We smashed it out literally and the room is stripped and ready for the next stages -
plumbing and tiling
Lucky for me, my brother came and took over the sledge hammer duties so while I was the run about
fetching tools, drinks and being the sandwich queen - Mr P and my brother removed everything from the floor, toilet, laundry trough and taps, they even dug out the old earthenware and terracotta pipes to make way for the new PVC pipes which the Plumber will put in next weekend.
Here's our demolition day in pictures ......
We protected the demo site from the rest of the house - By putting up some protective sheeting to the door frame that leads from the kitchen into the laundry. I left a bit loose at the bottom so I could stick my camera under the gap and take photos which is why most of these photos are at floor angle! I also had to get down on my hands and knees and crawl in with tools, or pass through freshly baked brownies and drinks when they needed supplies and encouragement!
When I had to get out to the backyard I tested out the theory of
bungee jumping from the dining rooms french doors and almost sprained my ankle so I won't be doing that again! Will have to walk through the torn apart laundry for the next few weeks or risk breaking a limb!
Moved the washing machine into the Granny Flat - We had to relocate the bar fridge and shave off a bit from the side of the kitchenette bench in the Granny Flat to make the machine fit. It was really the only place for it right next to the sink so we can hook it up to drain. We use our Granny Flat for storage and as a spare bathroom when we're renovating so we didn't mind modifying it, it has come in really handy for these renovations that's for sure.
We still need to buy some fittings to hook it up but at least it's in place and I have an excuse for an overflowing laundry basket until it's set up!
The laundry plumbing - We turned the water mains off and closed off the laundry taps and did a few tests to make sure the water had stopped and wasn't leaking from the taps or anywhere. Then the rusty old laundry trough was pulled out.
All the plumbing is being done by our plumber next weekend - we will be leaving certain jobs to the professionals to do - plumbing, tiling and electrical.
The old non flushing crappy (pun intended) toilet - Mr P unscrewed the toilet and took a sledge hammer to it to get it out ..... Or maybe that was just for a bit of fun!
I can't wait for
our new toilet to be installed!
The floor mosaic tiles and kick tile were removed - My brother was an absolute gun and knocked out all the mosaic floor and kick tile. The sledge hammer was so loud it vibrated through the house and where I was standing right next door in the kitchen the floorboards were shaking.
I had a headache all day from the noise but I was just happy I wasn't the one making the noise! Thanks for your help bro!!
Then to clear it all out - All the tile and rubble had to be carried out so all that's left is sand. We filled 2 wheelbarrows and 10 bucket loads and dumped them in the backyard (in the spot
we just recently cleared of all our other reno rubble!). At least the door to get outside was right there, much easier than
the bathroom reno when I had to carry bucket loads out down the hallway, through the kitchen, into the laundry to get out to the backyard!
We have left a wheelbarrow full of rubble nearby for the Tiler to reuse when he comes to screed the floor because he'll need to put some back in to fill the room and make the floor flat.
The old earthenware and terracotta pipes are being removed - This is because they are 50+ years old, full of tree roots and god knows what, don't properly drain and are constantly blocking up. We have tried snake drains, plumbers, and just can't get them cleared so while we're renovating this room we thought we might as well lay all new plastic PVC pipes as well so that we don't have any drainage problems in our newly renovated room.
Reaching the earthenware from the inside - My brother was a digging machine trying to find the base of the earthenware from the toilet plumbing. He was virtually his body deep in the hole trying to dig sand out and it kept caving in, it was an uphill battle. But he got to the base finally .... I'm sure even the neighbors heard his you bloody beauty shouts!
Reaching the earthenware from the outside - Mr P was digging to get to the earthenware from the outside of the toilet. He too was chest deep in the hole digging until he could reach the plumbing. They like to dig pipes metres below the ground in these old houses!
We have Lexi dog-proofed the hole and left it like this with the pipe exposed until the plumber comes next weekend to sort it out and put in the new pipes. Lexi is having the time of her life digging through the big pile of freshly dug up dirt out here .... there's probably a few of her bones buried amongst it because it's one of her hiding spots!
Great job lads, demolition day was successful!
Walking through
the laundry is our only access to the Granny Flat and backyard to Lexi, so once we were finished for the day we
cleaned up, raked the sandy ground as flat as we could, and laid a tarpaulin over the floor so we can still walk through it.
Except I'm only going to attempt to walk on it in flat shoes from now on after attempting it in my high heels dressed for work this week and I got told off by Mr P ...
No stilettos on the tarp!
Oppps sorry babe!!
There's a cold draught coming into the house from the damp ground which doesn't help in this chilly Winter weather we're having lately. Plus grains of sand being walked all through the house each day but as the saying goes ....
It will get worse before it gets better and I'm ok with that!
So that was a successful Sunday of renovating and demo-ing the laundry and toilet and we got so much more done having my brother helping Mr P instead of me - I can help with a lot of our renovations but hard manual labour like demolition is not my strong point!
I still did my part and looked after the lads with lots of cold drinks, freshly baked brownies, sandwich queen breaks and slow cooked chilli con carne which I had cooking away for 8 hours making us all hungry for dinner time after a hard day's work. It's all about working as a team and working to your strengths!
This weekend, the plumber is coming to lay all new plumbing and remove all the old services from the wall inside the laundry and on the outside wall too.
Stay tuned for more laundry updates on the blog next week and for action as it happens follow me on Facebook and Instagram!
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[All images my own]
