My wetroom journey

[vala]

Thought I'd put up a thread with regards to a wetroom I'm fitting in my house. Had some great advice so far whilst in the build up to it which I appreciate.

So first day was Saturday just gone and the plan was to strip out as much as possible. I'm also refurbishing the 2 rooms and landing on the first floor but will concentrate on just the wetroom in this thread.
I still need to remove the existing ceiling, floor and the tiled shower cubicle but this will have to wait till either this Sunday or the following weekend.

Once the shower cubicle is out I'll be having a good look at that wall as a few of the bricks look in bad shape so would like that sorted before affixing hardie boards. The partition wall with the pipes in currently is going to be replaced for a deeper variant which will house the concealed cistern.

Is there anything other then a wire brush I could use to clean up the exposed brickwork? And would it be wise to prime this with something prior to affixing hardie boards?

 

[Qwerty]

Thanks for sharing this project with us!

Wire brush is fine. You need to be priming the wall with SBR or a specific tiling acrylic based primer. Any reason you are choosing Hardie in a wet room over a specific tanking board?

 

[vala]

Plan Tec - so SBR straight onto the exposed brick before applying the hardie board?
No specific reason really in choosing hardie board. I was searching for what is used and this product came up often.

 

[Qwerty]

SBR watered down to act as a primer. I personally would use a waterproof tanking board in a wet room instead of Hardie

 

[vala]

Such as Marmox boards?

 

[Qwerty]

Yes

 

[White Room]

Personally I'd be dry linning and tanking.....

 

[Orbry]

Such as Marmox boards?

Or Orbry Boards!

 

[vala]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'll go with the Marmox one as I'm looking at a Marmox shower tray. I've worked out what I need to keep the total height from joists to top of finished floor (tiles and wood) at 30mm plus adhesive and SLC.

 

[Qwerty]

Do take a look at the orbry gear. I actually prefer the drain designs on their formers

 

[vala]

I do prefer the orbry linear drain former however the only thing that is an issue is the former's are 30mm as opposed to the 20mm of the Marmox.
The existing floor should be up this weekend. If I could remove 10mm underneath where the former would sit I will definitely consider the Orbry equivalent.
I'd like to stick to the 30mm joist to finished floor height as this will then be the same across the whole first floor (whether it be tiles or wood flooring).

*Edit* looking at my specs for the flooring (over tiles and wood) I could get up to 40mm by increasing the thickness of the ply and insulation boards. I'll see what my existing top tread is of my staircase and take it from there.

 

[Orbry]

Let us know if you need any help or advice regarding Orbry products 🙂

 

[vala]

Orbry - can you tell me if your heating mats are ok to run off one thermostat even though some of it will be under tiles (in the wetroom) and the rest under wood flooring?
I'm pretty sure I've only got 9-10sqm of underfloor heating on my first floor (can confirm over the weekend). I was planning on having the sensor under the wood flooring in the landing.
I understand that tiles may be harder to warm up but surely if the sensor is under the wood flooring once it hits it temp it the tiled area will be slightly cooler.

 

[Orbry]

We wouldn't recommend it as the sensor should be under the flooring it will be heating. It shouldn't cause any problems apart from the low heat under the tiles, but the efficiency and performance would be better if an additional separate one was used for the tiles.

 

[vala]

Well this weekend has passed and I managed to get some work down on my wetroom on the Sunday (unfortunately had to work the Saturday).
So by end of play Sunday I got the tiles and shower tray out and also pulled down the ceiling. I'm also ripping out the 2 other rooms and the landing but will concentrate on just the wetroom in this thread.
This weekend (and all now till end of Sept) I'll be working on the wetroom and other areas so am hoping to get more done per day.
Plan for this weekend in the wetroom is to rip up the floor, remove the loft insulation and remove the partition walls. I need to drain my immersion tank ready for removal as I decided this weekend to accelerate the purchase of a zip tap for my kitchen. The basin will now have hot water fed via a Zip ES3 water heater so by getting the Zip tap for the kitchen means I can get rid of the tank in the loft and some of the plumbing.
Fingers crossed the whole floor is ready for the week after when I can get on with installing stuff rather then removing!

 

[p4ulo]

Oh lovely pictures, jeez, looks like you are gonna end up with a total shell before you start building it up again.
Good plans......Zip Tap sounds exciting!

Whilst you are stripped back as far as this, make sure you think about any feature lighting and routing wires for them all now. Even mirrors have lights, and some have back-heated mirrors to combat misting up.
Have you bought your plumbing stuff yet?
I use Victoria Plumb an awful lot, but have also had very good results on Ebay buying Victoria Plumb fittings which people can't be bothered to return.......

 

[vala]

Oh lovely pictures, jeez, looks like you are gonna end up with a total shell before you start building it up again.
Good plans......Zip Tap sounds exciting!

Haha! Yes basically I'm looking at a shell then rebuilding. There isn't much upstairs anyway as I only moved in back in December 2014 and it was always on the cards.
The Zip Tap idea unfortunately has been shelved. It was my plan all along however due to it being accelerated (initially it was supposed to be fitted when I do the lower ground) I've looked at the finances and an extra £3k for the tap is just not good financial sense at the moment.
So I'm going to get another Zip ES3 for the kitchen.

 

[p4ulo]

Good call, £3k for a tap is a bit bonkers.
I edited my post since your reply, just giving Victoria Plumb props for cheap and sexy bathroom stuff in case you are looking?

 

[vala]

I've got shower head, basin tap, toilet, cistern, electric shower already. Basin I'll be making out of Corian.
Yes i'll be sorting the electrics out for this floor whilst it's empty. Should make it a heck of a lot easier with running cables etc should more be needed.

 

[vala]

Well this weekend has passed and yesterday I cracked on with the plan of removing the timber stud work, flooring and ceiling insulation. Failed on 2 small areas of flooring (beneath where the shower was and a section at the top of the stairs).
Plan was to remove these last bits today however got carried away with the booze last night and have been in no fit state all day to do any work! They're nothing major and I'll probably head over one evening this week and remove them.
It's allowed me to assess any pipe work and electrical feeds that may need relocating. Also it's confirmed I can go with the Orbry former.
Plan for the coming weekend is to remove the pipe work for the immersion tank. Aiming to also run a new waste for the shower and possible renew the existing waste for the basin. The Zip ES3 requires a cold water feed so it looks like I'll have to tee off the existing one. The current cold water feed for the shower runs up into the ceiling (by the toilet waste) and across but I'm hoping to change this to beneath the floor. Lastly I'll be clearing all the rubbish between the joists and will make a start on fitting noggins.
Anyone got any advice on what I could do to sort out where some of the bricks have broken? I think it would be wise to have these filled it solid so when the boards fit around it that adhere in all areas.

 

[p4ulo]

To repair the broken brickwork you just want a cheap bag of rapid set brick-repair mortar or similar. (B&Q etc)
Buy a cheap bucket to mix up in at the same time, and only do a couple of trowels full at a time (its so rapid you get about 3 minutes work time!!)
Wet the areas you are treating before hand to improve adhesion and drying-out time.

Loving your work so far, you will count your blessings that you got back to this stage before you started, and I'm the same, maximum cleanliness, I have even taken to hoovering between joists with my trusty Henry Hoover to make everything look "nice".
Good work.

 

[vala]

Thanks for the kind words P4ulo!

I've found this mortar repair from homebase, any good?
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/rapid-set-mortar---5kg-077390

Big part of the need for it all to be clean and tidy is from my time serving in the Army. Learned there to always keep on top of things like that as it makes life so much easier.

I'm working nights for the next 1-2 days so I've got some time to get on with this weekends jobs.
Got a list of new waste and water pipes/fittings which I'll try and gather up tomorrow. I'll also probably head over to the house to remove those last 2 bits I missed over the weekend just gone and make a start with hoovering between the joists.

 

[p4ulo]

Yeah man, that's the stuff.
HOMEBASE always makes me gag in my throat a little bit, have you got anywhere better? I know sometimes its just a choice of wherever is closest, but they are mega expensive! Still, I'm sure a few bags of that stuff won't cost the earth.
Its the exact stuff I use to YEP, that's it!
Good Motto ref keeping clean, as least when you are grubbing around on your back with your arm under the floor, you won't get your hands dirty eh?!
Good work, nice work ethic, unusual shifts are great for that eh?
I'm looking forward to some wallpaper stripping tonight when I get home, and all morning tomorrow before shift start at 2pm.

 

[Dan]

It's £5 for 5KG. Note that bag isn't very big. Not sure what the going rate is for that though to be honest.

 

[vala]

There's plenty of choice in Milton Keynes. I just googled rapid set brick repair mortar and the link to the Homebase stuff was one of the first to pop up.
Where would you recommend trying for this product?

The night shifts for the next 1-2 days are definitely a little blessing. Helps even to just get things in place rather then having to do all that on the Saturday as well as cracking on with the work.

 

[p4ulo]

Get yourself a TRADEPOINT card from B+Q....really cheap stuff, and good service on kitchen stuff etc.

I struggle doing up the flat I'm in now, as the oldies all complain about noise if I so much as drop a pin after 5pm....bit annoying really....however, wallpaper stripping is obv too quiet for them to hear it!

 

[vala]

I'll take a gander in B&Q for the trade point card.
Had a look on their site and they too sell that same rapid set mortar as Homebase do.

The noise issue is something I've thought about but to be fair my neighbours have never mentioned anything to me about it. Every time I've been working on the house I tend to keep it between 0900-1700hrs. On Sunday's I'll start and finish approximately 1 hour after/before.

Cleaned up 90-95% between the joists yesterday as well as made a purchase of waste/water pipes and fittings.
Should be getting some 4x2 later today to make a start on the noggins on Friday.
A friend of mine whose a plumber may be around on Saturday so said he'll help out with fitting the waste/water pipe work so it's looking likely as this weekend will be very chilled out. I'm going to see if I can get access to a van and might get enough 12mm ply so I could make a start on the flooring as well.

Should I bother with marine plywood for the wetroom floor or will wisa-spruce stuff be ok? This is what I'll be going with for the rest of the floor.
Also the ceiling of the wetroom will be covered in slate. It will be a large piece which will be supported on its sides by the slate on the walls. Would it be worth fixing ply to the ceiling and affixing the Orbry board to that or will using the Orbry boards straight to the joists suffice?

 

[p4ulo]

Sounds like a nice weekend plan.
Ah, the wood for the floor. I don't honestly know....seeing as you are tanking the whole thing after you have laid ORBRY board on-top of the ply, I wouldn't have thought it would make much difference, however, something in my brain always tells me that anything in a wet-environment would be best to be water-happy?
Ceiling plans sound interesting....it might be worth checking with ORBRY the boards can be used in this way, and either way you must use the spreading washers to spread the load. As long as you have enough fixings per m as they recommend, a sheet of play won't make much difference, however, if you are using the other side (attic space) for anything, it might be worth chucking up some ply just to add a layer of insulation / resistance / protection???

 

[vala]

Well it was bound to happen, sooner or later I was going to encounter a bad weekend productively. And this weekend just gone was the one.
No one to blame but myself but let's hope I've learned my lesson.
First up I ordered not enough timber for the noggins. 2 more lengths needed.
Secondly I assumed I still had another box of screws for the noggins...oh no I didn't. Never ever assume.
Thirdly by not getting round to the house to remove the flooring beneath the shower tray in the week, I wasn't made aware that till the Saturday that the flooring here was old floorboard which meant I had to remove the 2 partitioned walls to complete remove the floorboard off the joists. This actually wasn't a hinderance as after a discussion with my plumber we've decided to move the electric shower to one of these walls so it needs to be made again but deeper.
Also I gave in to temptation and went out Saturday night...what a wally

This weekend I'm fired up to crack on for the FULL weekend. No beer for me
Got a friend coming round who said he'll do all the runs to the tip during the day so that will save time.

I did notice the floorboard, ply and raised timber that was all beneath the shower was all dry and hadn't appeared to have suffered from any contact with water. Even the timber partition wall appeared to be fine considering it was just covered in tiles on normal plasterboard.
This does make me think that I would be fine to use the 12mm spruce ply over the joists in the wetroom, considering the whole room will be tanked.
Anyone else think the same or differently?
My Orbry shower tray and former should be with me tomorrow/Thursday so I'll be able I run a waste and get an idea of where it will sit.

 

[p4ulo]

Silly boy, but heck - we all need to blow off a bit of steam occasionally and it helps to focus the mind I think!

Mate, if its your job in your bathroom, go with what you feel. I just know that if I was doing the job, I'd be underboarding with marine ply or 12mm HARDIEBACKER. Total piece of mind then!

Electric shower? I'm guessing that's a "pressure" decision over anything else? I'm running two showers off a modern vented electric water heater with no pressure problems....
I at least hope you've managed to find a sexy one you can recess??

Now stop typing and get on with it!

 

[vala]

I'll go with the marine ply then. Hopefully find some in stock for a Saturday morning pick up.

The house has no heating aside from a gas fire which heats the ground floor well.
I have (or did have) an immersion tank in the loft which provided hot water to the basin and kitchen sink. I had an electric shower.
Once this phase is complete, I'll finally have a form of heating on the first floor with the underfloor heating. The basin and kitchen sink will each have their own Zip ES3 for hot water. And the shower will still be electric. I have purchased an Aqualisa Sassi which IMO is aesthetically pleasing.

I'm determined to get a much more productive result from this weekend coming.