Shower, Plasterboard, Doors....

Well it's been a busy week. The stud walls for the upstairs have gone in, including the shower cubicle in the en-suite. We had a lot of chats about this before we settled on building it ready to be a steam room although it will only have a shower to start. Part of the reason is the cost of shower doors and trays. We originally had a 12x12 cubicle with Mermaid panels on the walls and an Impeydeck pre-formed underfloor which would then be tiled, a small 400mm glass screen at one side of the entrance (leaving 800mm gap) basically like a wetroom.

The simple answer was it was very expensive even with fairly basic sanitary ware.

We have decided to use WEDI style impregnated plasterboard to make the cubicle, which is now the full 1700mm wide, but 1000mm deep. We will build a bench out of it at the opposite end to the shower head and the whole cubicle will be tiled (many hours searching e-Bay for mosaic tiles...). There are 2 stub walls either side leaving an 800mm opening with a small step. If we ever get the steam generator, a door will go in the gap, but for now we'll leave it open.

Revised Layout:
We were going to use built-in furniture to house the cistern and sit the basin on, but we found this on eBay and went for it!
And finally, we bought this for the downstairs toilet:
The big doors are in downstairs as well, and the velux, and the roof is on but I haven't been home in daylight to take photos... hopefully tonight.

Hole int' Wall

Progress inside: This used to be the office and is now the entrance to the first floor of the extension.
All the floorboards are down and the main dividing wall is in place - the door to the ensuite will go in the big gap next to the wall
This will be our main bedroom. It is hard to judge sizes at the moment - the main bedroom is 5m x 4m and the ensuite is 1.7 wide x 2.8m long

Roof and glass

Well, things have really moved on appearance wise in the last week. This was the situation on 29th September
As of today, the main pitch is complete and the ridge tiles are on the extension half - we are re-felting the front of the main roof so the ridge tiles will have to wait there. But the big thing is the glass is going in! The bow window looks great - we didn't have it in the original plan but decided on it when we spoke to the window guy a few weeks back. We had planned on a lead edging on the main panes and the blue pattern in the top panels but the window guy questioned it as being a bit busy and Sarah decided to drop the edging - a good move in the end as the lower panels are not that big in the end.

You can't see it in the photo but there are hinges on the opposite side of the lower windows - they can be turned right round for cleaning - a nice bonus. The windows are Synerjy by Synseal. I had never heard of them (I had been looking at Rehau) but according to the Synseal website they are (one of) the largest uPVC manufacturers in the UK - so I hope they are good!


The en-suite window and the front bedroom are now in and looking good. The rear door frames are waiting at the bottom of the picture. Can't wait!

Also, Martin Hope has left Rehau and setup Walkwarm on 0161 7038343. Email Martin on walkwarm@aol.com for UFH or Anhydride Screed. I'll add his website to the supplier links when I get the URL.

Less roof!

The existing rear roof pitches are both off now. The rear pitch is common across the existing house and extension so that has been felted and battened as one piece. The slates will go back on tomorrow so fingers crossed we'll have a complete roof by the end of the week....


And the windows have arrived. No glass so I can't see exactly what pattern my wife picked so that will be a (nice) surprise when the glass finally goes in.

Wet and windy

We have struggled a bit this week and so have the guys. It's been blowing a gale and peeing down with rain. We have had no phone since yesterday (although the broadband is ok.... hmm), we had another power cut this morning at 5.30 thanks to the junction box just outside the lounge getting wet, and the TV ariel cable got chopped to finish the front of the new roof. The photo below was from yesterday - too wet to get a photo today, but the facia boards are on across the front and up and over the gable and the whole front of the new roof is tiled.

Fingers crossed the weather isn't too daft for them to do the rear roof tomorrow. The window company have dried out their computer and the windows will be ready for tomorrow. First window in is the bathroom at the back - hopefully no more water dripping into the lounge!

Typically, the weather deteriorated just after the roof was damaged so we also have a few drips into the bathroom....
The existing roof is just about shot, so we're going to have the back two faces replaced with new felt and battens. The plan is to re-use the slate for our half of the shared pitch at the back, and replace the main rear pitch to match the new roof since that pitch is common right across the existing house and the extension.

The valuer is booked for October 1st so hopefully we'll be watertight by then to get the maximum money!

Also had a call from Martin the UFH guy. He has set up his own company - link to follow - and has partnered with another company who do liquid screed so we're looking at using that. It is slightly thinner than sand and cement (55mm vs 75mm) and it dries in one day. Also the finish is laser levelled apparently so the Karndean can go straight on top - the sand and cement would need a 3mm levelling layer applied to get it smooth enough.

All the extra expense on the revised roof and old roof repairs is eating into the budget quite badly - but it seems daft to spend it on a fancy bathroom if the roof is knackered.... but it may still be disappointing if we get downstairs just right but upstairs is half finished... oh well, we'll just have to see.