Chamonix studio renovation - build thread
Discussion
I plotted out the bathroom in a bit more detail yesterday. At 1.2x1.9m it was already a very small bathroom, but my challenge to myself was to make it feel more spacious despite now including a toilet. The plan is to make it a wetroom, so that I can keep the shower area open rather than rigidly break the room into two spaces. The shower will be 800mm wide (because narrow showers suck balls). The only drawback is that I need to raise the floor to run the shower waste pipe. It'll be quite a challenge to save as much height as possible. At 6'4" I think I'll be very close to the ceiling.
Plan view
I'll be putting in a false wall to conceal the cistern. This should line up flush with the mirrored cabinet which I'm also going to build into the wall. I'll build shelves into the space above the cistern and a raised shelf below the counter for laundry baskets, just to keep it away from any excess shower water. The hunt is on for a shower screen that isn't too wide (700mm ideally) and has discrete fixings to avoid creating a barrier in the room.
Elevation of counter and WC wall
Plan view
I'll be putting in a false wall to conceal the cistern. This should line up flush with the mirrored cabinet which I'm also going to build into the wall. I'll build shelves into the space above the cistern and a raised shelf below the counter for laundry baskets, just to keep it away from any excess shower water. The hunt is on for a shower screen that isn't too wide (700mm ideally) and has discrete fixings to avoid creating a barrier in the room.
Elevation of counter and WC wall
Gruffy said:
We'll be enjoying the place ourselves this winter season and then renting out. I'm planning to rent it privately via Airbnb, PH, Facebook etc.
If you want the "hassle free" season long rental then www.livetheseason.com are pretty good..... Great logo too 
Day 24
Got the appliances installed and the handles on all of the doors (except the dishwasher, which needs a router, and the washing machine, which needs a 35mm spade). Starting to look like a real kitchen now.
Monday afternoon was a shopping session, gathering supplies for the bathroom. Concrete blocks, mortar and tiles were the heaviest items. The wagon was so loaded the rear view mirror was looking at the floor and it was popping wheelies, even while parked. It was interesting driving that back up the mountain.
Got the appliances installed and the handles on all of the doors (except the dishwasher, which needs a router, and the washing machine, which needs a 35mm spade). Starting to look like a real kitchen now.
Monday afternoon was a shopping session, gathering supplies for the bathroom. Concrete blocks, mortar and tiles were the heaviest items. The wagon was so loaded the rear view mirror was looking at the floor and it was popping wheelies, even while parked. It was interesting driving that back up the mountain.
Day 25
Maurice is off this week so I've got some extra help in for a few days. Nick is in for filling, sanding and painting. He's chipper; happy doing jobs that don't require the use of a hammer or wrecking bar; and doesn't smell of dead things. Also, I don't think he's called me a soft southern künt once. It's made a refreshing change.
I stripped the wallpaper in the bathroom, including the ceiling. Then got myself braced for more channelling. Not sure if I've mentioned but I love channelling. Having killed the previous two disc cutters I've got myself a new one. The most powerful I could find.
What are the odds!? The picture doesn't show it very well but a piece of rebar has fallen exactly in the line I'm channelling in the ceiling. Son of a b
h.
Hopefully that's the last of the channelling.
Getting my mis-en-place set up for the wetroom sub-floor. Drain is levelled. Plumbing channel mapped out. Blocks in place. Channels for lighting. Fence bottom-right for the self-levelling compound.
Tomorrow I'll be setting the drain and the blocks with mortar, trying to get everything as level as possible. The thermal insulating boards for the UFH go down. Then it's made watertight. Underfloor heating goes in. Then self-levelling compound all over. Then a fence goes in for the shower area and everywhere else gets another 10mm of SLC. I'll make some wedges to help set a gradient in the shower area and then everything gets tiled.
I've also managed to find a supplier in France for vermiculite boards to line the fireplace and a supplier who'll cut fire glass to size for a decent price. It's coming together.
Maurice is off this week so I've got some extra help in for a few days. Nick is in for filling, sanding and painting. He's chipper; happy doing jobs that don't require the use of a hammer or wrecking bar; and doesn't smell of dead things. Also, I don't think he's called me a soft southern künt once. It's made a refreshing change.
I stripped the wallpaper in the bathroom, including the ceiling. Then got myself braced for more channelling. Not sure if I've mentioned but I love channelling. Having killed the previous two disc cutters I've got myself a new one. The most powerful I could find.
What are the odds!? The picture doesn't show it very well but a piece of rebar has fallen exactly in the line I'm channelling in the ceiling. Son of a b
h.Hopefully that's the last of the channelling.
Getting my mis-en-place set up for the wetroom sub-floor. Drain is levelled. Plumbing channel mapped out. Blocks in place. Channels for lighting. Fence bottom-right for the self-levelling compound.
Tomorrow I'll be setting the drain and the blocks with mortar, trying to get everything as level as possible. The thermal insulating boards for the UFH go down. Then it's made watertight. Underfloor heating goes in. Then self-levelling compound all over. Then a fence goes in for the shower area and everywhere else gets another 10mm of SLC. I'll make some wedges to help set a gradient in the shower area and then everything gets tiled.
I've also managed to find a supplier in France for vermiculite boards to line the fireplace and a supplier who'll cut fire glass to size for a decent price. It's coming together.
Silent1 said:
Seriously impressed Darren, if this comes out even 50% as good as your house it will be stunning!
Very kind of you to say. I'm optimistic having been given a bit more opportunity to design the layout of this one.That has reminded me though; we're looking to rent our Bermondsey place out for Christmas, NY and Q1 and would much rather it was a friend of a friend, or fellow PHer. A deal can be done privately, but you can check the place out here if anybody is interested.
1-bedroom apartment next to Bermondsey Street. 2nd bedroom converted to a comfortable office space. Huge roof terrace. Amazing location for City or Canary Wharf.
Day 26
It's the point of no return with the wetroom. The pipework is glued and the drain is set in mortar and levelled. I've started laying the blocks too but got caught out by how little mortar you get out of a bag. I'm going to need a much bigger supply.
The moment of truth.
Awesome. It looks like I can do plumbing. Just enough of a drop to make it work but no more, as I can't afford to lose much height.
Nick (aka Michel Roux Junior) is giving the walls and ceiling a first coat.
It's the point of no return with the wetroom. The pipework is glued and the drain is set in mortar and levelled. I've started laying the blocks too but got caught out by how little mortar you get out of a bag. I'm going to need a much bigger supply.
The moment of truth.
Awesome. It looks like I can do plumbing. Just enough of a drop to make it work but no more, as I can't afford to lose much height.
Nick (aka Michel Roux Junior) is giving the walls and ceiling a first coat.
5potTurbo said:
Looks great, Gruffy...as does your London pad!
One question, when you say the the drain's level, surely you want some drop on the shower drain pipe for the water to run away, unless I misunderstood?
When I say level, I mean all four corners of the drain itself are level. My plan is to add a layer of self-levelling compound all over, then fence off the shower area and add another 10mm outside this. The gradient inside will be formed during tiling, with some wedges to help out.One question, when you say the the drain's level, surely you want some drop on the shower drain pipe for the water to run away, unless I misunderstood?
The place looks so much better with a lick of paint. It's amazing how it transforms a building site into something resembling a home.
While I'm waiting for mortar to dry in the wetroom I'm having my first go at a bit of tiling. Not too bad. I've broken 3 so far, but I'm getting the hang of it.
I also had a bit of a result on this evening's supply run. While searching for a big bag of mortar I found refractory cement, which I need for building the fireplace, along with refractory silicon/mastic. I've also been told where I can find aerated blocks for constructing the wall it'll be formed in.
While I'm waiting for mortar to dry in the wetroom I'm having my first go at a bit of tiling. Not too bad. I've broken 3 so far, but I'm getting the hang of it.
I also had a bit of a result on this evening's supply run. While searching for a big bag of mortar I found refractory cement, which I need for building the fireplace, along with refractory silicon/mastic. I've also been told where I can find aerated blocks for constructing the wall it'll be formed in.
Re: Wet room. I much prefer the roofing felt sort of tanking, overlap it and buy the corners and jointing tape which is a little pricey. Spend time supporting underneath the wet room tray with noggins.
The stumbling block you will come across is the waste pipe if the joists are running the wrong way!
The stumbling block you will come across is the waste pipe if the joists are running the wrong way!
Day 27
Beautiful autumnal sunrise this morning. Winter is brewing though. -6°C forecast for the weekend and a good helping of snow.
Michel Roux Jr got on with painting the double-height part of the ceiling this morning.
I started the day mortaring in the blocks to build up the bathroom floor. Now I'm waiting on this shipment from zee Germans - the tracking status is 'Falsche adresse' and the künts aren't responding to my enquiries. WTF happened to German efficiency?
So I move on to finish the kitchen tiling. We'd neglected to leave some space behind the socket to help the surround sit up against the tiles, but my solution was to pack it out evenly with some tiling spacers. It seems to have done the trick. After the pic I trimmed the protruding bits off with a stanley.
Kitchen tiling almost complete but PITA residence rules stop play just before I could finish. The wet saw is a bit too noisy to get away with after the witching hour. It shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to finish this in the morning.
Beautiful autumnal sunrise this morning. Winter is brewing though. -6°C forecast for the weekend and a good helping of snow.
Michel Roux Jr got on with painting the double-height part of the ceiling this morning.
I started the day mortaring in the blocks to build up the bathroom floor. Now I'm waiting on this shipment from zee Germans - the tracking status is 'Falsche adresse' and the künts aren't responding to my enquiries. WTF happened to German efficiency?
So I move on to finish the kitchen tiling. We'd neglected to leave some space behind the socket to help the surround sit up against the tiles, but my solution was to pack it out evenly with some tiling spacers. It seems to have done the trick. After the pic I trimmed the protruding bits off with a stanley.
Kitchen tiling almost complete but PITA residence rules stop play just before I could finish. The wet saw is a bit too noisy to get away with after the witching hour. It shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to finish this in the morning.
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