The Bathroom Renovation - Part 1

I have no reason for beginning with this image. None at all. I just thought you might like it - that's all.

Here's another image you might like. It is a rare photograph of Paul - reading flat pack instructions.

Day 1 - 13 April. Two days before Easter. The day we finally began on the bathroom, the sun came out and my pots of herbs started zinging away. It took all day to clear everything moveable out of the bathroom.

Day 2.  The first job was to remove the once white, but now painted Tuscany Red tiles. The upper rows had been glued on 50 years ago but the lower rows had been cemented on. Clearing one wall took almost 5 days.

The sides of the vanity turned out to be made of plaster. I thought they must have been cast in-situ but later we saw these solid plaster sections in various sizes in the bricolage (hardware store). 

With the sunshine sprung forth the vines and the roses.

This is the walkway past several quite old houses, along an old wall below the castle. You can see the castle roof at the top left. The house at top right is the Environmental Department of the Commune de Pays du Lauzun and the open space on the other side of the wall is where our communal compost system lives.

Day 7 and the long wall is clear ready for the window changeover. We can still use the shower at this point. Paul spends the day on the internet ordering the shower base and glass screen. The pre-ordered windows arrive.

Day 8. I polished up my almost forgotten painting and ladder skills on the downstairs toilet which had been a delightful shade of mauve with a touch of bright purple. The challenge of filling in the "drainage alcove" is a work in progress.

Day 10. With added confidence I started filling, sanding and undercoating the worst sections of the red wall. 

Day 9 had required an all day excursion to Agen to purchase tools, cement, plaster and to look at tiles.

I don't know how many places we visited to look at bathroom furniture, but it was a lot.

Day 13. Paul took a big breath and knocked out the two windows.  We are two storeys up with the ancient roof of the old house next door one floor lower.  So everything, including the waste, needed to be managed from inside. The French don't frame, insulate then plaster as we would.  They rarely use wood because of white ant problems.  Instead they use these big terracotta hollow bricks and lots of cement.

The windows took several days as they needed to some framework to attach the new PVC window frame to, and  then the gap bricked in with the large terracotta bricks. It was tricky. In the meantime I got at least one coat of undercoat on all the walls and two coats in the spots I could get to.

We are now at the point where we needed a plumber and electrician. Meet our neighbour Alain Lagrange. Alain speaks no English and has lived in Lauzun his entire life. Paul's French has improved rapidly.

Day 17. Alain removed the bidet, toilet, handbasin and bath and closed off the water pipes. He also removed the floor tiles to chip out a channel to drain the new shower and enlarged the hole in the floor slab to take the new outlet. Despite best efforts, we now have a house covered in brick and cement dust.

Alain cut bricks and inserted the hot and cold pipes for the new shower. He also chased in the electrics from that old light that was over the former vanity, around the new window and added a new light and power-point for the new vanity.

Day 25. Alain framed in the new toilet and helped Paul position the shower base. I have no photos of the mammoth effort of carrying the shower base up two flights of stairs. I was so concerned that they were both going to have a heart attack that I didn't notice my camera settings were wrong and I have 10 entirely black photos of that mammoth effort.

Day 27. The shower base was finally cemented in with all the drainage levels correct. 

We had to leave it to dry for 24 hours so we went to Bordeaux to pick up the vanity, taps, knobs and towel rails plus a bathroom storage column and two desks.  Good old Ikea proved yet again to have the best quality at the best price.  We ordered everything online, then did a Click and Collect for those items that would fit in our car and paid 50 euros delivery for all the stuff that didn't.

Once all the underlying cement and plaster patching was dry, Paul and Alain got the plasterboard in place for the tiles.

There is no AC sheeting in France for tiling; instead they use this thick and heavy plasterboard. Finding a tile centre that had tiles in stock (as opposed to 4-6 weeks delivery) proved a challenge but finally we tracked down a bricolage in Bergerac.  It took two trips as tiles are heavy and 10 sq.m was too much for our car in a single load.

It took Paul 8 days to complete the tiling We used these big 60 x 30 tiles so the big circle for the sewerage outlet was a challenge. He had had to buy a water-cooled tile cutter which was a great investment but it didn't help with cutting circles.

Day 29.  Our postal ballots arrived for the federal election and it was my job to front the formidable lady at La Poste and mail them to the Australian Embassy in Paris.

Meanwhile the tiling is coming along.

While Paul has been stuck in the bathroom, the weather has become positively balmy and I've broken out the sun umbrella and the old white plastic furniture. This delightful scene lasted all of 2 days then it rained for 5 days.  But whose complaining? It's the middle of Spring and all of the trees now have their leaves, the roses are in full bloom and the vines are verdant. And I have fresh herbs everyday.

Grouting.

All the tiles are up with just the final section on the left to grout. The tile cutter is sitting on a section of floor that was formerly under the bath. We are hopeful to have saved enough of the old floor tiles that were formerly used as skirting board, to level and retile this area.

Day 33. Now to tackle the pink ceiling and get the third and final undercoat on the red walls.

Day 34. 16 May.  Finished - finally. Well - finished the main reconstruction at least. Now for the fittings and the final detailing.

Day 35. Paul and Alain heave three heavy panes of shower glass up two floors - again avoiding heart attacks.

While while work progressed on the shower glass, two young hefty lads heaved the Ikea delivery up one flight into the living room carrying two boxes at a time.  Oh, to be young again.

Meanwhile I have been gradually getting rid of the masses of stuffed animals, dried flowers, vases, pots, glasses, pictures, Christmas decorations, lampshades, books and candle paraphernalia that were in the house.  I'm doing good business. Every time I go downstairs something else has disappeared.  I haven't started on what came out of the kitchen cupboards yet!

It's the end of the day and I just went upstairs to see how things were progressing and was told in no uncertain terms - "Don't ask! Just don't ask!" 

I think this is probably an opportune time to end Part 1 and open a bottle of wine.