It was a bit like picking at a piece of peeling wallpaper at first; I knew it’d make everything much worse in the short term but it was just too satisfying to stop.  Once the first loose tile fell away from the wall, during an absent-minded exploration whilst brushing my teeth, it was clear how easily the rest would follow and before I knew it, we were off.

It was my intention to tackle this room earlier in 2020 but circumstances dictated that I dabble in a spot of Key Stage 1 teaching for much of the year instead.  This was the only room left unrenovated.  It was perfectly functional and not too unpleasant when we first moved in so it was immediately relegated to the back of the queue.  However, four years of ill-directed micturition from the children (and not just the boys either…which was quite a revelation) had rendered the place quite offensive and it was time to strip it out and replace it.

Apart from replacing the bath with a shower, everything else would stay where it was so this was mainly an exercise in making sure the functionality was in place to cope with a shower in a quite tiny room.  There was a small ventilation opening above the window, fitted in 1927 judging by the newspapers stuffed into it, and with a bit of modification I was able to use this to fit a proper extractor.  The walls around the shower needed a bit of battening to allow for pipes and to correct for wonkiness. I’m usually a big fan of wonkiness (see my post Wrinkles and Saggy Bits) but in this situation, where I’d be tiling into tight corners, I decided it would be better if the walls were at least vertical.  It was also important to line the walls with proper waterproof backer boards and to make a flexible seal between these and the shower tray.

Everything else was pretty much just aesthetics; hence me prising the tiles off and revealing the original lime plaster beneath, all cracked and wobbly with bits falling off…just the way I like it.