My wetroom journey

[p4ulo]

Oh lovely pictures, jeez, looks like you are gonna end up with a total shell before you start building it up again.
Good plans......Zip Tap sounds exciting!

Whilst you are stripped back as far as this, make sure you think about any feature lighting and routing wires for them all now. Even mirrors have lights, and some have back-heated mirrors to combat misting up.
Have you bought your plumbing stuff yet?
I use Victoria Plumb an awful lot, but have also had very good results on Ebay buying Victoria Plumb fittings which people can't be bothered to return.......

 

[vala]

Oh lovely pictures, jeez, looks like you are gonna end up with a total shell before you start building it up again.
Good plans......Zip Tap sounds exciting!

Haha! Yes basically I'm looking at a shell then rebuilding. There isn't much upstairs anyway as I only moved in back in December 2014 and it was always on the cards.
The Zip Tap idea unfortunately has been shelved. It was my plan all along however due to it being accelerated (initially it was supposed to be fitted when I do the lower ground) I've looked at the finances and an extra £3k for the tap is just not good financial sense at the moment.
So I'm going to get another Zip ES3 for the kitchen.

 

[p4ulo]

Good call, £3k for a tap is a bit bonkers.
I edited my post since your reply, just giving Victoria Plumb props for cheap and sexy bathroom stuff in case you are looking?

 

[vala]

I've got shower head, basin tap, toilet, cistern, electric shower already. Basin I'll be making out of Corian.
Yes i'll be sorting the electrics out for this floor whilst it's empty. Should make it a heck of a lot easier with running cables etc should more be needed.

 

[vala]

Well this weekend has passed and yesterday I cracked on with the plan of removing the timber stud work, flooring and ceiling insulation. Failed on 2 small areas of flooring (beneath where the shower was and a section at the top of the stairs).
Plan was to remove these last bits today however got carried away with the booze last night and have been in no fit state all day to do any work! They're nothing major and I'll probably head over one evening this week and remove them.
It's allowed me to assess any pipe work and electrical feeds that may need relocating. Also it's confirmed I can go with the Orbry former.
Plan for the coming weekend is to remove the pipe work for the immersion tank. Aiming to also run a new waste for the shower and possible renew the existing waste for the basin. The Zip ES3 requires a cold water feed so it looks like I'll have to tee off the existing one. The current cold water feed for the shower runs up into the ceiling (by the toilet waste) and across but I'm hoping to change this to beneath the floor. Lastly I'll be clearing all the rubbish between the joists and will make a start on fitting noggins.
Anyone got any advice on what I could do to sort out where some of the bricks have broken? I think it would be wise to have these filled it solid so when the boards fit around it that adhere in all areas.

 

[p4ulo]

To repair the broken brickwork you just want a cheap bag of rapid set brick-repair mortar or similar. (B&Q etc)
Buy a cheap bucket to mix up in at the same time, and only do a couple of trowels full at a time (its so rapid you get about 3 minutes work time!!)
Wet the areas you are treating before hand to improve adhesion and drying-out time.

Loving your work so far, you will count your blessings that you got back to this stage before you started, and I'm the same, maximum cleanliness, I have even taken to hoovering between joists with my trusty Henry Hoover to make everything look "nice".
Good work.

 

[vala]

Thanks for the kind words P4ulo!

I've found this mortar repair from homebase, any good?
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/rapid-set-mortar---5kg-077390

Big part of the need for it all to be clean and tidy is from my time serving in the Army. Learned there to always keep on top of things like that as it makes life so much easier.

I'm working nights for the next 1-2 days so I've got some time to get on with this weekends jobs.
Got a list of new waste and water pipes/fittings which I'll try and gather up tomorrow. I'll also probably head over to the house to remove those last 2 bits I missed over the weekend just gone and make a start with hoovering between the joists.

 

[p4ulo]

Yeah man, that's the stuff.
HOMEBASE always makes me gag in my throat a little bit, have you got anywhere better? I know sometimes its just a choice of wherever is closest, but they are mega expensive! Still, I'm sure a few bags of that stuff won't cost the earth.
Its the exact stuff I use to YEP, that's it!
Good Motto ref keeping clean, as least when you are grubbing around on your back with your arm under the floor, you won't get your hands dirty eh?!
Good work, nice work ethic, unusual shifts are great for that eh?
I'm looking forward to some wallpaper stripping tonight when I get home, and all morning tomorrow before shift start at 2pm.

 

[Dan]

It's £5 for 5KG. Note that bag isn't very big. Not sure what the going rate is for that though to be honest.

 

[vala]

There's plenty of choice in Milton Keynes. I just googled rapid set brick repair mortar and the link to the Homebase stuff was one of the first to pop up.
Where would you recommend trying for this product?

The night shifts for the next 1-2 days are definitely a little blessing. Helps even to just get things in place rather then having to do all that on the Saturday as well as cracking on with the work.

 

[p4ulo]

Get yourself a TRADEPOINT card from B+Q....really cheap stuff, and good service on kitchen stuff etc.

I struggle doing up the flat I'm in now, as the oldies all complain about noise if I so much as drop a pin after 5pm....bit annoying really....however, wallpaper stripping is obv too quiet for them to hear it!

 

[vala]

I'll take a gander in B&Q for the trade point card.
Had a look on their site and they too sell that same rapid set mortar as Homebase do.

The noise issue is something I've thought about but to be fair my neighbours have never mentioned anything to me about it. Every time I've been working on the house I tend to keep it between 0900-1700hrs. On Sunday's I'll start and finish approximately 1 hour after/before.

Cleaned up 90-95% between the joists yesterday as well as made a purchase of waste/water pipes and fittings.
Should be getting some 4x2 later today to make a start on the noggins on Friday.
A friend of mine whose a plumber may be around on Saturday so said he'll help out with fitting the waste/water pipe work so it's looking likely as this weekend will be very chilled out. I'm going to see if I can get access to a van and might get enough 12mm ply so I could make a start on the flooring as well.

Should I bother with marine plywood for the wetroom floor or will wisa-spruce stuff be ok? This is what I'll be going with for the rest of the floor.
Also the ceiling of the wetroom will be covered in slate. It will be a large piece which will be supported on its sides by the slate on the walls. Would it be worth fixing ply to the ceiling and affixing the Orbry board to that or will using the Orbry boards straight to the joists suffice?

 

[p4ulo]

Sounds like a nice weekend plan.
Ah, the wood for the floor. I don't honestly know....seeing as you are tanking the whole thing after you have laid ORBRY board on-top of the ply, I wouldn't have thought it would make much difference, however, something in my brain always tells me that anything in a wet-environment would be best to be water-happy?
Ceiling plans sound interesting....it might be worth checking with ORBRY the boards can be used in this way, and either way you must use the spreading washers to spread the load. As long as you have enough fixings per m as they recommend, a sheet of play won't make much difference, however, if you are using the other side (attic space) for anything, it might be worth chucking up some ply just to add a layer of insulation / resistance / protection???

 

[vala]

Well it was bound to happen, sooner or later I was going to encounter a bad weekend productively. And this weekend just gone was the one.
No one to blame but myself but let's hope I've learned my lesson.
First up I ordered not enough timber for the noggins. 2 more lengths needed.
Secondly I assumed I still had another box of screws for the noggins...oh no I didn't. Never ever assume.
Thirdly by not getting round to the house to remove the flooring beneath the shower tray in the week, I wasn't made aware that till the Saturday that the flooring here was old floorboard which meant I had to remove the 2 partitioned walls to complete remove the floorboard off the joists. This actually wasn't a hinderance as after a discussion with my plumber we've decided to move the electric shower to one of these walls so it needs to be made again but deeper.
Also I gave in to temptation and went out Saturday night...what a wally

This weekend I'm fired up to crack on for the FULL weekend. No beer for me
Got a friend coming round who said he'll do all the runs to the tip during the day so that will save time.

I did notice the floorboard, ply and raised timber that was all beneath the shower was all dry and hadn't appeared to have suffered from any contact with water. Even the timber partition wall appeared to be fine considering it was just covered in tiles on normal plasterboard.
This does make me think that I would be fine to use the 12mm spruce ply over the joists in the wetroom, considering the whole room will be tanked.
Anyone else think the same or differently?
My Orbry shower tray and former should be with me tomorrow/Thursday so I'll be able I run a waste and get an idea of where it will sit.

 

[p4ulo]

Silly boy, but heck - we all need to blow off a bit of steam occasionally and it helps to focus the mind I think!

Mate, if its your job in your bathroom, go with what you feel. I just know that if I was doing the job, I'd be underboarding with marine ply or 12mm HARDIEBACKER. Total piece of mind then!

Electric shower? I'm guessing that's a "pressure" decision over anything else? I'm running two showers off a modern vented electric water heater with no pressure problems....
I at least hope you've managed to find a sexy one you can recess??

Now stop typing and get on with it!