Thursday 22 May 2008

Toilet work and more

Following on from Andy's sterling efforts on the shower front while I was away (final grouting/silicone sealing finished yesterday evening), transforming this.....
... to this....... we decided yesterday that the existing layout of the bathroom makes very poor use of the space available and that the pipework needed 'review'. The big 'chauffe-eau' hot water tank was stupidly installed, wasting much needed storage space. The 'cabinet' that the previous owners had constructed around it which was supposed to serve as an airing cupboard/storage space was an appalling structure of pine pannelling and a shonky frame. The hot and cold water pipework was a jumble of copper piping obviously installed by an amateur who had no idea about plumbing. And then we come to the loo, which had been jammed up against the wall of the 'airing cupboard and had never even been fixed down properly! So yesterday, the 'airing cabinet' was expertly destroyed and today Andy moved the chauffe-eau further towards the exterior wall....... which has created a surprising amount of space to its right. Then he shifted the toilet about a foot to the right and the mess of pipes (how many joints were there?) that connected it all to the outside waste pipe was replaced with a single pipe. Much better! Finally, after much pipe cutting and soldering, the maze of copper pipes was reduced down to a cold and a hot pipe with branches coming off for the shower, basin, toilet and kitchen. Much neater! Next will be the construction of a new frame for the 'airing cupboard/chauffe-eau cabinet' .... nearly there... the effort will be worth it. My efforts as chief cup of tea supplier and moral supporter are paying off ;-)

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