Hello! First renovation project - looking for advice please!

[MerlinD]

Hi all! New to the forum and hoping to gather some advice to help me build up some confidence to tackle my first real renovation project. It feels like a mountain to climb currently!

 

Following a previous long term shower tiling/tray leak(from before we moved in) and multiple attempts to stop the leak with silicone, we are replacing and updating our shower room suite entirely.

Unfortunately, the bathroom fitters that were due to do the work have let us down and are no longer able to do the job. Therefore I have removed our old suite myself and had the plasterer come in to skim the ceiling and walls, which have been mist coated and painted. This means we are without a shower now, so I'm keen to progress things along but want to make sure I get it right!

 

This leaves me with learning what is involved with fitting the new flooring, shower, toilet and sink myself. The shower is staying in the same place, just a larger offset quadrant shower cubicle, but the toilet and sink are switching positions. The old radiator will be replaced with a narrower taller radiator.
The floor will be covered with wood effect sheet vinyl.

 

Due to the shower and toilet cistern water supply leaks, the chipboard flooring needs to be replaced, as it was black around the shower and cistern areas when we pulled up the lino, and although dry now, has retained that horrible damp smell.

What I'm not sure about in the first instance is what to do with the floor. It is currently 18mm chipboard (not even moisture resistant as far as I can tell) throughout the room, and entire bungalow (1990's 3 bed bungalow with suspended flooring).

 

My skill level is average/keen DIY'er, but I've never done any plumbing or bathroom fitting work previously.

In order to prevent a step up into the room from the hallway, I guess replacing the flooring like for like with new 18mm flooring - but I see mixed opinions about whether to use the green p5 moisture resistant chipboard or 18mm moisture resistant plywood. The room size is 1.68m x 2.45m and the joists are 47mm x 145mm with 400mm centres.

 

The new shower tray is a Hydro45 ABS capped acrylic bonded resin 1200 x 800 tray. The walls around the tray are rendered plaster on blockwork, like the rest of the house, but have just been skimmed over as the previous tiling removal left the walls in a bit of a mess, and revealed some dampness which had led to some of the plaster being blown, mainly around the back corner of the shower cubicle.

We are going to use wall boards for the shower cubicle and just beyond - Bushboard Nuance - which we have already bought.

As all this type of work is new to me, I'm treating each part of the room as a mini project, and want to get it right so I only have to do it once and do it properly. My plan is:

 

1) FLOORING 1: Lift up and dispose of entire chipboard flooring. Decide on new flooring - Possible options: 18mm Tongue and Groove Moisture Resistant / WBP      Plywood?

 

2) PLUMBING: Drain down Gravity Fed central heating system and cold water storage tank. Move existing plumbing to new locations for Shower waste, toilet soil pipe and cistern feed, sink cold, hot and waste pipes, radiator heating pipes (after fitting new radiator to wall). Refill central heating system including inhibitor and refill cold water storage tank.

 

3) FLOORING 2: Fit additional joist noggins for extra support under new larger tray area and throughout room as required

 

4) SHOWER: Assess existing shower waste run and reduce the length to match the new 1200 x 800 tray waste position, maintaining required drop
  
5) FLOORING 3: Lay new 18mm flooring onto reinforced joists using flooring screws such as SPAX 5 x 50mm or Lost-Tite screws
  Prepare tray floor area and underside of tray with moisture proofing such as SBR
  Use something like Classi seal around tray/wall contact edges and create upstand up the corner 
  Use sand/cement to bed tray down so it's totally level
  Fit Bushboard panelling boards to walls around showier tray
  Refit shower unit onto back wall
  Fit new glass shower enclosure
 
6) TOILET: Fit new pan and cistern and connect to soil pipe and cistern feed pipe
 
7) SINK: Fit vanity unit and sink top and connect waste and hot/cold water pipes
 
Any advice you can offer on the above would be very much appreciated!
 

[Thorfun]

Welcome. Not sure I can help too much. The last bathroom I renovated to allow my at the time girlfriend to move in ended up with us getting married. 
 

whether that was a good thing only time will tell. 
 

good luck with your project. 

[MerlinD]

Thanks for the welcome! Sounds like an expensive renovation 😉