The big-scary bathroom project

I've been holding off sharing photos of the bathroom demolition that's been happening for a few weeks now, because, well, looking a photos of smashed up stuff isn't very interesting.

A post needs direction. Purpose. Signs of progress.

Unfortunately, the bathroom reno is a big insanely scary task of epic proportions that is taking forever.

For. Ev. Er.

How hard could it be, right?

Knock down some walls, rip up the mouldy floor, frame some new walls, and Bob's your uncle.

Oh, how very, very naïve.

A lot of work has happened, and many many photos have been taken. If I don't post something now, you're going to end up with a bathroom post that's going to take weeks to read. This is already a brutally long one. Brace yourself!

I'm trying to focus in this post on the demolition.

Next I'll share the construction that brought us back up to the point we were at when the week started (i.e. access to the kibo, a floor, and no shower/sink).
For reference, here is the original blog post about the toity*. And for those of you too lazy to review, here's a photo.

Remember how scary the floor was? It was this scary. *shudder*. Oh, that photo still gives me the heebiejeebies.

If you ever think to yourself "Hey, I know, I'll put carpeting in the bathroom!" do me a favour, and come here so I can grab you by the ears and give your head a shake.

This is why carpeting + bathroom = bad.

Ick.
The flooring had to come out. The shower was busted anyway and the sink/counter combo could do with an inexpensive facelift. Did you know you can get a brand-new white ceramic sink for $20 when they're on sale!? I'm looking at all of you who are still living with the fallout of the 70's craze of installing colourful fixtures, like lilac coloured toilets and sinks. A paltry $20 and that monstrosity is history. What are you waiting for?

Demolition began in earnest three weekends ago. Our guests had some serious fun wielding sledge hammers and reciprocating saws.

It was all very cathartic.

Reciprocating saws are seriously addictive.

I joked that the captain was going to start using it to butter his bread. He laughed at the time, but I'll bet in some dark corner of his mind he was considering it.

We had a week at the cottage at the beginning of August.

Dad and the captain spent 90% of that time demolitioning (grrrr... that's what the captian calls it. I have to drop anvils on his head and remind him that it's "demolishing") the shower/bath/back hall.

What a crazy big stinky job. It definitely doesn't help that the cottage, as near as we can tell, was constructed in 4 stages:

- 2 bedrooms and central hall (likely original kitchen?)
- Bathroom addition (where back hall now stands).
- Wing additions for bunk room and bathroom.
- Living kitchen addition.

Consquently, a lot of our interior walls are former exterior walls built with scrap materials, a mish mash of various nails, screws, and building materials, like this structural duct-tape.

And this step ladder that is holding up the floor joist. (yes, really). I did find an AA brochure in the folder of cottage material the former owners left us. That might explain a lot about their building methods.

Please pause to admire the uncapped and highly malodorous poo-hole Dad and the captain had to work around. For that alone they deserve medals.

We went 5 hours without a toilet though. And I had a BIG cup of tea that morning. It was a very long 5 hours.

As the old rooms we repurposed, the former owners sometimes patched the floor. (Note the "toilet goes here" waffle marks.)
Dad said of the wet spot on the floor, "Something's leaking!"
To which the captain replied "ya, my face". It was a bit hot that day.

By the end of the week, they had ripped the bathroom down to the wall studs and floor joists. Because the back-hall ceiling was supported by the wall between the shower and the bathroom, demolition and construction happened in parallel.

In the interest of brevity (ahahahahahahah) I've glossed over lots of the demolition (two layers of subflooring, the wall built out 2x2's, the judicious application of reciprocating saw) etc. etc.

Rest assured, it was a disgusting amount of work.

Up next for bathroom posts: Structural renovation to bring us back to square one and a foray into the mind of a madman, a.k.a "The wiring at the lodge."

Thanks for reading this far. It was a tough slog.

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*No, toity probably isn't a word, but members of my family will know that it's an abbreviation of toilet. See also terlet and terty.