Another one bites the dust

The upstairs bathroom was a particular delight. Not only the porno shower unit - I’m not allowed to call it that - but because of the layout. One of the advantages of the house always being in the family is that we still have a lot of documents including the original plans.

Originally there was a bath next to the window and a loo in the corner. Moving things around meant that the shower had to be raised in order for the water to be able to flow away. The extra height makes getting in, and particularly getting out of the shower, a bit of a challenge.

And moving the toilet to the other side of the window meant that this was no longer connected to the sewage pipe. So again, an extension had to be added in front of the wall.

Thoreau says simplify, simplify and when it comes to water pipes this is especially important: you want the water to flow as quickly as possible. Even if modern pumps are strong enough to keep the pipes clean, there’s more to go wrong and more to fix.

We’re not planning to finish the bathroom this year but we need to clear it out so that they plumbers can reconnect it the way it was. We’re planning to have a shower where there bath used to be and the toilet in the original position, leaving us with useful space for a cupboard. And it looks like the tiles will be fairly easy to remove.

You get a real feel of the size of the unit outside. We’ve debated why this particular unit was chosen but I think it’s hard to argue that practicality had anything to do with it. If form follows function, what was that chuffing function?