The Shower: Initial Build-out

While the plumber was installing the radiators, I was able to start focusing my attention (finally) on the shower. It (along with the rest of the bathroom) is going to be completely new - when we did demolition we pulled out all the old fixtures, so for the moment, the bathroom is just an empty space except for the toilet and the boiler. So the entire shower enclosure has to built from scratch: framing, walls, floors, waterproofing, tiles and new plumbing...in other words, "the works".

I had previously installed the bathroom sub-floor, working out the initial layout when we had the boiler installed. During that period, the wall separating the shower from the boiler was put up - so when everything is finally done, that wall will become the front of the shower (where the shower head and valve go).

Morning of October 17th - the previously framed-out is visible on the left.

After clearing everything out - the starting point for the shower!

The first task will be to start installing the tile backer boards - I had done quite a bit of research on the various options and decided to go with a product made by Marmox - a waterproof, insulated cement board. Not only will this be the proper surface to which the tiles can be attached, but it can be used as part of a waterproof system for building showers - I liked that this product accomplished several things at the same time. The Marmox boards can either be screwed into framing, adhered to masonry with adhesive, or nailed in place with plastic "spankers". I opted for using the "spankers" and the adhesive due to the very uneven surfaces of both brick and plaster - this was similar to dry-lining plasterboard in the living room. The adhesive itself is waterproof, but it also adds strength to the installation which will be necessary if we use heavier stone tiles.

Applying adhesive to the wall and the back of the Marmox board

The first Marmox board installed

The design for the bathroom (and specifically the shower) ended up becoming quite complicated as there are many "spanners" in the works here. You may have noticed there's a large arch in the brick wall - this was only discovered during demolition as it was hidden behind the old walls. This arch resulted in a steel post going in to reinforce the steel beam - which (of course) pockets into the brick wall directly above the arch. This post ended up in the shower, and the post is sitting on a heavy steel beam to help distribute the forces and weight (or to be more precise, the point load) of the post across a few floor joists below. As a result, the floor of our shower will sit on-top of the steel beam. I also added a ledge that wraps around two sides of the bathroom - this was initially done to help hide the concealed cistern from our loo, but i carried the ledge around to give a ledge over the sink and in the shower where we can put things. The final design of the bathroom incorporates all these elements and (hopefully) will seamlessly tie everything together for a clean and simple appearance.

Second Marmox board installed and starting to frame out the base of the shower. The ledge is also starting to be framed on the right side of the picture

The shower base fully framed out - sitting on top of the steel beam.

The shower floor's plywood substrate

The Marmox system includes an insulated and waterproofed floor board that is pre-sloped for water drainage. I ordered one that was closest to the size of our shower and then cut it down to fit. One of the other things I liked about the Marmox system is that is has been designed around a specific drain - the floor board is pre-cut to receive the drain, so the entire system is integrated and should come together easily.

The Marmox floor board

We had worked out that as the plumber finished working on the heating, he would do the "roughing", or first fixing, of the shower pipes and fixtures. We had previously selected and ordered the shower head and valve, but that evening "Aglaya" and I had to choose exactly where they should be installed the following day - she really enjoyed this part!

Locating the shower valve - which height feels right?

Locating the shower head.

So the next day our plumber installed the pipes and fixtures based on the locations we selected the previous evening.

October 20th - Overall view of the shower plumbing

Detail view of the shower valve in the wall

The floor drain anticipating the future floor height due the steel beam (visible in the backgound). The white pipe is a condensate drain coming from the boiler

With the initial plumbing completed, it was finally time to sheath the shower with plywood, covering the pipes (on one side). As part of the waterproofing I decided to use WPBP (waterproof boil proof) plywood that would later be covered with a waterproof tanking kit (to be explained in the next post), followed by the Marmox board.

Installing the plywood substrate

Most of the plywood installed

With the floor, plywood, plumbing and Marmox in place...the outlines of a shower are finally starting to be visible!

Heat!!!

After 10 months we finally have heat!

Sunday night we finished spackling and painting the newly hung plasterboard and our long push to be ready for the plumber yesterday is finally over. He arrived in the morning and set about unpacking the new radiators and setting them into position.

Morning of October 17th - unpacking the radiators

The first radiator in position

He then started fastening the brackets into the walls and soon we had our first radiator up on the wall. After all the others were up he decided to come back today to connect the pipes and valves...

Attaching the radiator brackets

A hung radiator

That evening - the living room's radiators awaiting connection to the boiler

So this morning he arrived early to begin connecting the radiators to the boiler via the copper pipes he had previously installed just below the floor during the "first fixing" back in June. The connection from the copper pipes to the radiator are done with chrome piping - those chrome pipes connect to the radiator via a valve that controls the flow of hot water.  These valves are thermostatic, which means that each radiator has its own individual control that automatically turns off when the radiator hits the desired temperature - this will save energy and heating costs.

Morning of October 18th - where the valve and pipes will attach

Our plumber connecting one of the valves

 The plumber moved very quickly and by the end of the afternoon he had all of the radiators connected and starting filling, testing and balancing the system. Soon everything was working properly...so we finally have heat! It's definitely another major milestone - and one we reached just in time, since the temperature started dropping this week and there's a distinct chill in the air in the evenings. Regardless of whatever else happens as we try to finish this project, it's such a relief to know that at least we won't have to go through another winter without heat.

A completed radiator in the living room

Powering Up!

The first task on our heating list is to provide power for the boiler. Since this requires having our trusty electrician onsite, it makes sense to have him do the initial work to rewire the flat at the same time. This will require us to relocate and replace our old breaker box (also known as a distribution panel or a circuit breaker panel) with a new one - not only to meet the current building regulations, but because the old one is super sketchy! The breaker box is where the power comes into the flat and is then distributed to all the various areas - that's why it's a big job to replace and relocate it - there's a ton of cables going to and from it.

The existing breaker box (in the orange bag) with the jumble of wires going to/from it

The day started by meeting up with our electrician and going shopping. We ended up spending half the day getting all the electrical materials in Park Royal - an industrial area in northwest London with many supply houses. We went from shop to shop ordering the various components and comparing prices because we could not believe how expensive the cabling was - particularly the very heavy lines that were needed to carry power to the breaker box.

Eventually we made it back to flat - while I was rushing to frame the wall where the new breaker box will go, the electricians were removing the sub-floors, disconnecting the old power lines (after shutting off the power!), and running new the cables.

Disconnecting the old breaker box

The new heavy duty cables to relocate the breaker box - so much color!

Removing all the old cables & connecting the new ones

The new breaker box installed in the wall framing

Almost done rewiring the main lines

The old breaker box

The actual work at the flat went very quickly - we probably spent more time picking up the materials than rewiring the flat. In the end, the final result was a subtle red line that indicated the boiler had power. I had not realized the old wiring & breaker box was in such a poor state, but I now appreciate how much safer the flat has become - the new wiring and breaker box now meet the current building regulations which are very, very tough.  Without seeing firsthand the differences between the old and the new, it would have been hard to truly understand and appreciate.

The boiler with power (on the left); and the jumble of old wires gone

The Next Two Weeks...

So with our new focus on getting the heat working, that will be the goal of my next two weeks here in London.

It turns out that it's not just a question of getting the plumber here to finish his work - there are a ton of things to do before all the different parts of the system can become operational (déjà vu...). Each of those parts requires work that goes beyond the plumber - and so falls to yours truly.

One of the key issues will be to have the new radiators installed on the walls. The not so obvious problem here is that we don't have walls...yet. Well, not the final, finished ones, anyway. To get those up means hanging new plasterboard on the grotty old perimeter walls, plastering and painting - because once those radiators are connected to the plumbing we won't be able to get behind them ever again.

Initially, I had no inkling of how much would have to be done to get the heat working, but here's a quick list:

• Rewire the entire flat with new electrical wiring and a breaker box - needed to power the boiler (and everything else)
• Install the last section of the boiler's flue pipe (that vents to the outside)
• Level the floor where the old kitchen used to be (one of the radiators goes there)
• Order plasterboard, plaster, fasteners, etc. Then carry everything upstairs  :-(
• Dry-line portions of the old walls with new plasterboard (a lot more work than it sounds!)
• Spackle the joints of the plasterboard (for now, only behind where the radiators go)
• Paint the plasterboard (also only behind where the radiators will go)
• Finalize the heat calculations and sizing of the radiators - then order the radiators along with the valves and pipes
• Hang the radiators onto the walls
• Connect the radiators to the pipes along with the thermostatic valves
• Fill and balance the system
• Turn the boiler on!

"First fixing" finished - and a transformation!

Today the plumbers came back to finish their "first fixing" - and whereas earlier in the process I hadn't seen much physical change, today we got it in spades. The first thing they did was shut off the water supply and disconnect the few remaining old pipes.

Disconnecting the water supply

Once that was done, they completely transformed the flat by moving the kitchen sink from its original location to its final location as per Andre's design. This was possible because we have kept the mock-up of the kitchen in place. I was totally speechless when I saw this - they cut a sink-sized hole in the plywood that is serving as the kitchen "counter", separated the sink from the cabinet it was built in to, plopped the sink into the hole, and connected it to the new pipes they had installed.

Cutting the hole for the sink into the kitchen "counter"

So it's just sitting there, almost free-standing, and the pipes are still exposed. With that done, they were able to re-connect the flat to the water supply, and turn the water supply back on.

The relocated sink

As if that wasn't enough - having installed the new boiler earlier in the week, today they installed the flue. More thrillingly, with the water supply completely reconfigured, they were able to rip the ancient, grotty old boiler off the wall.

Disconnecting the old boiler

For the moment, it's still sitting in the middle of the living room, but somehow it already feels like there's more space.

The only downside to all of this excitement is that it's hard to even describe how much of a mess all this work made! The "living room" is filled with dust, sawdust and bits of pipe - not to mention, of course, the old boiler and the now-empty sink cabinet. It's overwhelming just thinking about the clean-up job ahead...

The old boiler sitting on the floor - you can see where it used to be (it's the yellow area) with the hole from the old flue