My bathroom project

[WhiteLotusLane]

Have you used the same granite for the bath surround, if so it looks good, I will pinch your idea when I install my bath. I was stuck for ideas for the finishing edge.

Yup, same granite. Around the shower partition will be an edge with the same granite on top as well.

I don't know why, but I really love to take a bath. When I check into a hotel the first thing I like to do is draw a hot bath and just soak for a while.

Me too! When I fist got to Thailand and lived in guesthouses and then a small apartment room, which didn't have baths or even hot water most of the time. It was then that bathrooms became a priority in my life.

Proper water pressure is another thing that brings great happiness to my life. For the water supply to the bath one of the options considered was to actually run a separate tube from the water pump along the outside of the house directly to it. It's the back of the house anyway, and in THailand you usually end up with a bunch of tubes & cables for airconditioning and the like stuck on your walls.. In the end they did locate where the pipe was in the wall, broke the wall from the back side (adjacent room) and will get the water from there. Probably for the better.

[Marmite the Dog]

I haven't had a bath in years, but I am a Limey...

[El Gibbon]

As expected!

E. G.

[WhiteLotusLane]

Some of the latest plumbing issues highlighted..

To find the water supply for the bath, the wall had to be broken. Tiles of this type couldn't be found so I think the idea was to break it from the other side of the wall, though tiles still ended up breaking; not really sure. Anyway they'll put some mosaic tiles in a simlar color in the affected area so I'm not that bothered.

Still the pipe does get put in from the other side, and then into the OUTSIDE wall, before coming back to the water heater & tap.

This is the bedroom wall on the other side of the bathroom:



Some tiles broken inside, but will be fixed:



This is where the pipes come back in; to the water heater above (which we will move a bit to the right; sigh ; and then to the faucet near the bath.



That faucet suddenly looks tiny, also because the bath is pretty big. Note that bath has this bulge near the back so the tap will have to stand out from the wall a bit; had a discussion on that yesterday on how to make that look not ridiculous; considered were mounting a 'block' on the wall from where the faucet will attach to, or just finding some extra chromium bits. It's not THAT far anyway, just another 2 cms to clear the bulge.

[WhiteLotusLane]

Almost done. Will post final pictures when everything has been cleaned and is all gleaming and shiny.

The last remaining issues are being addressed. As per the separate topic there were some noises and water coming back from the ground floor bathroom floor-drain when the bath was drained; this improved a lot since I opened the over-flow drain a bit further, allowing air into the system.

Then, they managed to mount the faucet not entirely straight.. sigh.. I only noticed it after entering the baht; hopefully some minor breaking and wiggling can put this right and if not: Sod it.

Final issue is the bath drain plug itself, which is perhaps a bit over-engineered in that it has a spring mechanism so that you can close it by pushing it down, and then opening it again by pushing it again, causing the spring to push it open.. Fancy, but it just works a bit weird and sometimes the spring doesn't open again. So we called the company that makes the tub and fortunately they have a service center in Chiang Mai AND they sent a guy over the same day! I was impressed. Still, he didn't have the part for this particular tub so he's getting it from Bangkok.. Oh well, just hope he can sort it out.

Shower partition is finished, some nice rock-tiles were cemented to the floor, a glass partition went up and an L shaped steel rod for a shower curtain. Granite edge around the floor of the shower area. Looking good.

Wow. Project of a lifetime.

[dirtydog]

they managed to mount the faucet not entirely straight

Behind the 2 covers that fit next to the wall are 2 erm, fok knows what they are called, but both ends are threaded and they are off centre, just give one of them a little turn to straighten it up, if you prise the cover off you will understand what I mean. The word Concentric comes to mind, although I am not sure if that is a real word or not.

[WhiteLotusLane]

Thanks!! That's encouraging to hear.

[WhiteLotusLane]

Ok, some very minor things need finishing touches but nothing that will show on pictures, so here's the end result:



Shower area is done, has a granite edge around it and a partial glass partition.



An L shaped stainless steel bar has been fitted for a shower curtain, and I'm happy to report I found one that's 2 meters tall which is is the exact right length to go down to below the granite edge but not all the way to the floor.



The floor is small rock-tiles that have been completely cemented & grouted in. You can still see they're tiles, but at least they're an interesting & rough surface to stand on while showering.



In the middle some tiles were broken that couldn't be replaced in the same style, so went with some mosaic tiles in somewhat matching colors. I think it looks okay.



This is what a 10,000 Watt water heater looks like. (Yes, exactly like all the other ones. ) This not only guarantees warm water in the cold season, it's also good to warm water fast enough to be able to open the tap fully (high water pressure) and still have very hot water.



Happy we replaced the top with matching black granite. Also the mirror was replaced and is much taller now.



This is a cabinet for towels and the like. There's a drawer for dirty laundry at the bottom, and...



..and a down-light at the top.



As the towel cabinet is where the access panel to the roof area used to be, the latter was moved above the new door.



The front wall has wood laminate stuck to it (no matching tiles, remember ) which looks nice.

Overall I'm happy. Cant' believe how long it took though, looking back at my first post in this topic this was June 6, it's now 20 July and they still have to come back one time to silicone a tiny granite block/stop near the top end of the bath to prevent water flowing towards the cabinet when using the shower that's mounted at the bottom end of the bath. All in all it was a 1.5 month project!

[Whiteshiva]

Looks great WLL! Thanks for sharing your experiences and results with us. Green on the way!

[ThisOldHouse]

Beautiful! Great touches with the glass, the granite, the rock tiles, the cabinet, the laminate, downlight and all... lots of class! I really appreciate the tall mirror too.
TOH

[ChiangMai noon]

Super job.

[WhiteLotusLane]

Thanks, all!!!

[Texpat]

Nice job on your new bathroom.

When workers installed my bathtub, they got the drain pipes fecked up and had to bust into the concrete support basin to fix it.
Second time around creating the basin, they installed a wooden trap door for any future foul-ups.

Down lights are a nice touch.

[jaiyenyen]

Hi DD
I know this thread is a bit old now, but i thought i would answer your question about the tap fitting. Being a retired plumber from the UK, i'm happy to inform you that it is called a "concentric nipple". No jokes please!!!!!!
Regards
Jaiyenyen

[Whiteshiva]

Hi DD
I know this thread is a bit old now, but i thought i would answer your question about the tap fitting. Being a retired plumber from the UK, i'm happy to inform you that it is called a "concentric nipple". No jokes please!!!!!!
Regards
Jaiyenyen

Hey - a plumber (retired or not - doesn't matter!) - just what we need to advise us on some of the construction threads here on TD. Welcome jaiyenyen - pull up a chair, help yourself to a drink and make yourself at home!

WS

[Panda]

The wife insists that in our new house the toilet and bathroom should be separate. Reason given was privacy , but let me expand on that a bit. As we will probably end up with an extended family staying with us at any given time, the hong nam could get a work out, especially if someone has got the trots. And since Thais have a mandatory minimum 2 to 3 showers a day, it could restrict entry to the dunney in an emergency.

[jaiyenyen]

Thanks for the welcome WS,
I'm more than happy to help out when i can. I moved to Thailand in April, and i currently live in BKK with G/F and kids, but we have some land near Roi-et which we hope to build on in the future.
BTW, congratulations to WLL on a fine bathroom update.
Regards
Jaiyenyen