We get a wet room

 Once it became clear we were both going to be spending more time here in future we decided to convert the bathroom into a wet room.  The current shower arrangement for Mike was for me to place a kitchen chair with a folded towel on it in the bath and Mike would transfer over from his wheelchair on to it.  I then moved the wheelchair away and held the shower head over him while he showered.  Then we reversed the process.  Not exactly ideal.  The bathroom needed refurbishment anyway - it was cold and damp and I had to regularly clean black mould from the walls and ceiling. In the winter the condensation on the cistern caused puddles on the floor.  The shower tiling left a lot to be desired and we suspected the bath leaked.  

The old bathroom

They started work on 26th November - and it seemed we were right in thinking the bathroom needed attention.  The shower tiles fell off the wall as soon as they were touched, and when they took the frame away from the bath it fell through the rotten floor beneath!  It had only been the frame that was holding it up.

The floor was rotten in several places - and it was good to see them clear it all away and put in thick insulation covered by marine plywood.  The room felt noticeably warmer afterwards.

It took until Fri 5th December for them to finish the preparatory work - and it was very wearing trying to keep Suki quiet and out from under their feet, especially as one of them fed her treats from his pocket almost incessantly.  It really upset her stomach.  He brought bags of them with him every day, and even gave her a couple of new balls.  In the end I had to shut myself in the sun lounge (the only room that has doors!) with her, and Mike (who was trying to escape the noise) for most of the day.  They were lovely guys though - drank copious amount of tea! I was going to have a tiny radiator in the cupboard - which suffered from being damp and musty - but they found me a tiny little towel radiator at the yard and installed that instead which was much nicer.

The floor was laid the following Monday - it looked beautiful, and as the floor man drove out of the drive, having finished about 1 pm, the electricians drove in!  So no peace, but impressive that there was no down time.

The chippies came back on Tuesday and put in the panels - that took three days and I was a bit concerned about them clomping about on my lovely new floor and putting all their tools down on it, but I guess it is robust enough to withstand it.

When they left on Thursday it was really beginning to look good.  

The plumber came the next day and installed the toilet and shower - at last I could have a shower after just over a fortnight of washing in the sink in the utility room.  It was heavenly - and I was very pleased with the deluge head and pleasantly surprised to find I could get the water much hotter than before.

The following Monday it was the turn of the painter and decorator.  He took three days - and it was hard work keeping Suki away from the wet paint, she was so nosy and wanting to see what was going on all the time.  Once again I locked myself in the sun lounge with her (and Mike).

The plumber came back to fit the radiators - and with a bag of grab rails and toilet roll holders to choose from.  The large radiator was too narrow - so we ordered a wider one - and he put in the small one and the grab rails and changed the huge tap originally supplied for the small sink to a smaller one (which was a difficult job owing to the situation of the sink).  It looked really good when he had finished - and we gave him a box of truffles as a token of our appreciation for scouring the workshop for the bits and pieces to choose from and the additional work.

Luckily the wider radiator came in the next week and we were able to have the whole thing finished before Christmas.  The mirror was left for after Christmas - I decided not to buy it until everything was up and I could see what space there was and how a couple of small shelves might fit.  I was also taken with the idea of chrome liquid soap dispensers which would need to be purchased.  But at least we could move our stuff back in to the bathroom and put the linen and towels back in the cupboard.