Progress - Toilet

April 2014

The main work that has been done so far in the Hallway Toilet has been to knock out the back wall, giving a clear connection between the Hallway and the Lightwell. At a later time, a new back wall will be built, giving a larger toilet area which will allow for the old inward opening door to be re-fitted. During this procedure, it was found that the wall to the kitchen was irreparably damaged, and so a new block wall has been built in its place.

May 2014

While work was being done on removing the existing floating floorboards from the ground floor Toilet to facilitate the laying of new tiles, an interesting discovery was made. A 60cm round manhole cover appeared from beneath the flooring. Lifting the cover and peering into the darkness below revealed a large hole that was partially filled with liquid. At this stage, it was uncertain as to the purpose of the hole. Perhaps it is a holding tank, but it appears to be unconnected with the toilet system, since it has no smell. Time and further exploration may reveal the true purpose and history of this hole, but it appears from initial visual exploration that there is a “room” under the manhole in the walled-off area of the cellar (see Basement Progress for more info).

June 2014

A new back wall was built for the ground floor toilet, dividing the available space between the Toilet and the Services Room that will open onto the Lightwell area. Because the Toilet room will now extend across the top of the stairs going down to the Basement, a concrete slab was installed across the top of the stairs to provide the flooring for the enlarged Toilet room (tall people will need to be a bit careful going down the stairs to the basement from now on!).

July 2014

The frame and cistern for the new toilet was installed on the new back wall, leaving a space behind for plumbing and piping to connect upper floors with the cellar. The plasterwork was then installed and a concrete floor was laid.

July 2014

With just a week to go before the band arrived, it was realised that the ground floor Toilet would not be finished. However, rather than make everyone go upstairs to the toilet, a bowl was fitted as a temporary convenience. This will be removed after the band departs, to enable the floor tiling and painting to be done to finish off the Toilet room.

March 2015

Tiling work continued in early 2015, with the wall tiles positioned behind the soon-to-be-installed basin, and the travertine floor tiles used throughout the kitchen extended into the ground floor bathroom.