Tiling the shower room downstairs was something I wanted to do but really wanted to get right. In the workshop shower room I’d allowed the tiles’ adhesive bed to get too thick and this had created its own problems. Overall it’s fine but a couple of tiles are a bit uneven, a corner sticks out a bit too far to disguise with careful grouting. So this time I’m working hard to control the bed depth – I set the first course carefully so that on successive courses I could use my long level, bottom end on the newly laid tile and the other end against the untiled wall resting on a piece of wood, the same thickness as the combined thickness of tile and its correct bed. So the bed stayed about three millimetres thick.
We got up at six thirty on Tuesday as Tash headed back to London to conclude the sale of her flat – we have nothing good to say about the solicitors on either side. Fundamental questions were not asked until the last minute, creating predictable anxiety and panic; communication was poor so you had no idea what was actually going on; extra effort or initiative seemed beyond them.
The six thirty start works better now with Greenwich Mean Time, so I’ll stick with it until the spring to make the most of the limited daylight Or until weariness dictates otherwise.
When I got to the top course of tiles, slightly over half a tile high, the long cut top edges were a bit chipped by my angle grinder. I’ll have to find some way of disguising or covering this edge and while pondering this I remembered my neighbour’s wet tile cutter…
Andrew (one of the other ones) answered my Whats App message immediately I popped round after lunch to collect it. On the larger, porcelain tiles I used in the workshop it was good, but a bit challenged; on the current smaller, softer, thinner tiles it is great. Quick and neat. The diamond cutting disc is constantly bathed in water which I guess lubricates the cut and prevents any dust.
A couple of spare hours saw me back under the kitchen sink, connecting the Ikea waste kit, firmly and wilfully integrated with the sink manufacturer’s overflows. So this bit of plumbing is done, the tap is connected, water can be drawn and drained. Hoorah!
Before tiling the west wall of the shower I needed to fix the shower screen channel. This will be the edge that I’ll tile to. Placed vertically my long level showed the wall to be slightly concave. I’d need to make sure that small gap between the channel and the wall was well sealed. For this sticking and sealing I used CT1, an adhesive and sealant I’ve not used before but highly recommended by my pal Mat. It claims to work even on wet surfaces and I’ve used it on both of the basin wastes where the gaskets supplied didn’t do the job on their own. The channel is held by three screws as well as the adhesive so I was careful not to over tighten the middle screw and distort the channel by pulling it into the concave wall.
I could have got back to tiling but having spent a bit of time up in the bathroom, working on the structure that will hide the cistern, basin plumbing and so on I wanted to get on with that.
Out of sight to the left of the photo below I need a couple of longer pieces of wood, where the structure forms a cupboard at the end of the shower. There will be some shelves for spare towels, soaps, shampoo and so on, whatever it is one might need. This will be protected from the shower by a curtain (with goldfish on it?) and the shelves will be easily removable, giving (limited) access to the services you can see in the eaves, via a tight crawl space – requiring small service people (insert chimney and urchin joke here). Anyway, as I was saying I need two longer pieces of timber and eyeing a set of heavy shelves that the builders knocked together, I think I know where to get them…
That’s enough. I’ve worked until seven o’clock three days and I’m done for the week. Tomorrow I’ll get up later and, via the dentist in Lochgilphead, head south for a week to help Tash with her final pack. Cat sitting is sorted.
Just before Tash left we walked up to look at the barn where we’ll probably store her wheel and kiln and came back via High Auchans where we lay in the ancient multi-stemmed holly. As Tash says, it’s really hard to tear yourself away from this place…
Today I went
A sustainable house for unsustainable times... 