect surprises in this project. The support frame was enclosed in a huge block of cement - but why??
At more than 2 feet across and 5-6 inches thick, that is a lot of cement to chip away even with the use of a proper 'breaker' tool.
I was resigning myself to a long day and stopped for a cuppa. Then I began wondering whether they would have bothered to key in the cement to the existing floor as it is not structural, it looks as though it was simply poured on as an afterthought and the shower pan pressed down on top.
Rather than start chipping away at the block I decided to use the SDS hammer and wide chisel at the base. Amazingly, after only three attempts at different points, the whole block loosened from the floor and I was able to lift it all away. What a relief !!
Next, I was able to break the metal tube frame out of the cement and, with a point chisel bit on the SDS, I could then split the block into three manageable pieces and launch them out of the window.
Happily, the day has not been spoiled by an immovable object and I am now able to progress with lifting the floor tiles.