Thursday 17 January 2008

New bathroom!!!!

Well - I am sure you will understand fitting a new bathroom in a house is not the easiest of jobs. Has anyone ever tried fitting a new bathroom in the smallest room on a boat?. We thought that if it was the smallest room it would be the easiest - how wrong we were.
It all started with finding a weak spot in the bath, which was conveniently covered with a bath mat when we purchased the boat. We decided that the bathroom was an area that could do with a bit of work and looked into purchasing another bath. We did get a little enthusiastic when we found a lovely deep bath that would have looked beautiful insitu, but we found out at our cost that we couldn't get it through any of the doors on the boat. So after feeling a little stupid, had to take the bath back to the chandlers and make do with the slightly shallower bath.
We then found that all the fittings in the bathroom are actually original and this was realised when we found that the bath must have been one of the first items fitted when the boat was built as we had to take out the bathroom sink, bathroom cupboard and bathroom door to get the old bath out.
After not being able to turn the water off (we should have drained the tank first), lots of towels and jugs later, John finally got the bath out. Unfortunately the bathroom sink got damaged in the process which meant we needed a new one. We couldn't find a sink the same size, so guess what - we had to buy a different sink and a new unit to go with it. We have now started to think new tiles and fixtures such as towel holders and floor tiles etc and all this is the tiniest of small rooms.
The only problem with any DIY on the boat is the mess, it can really get out of hand so quickly. Building the boat from scratch would have been easier, because at the moment, we have no water and no sink in the bathroom. The boatman's cabin has become a spare shed and any inch of spare space is temporarily used for the contents of the bathroom cabinet. Even the kitchen hasn't escaped and the old taps etc are sitting in the sink awaiting disposal.
When we sold our house and decided on this adventure, we were at a stage where everything had been done in the house - you know - central heating, double glazing, fitted kitchen, wall to wall wardrobes and the biggest most beautiful bathroom you could ever imagine. The shower alone was the same size (nearly) as the current bathroom. Now, we have 54ft by 6ft something of very compact living and because we can't stop touching or just leave it alone, we have become a floating DIY project.
Its a good job a love my husband.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great blog. Really enjoyed reading your post.

I'll be sure to drop by again.