Hey friends,

I had a breakthrough. Through peeling back wall coverings and a bit more thought I've done a Morse and cracked the original layout of the upstairs:

This layout with a cupboard next to the stairs perfectly explains a bunch of tell-tale signs including the one brick section of the old bathroom wall:

The steel and timber lintels where the cupboard wall and door to Bedroom 2 used to be:

The same blue paint on the walls of the bathroom and Bedroom 2:

And the opening for the bathroom window being original - the bricks have not been cut:

I then texted the floor-plan to my attached neighbour who confirmed that this was exactly how their house was when they bought it. I probably should have started with that. Never-mind, I enjoyed playing detective.

So what does this all mean for my plan? Well, the ceiling joists in this green area are all fine to leave alone as they extend to the wall of the airing cupboard. The current dividing wall and new wall-to-be just help give the joists a boost as they survived without for 60 years (the layout change was done in the 80s I believe, probably at the same time as the single storey side extension judging from the pipework).

I should add that there's a cross timber (I'm sure there's a proper name for it) above and perpendicular to the ceiling joists (left side of pic) which helps hold them up, though the 80s plumber took a massive chunk out of it, which I need to patch 🤦‍♂️

In this green area the joists in the future landing meet at the red lines (the steel and lintel) so I could sister some new joists from the rear wall to my new stud wall or better yet take the lathe and plaster ceiling down and replace the joists one by one. While messy I prefer the second option as I can move the loft hatch at the same time. The current one is too small and can't be enlarged where it is.

For now though, while I wanted to keep the current door and door lining in place I may need to knock it out and re-build to support the joists. I'll know when I open it up.

The other interesting thing that came up in my discussion with my neighbour is that he planned ahead to potentially put in a spiral staircase in the landing to access a loft conversion. I doubt extending into the loft would return much value upon sale because while there is no street ceiling price that we'd hit (plenty of larger and more expensive houses - we followed the guidance to buy the worst house on the best street), there is certainly a semi-detached ceiling price - anyone looking for a 5 bed will be wanting a detached property. That said, if we need to have a parent move in with us in future, it's good to have the option. Here's where the spiral staircase would go (blue circle is roughly 1200mm diameter which is a common size, though you can get tighter ones). Access to the airing cupboard could be changed to the passageway side.

Finally, the passageway to the future side extension needs to be a minimum of 900mm according to Part M of building regs. I'm not sure this applies to existing dwellings but works out in my case.

This means that the current wall will move back by 54cm, a gain of around 1.25m2 or 15% of the bedroom as it is. Admittedly it's not loads but if we end up having a second kid, the extra space will make it easier to fit two cots/beds in before we extend to the side and free up Bedroom 1. If I left the wall where it is I think it would just bug me too much.

Good. You know I like to think these things through first. In another life perhaps I would have enjoyed being a structural engineer/floor-planner type person.

-----

Time to take some action. With my SDS drill on chisel mode I was able to knock off the tiles easily. Behind it is plastered plaster-board which was attached with nails (common back in the day) which I pried off with some help of my versatile pallet buster.

I left the bath in place to catch the debris. For now, I'm putting it in rubble sacks in the garden and will hire a skip once I've collected enough to make it worthwhile.

Next I needed to remove the bath from its plumbing. Unlike the sink there were no isolating valves (link in case you're as clueless with plumbing as me). I started with the hot as there's a gate valve I could turn to shut off the supply. I cut through with a 22mm pipe cutter and pushed a stop end on the pipe and turned the hot water supply back on.

Jolly good. Now the cold. There's no valve down here so I had to go up to the loft to turn off the supply to the tank.

To drain it I opened the bathroom cold tap and, of course, all the water came out of the cut hot side! Doh! Even though it has separate hot and cold taps it's a mixer. I should have started with the cold.

No worries though, I could push another stop end over the cut hot pipe and then drain the tank.

I then cut the cold, moved the stop end on to it and turned on the valve to the tank again.

Lastly I disconnected the plastic waste pipe and the bath was free. Not a bad first step for my plumbing endeavours.

Good lord this bath is heavy though! I had a quick gander on ebay and unless it's a free-standing roll top they're not worth much so having learnt from my soil pipe job in the new bathroom that you can smash cast iron, that's what I did.

Bit of a shame given it was in fine condition and as old I am but I may take the pieces to a scrap metal dealer at some point so it will get a new lease of life as something else.

Next I removed the insulation. It's very itchy fibreglass stuff so I won't be re-using it. The stud-work looks in good condition, no water damage. Again I can see it's newer than the rest of the house due to the colour of the wood, the spacing (24") and the top plate is below the lathe and plaster.

I've also knocked off the plaster where my new wall be going which revealed a timber lintel above the window which I think can stay. I now need to take out the window and block it up and could use some advice from those in the know. What mix of mortar would you recommend and do I need to add lime to match the 1920's mortar?

👋

Abi and I went out for dinner in with some friends and afterwards we all cruised home on those electric scooters that are popping up everywhere. The top speed is a bit lacking but the acceleration is invigorating! Brilliant fun!

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

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