# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  The throne room

## freebaser

So, with the builder coming in a month to renovate the house bathroom, I'm now faced with having to makeover the grotty outside toilet and laundry before the main bathroom is out of order for several weeks. Despite my wife calling this "the boy's toilet" I hadn't even looked in this little room for about 6 months. It was full of spiders, dust and leaves, so after a quick sweep - the true challenge was laid bare:   
The plumbing looked like it needed some updating and I also noted it was a "skew pan" toilet:   
So a new toilet is in order but after a long discussion with the old guy next door - who is an expert on everything  :Wink:  about whether it was a right-handed skew or a left handed skew, I couldn't work out whether you take it from the sitting perspective or the standing and aiming perspective. Thanks to a post or two on this forum I found out this was a classic Right hander. I didn't want to dig up the slab so I was hopeful that somebody somewhere still made skew toilets. Turned out they are still available and I soon had one ordered from a supplier after a quick web search. Right the important bit is ordered. 
Next I stripped all the boards off the walls and disturbed a disturbing amount of disturbing looking creepy crawlies. Probably won't tell the misses about that. 
With the tongue and groove ripped down I found that what I thought were some kind of supporting beams protruding on the outside of the weatherboards...  
...were in-fact sawn clean through on the inside and doing nothing!  
Next I ordered some new aluminum windows (one for the toilet and one for the laundry), turned out the supplier was unable to provide them in time so I ended up getting some off the shelf from the local suburban small-hardware-killing megastore. The windows are wider than what is already in place, so I'm going to need to do some serious remodelling... 
 I found that some old plumbing in the walls was going to be in my way, so I called in the plumber who fixed and re-routed everything and sorted out the new toilet plumbing in no time. Ready for the next phase:

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## freebaser

Right, after a big day trying to straighten up some very dodgy timber work that I found in the walls. I now have the basic hole for the window.    
I still have to block in a few things to strengthen it all up, but it is now in far better shape than it was.. and should also now take some plasterboard sheets without them having curves in them! 
Tomorrow on to the flashing, weather proofing, the timber reveal and then replacing a number of the weatherboards outside:     
Then I can hopefully install the new window before the rains come. Fingers crossed.

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## sundancewfs

Small, compact and concise. This is a nice little go to whoa.  :2thumbsup: 
I just love how older toilets have the permanently open louvres.

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## freebaser

Yeah I think permanently open windows feature as standard in many outdoor toilets.  :Smilie:  
So after a lot of mucking around and many distractions (like my real job getting in the way) I got two new windows cut in. Then lots more fiddly time trying to get the weatherboards sorted. I put a few short ones up...   
.... then took them all off and decided it was best to just start again. Sigh. 
The exciting news for the week was that my new window awning kits arrived. Although I could have made them myself, I'm a bit short on time at the moment. None-the-less, I couldn't help myself and had to put 'em up straight away:   
My friendly electrickery person just sorted out the overhead light wiring in the toilet and laundry and now I'm back to planning the plastering and finalising the external weatherboards.
This has been a challenge so-far because there is not a straight angle in the whole structure. Every vertical bit of timber I line up with is out by up to 2cm in a 2.5m length. I'm guessing it was either built in the dark, built in a hurry or built without a care in the world. Possibly all three.

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## sundancewfs

> I'm guessing it was either built in the dark, built in a hurry or built without a care in the world. Possibly all three.

  Maybe they REALLY needed to go......

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## freebaser

Got a fair bit more done these days off and its coming together nicely. The wife is impressed (those brownie points are hard to come by  :Biggrin:  ) and the mother-in-law even came round and said (with more than a hint of surprise in her voice) "you really ARE quite handy aren't you!". Like I've been telling her for years....     
The plasterboard is in and now I need to tape and finish all my joins. The lighting is in and works. Next will come the tiling, that is if I can get the old toilet off the slab!   
...the screws that were put in are all stripped - I will probably have to drill those out, and the bowl seems like it has building adhesive holding it all down to the slab. Aside from breaking out the sledge hammer (hey who needs an excuse!), I'm not sure how to get this thing out.

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## shauck

I vote sledgie.

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## goldie1

crowbar

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## Bloss

If it is staying take great care around that cast iron pipe -  they crack very easily and are not repairable so your workload could get larger very quickly.

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## freebaser

How good is this website - I have gained so much from all of you and your projects Thanks everyone!! 
Bloss, thanks for your warning/advice, I was merrily about to swing the hammer when I thought I'd take a closer look and after a little scrape with the wire brush found that it wasn't cast iron but a type of ceramic that was even more brittle. Then I found that the bowl had been concreted in, to a depth of about 3cm and the hollow area underneath filled with concrete:   
Oh and before any queasy members go "eeehw"... that scungy looking stuff around the pipe is some kind of sealant! 
About an hour of chipping away and then it was out with the grinder. Despite gloves, mask, glasses, earplugs and a hat - I came out of there looking like a white yeti (one that was wearing gloves, mask, glasses, earplugs and a hat) - I have never seen so much concrete dust in a small space. I've checked its all level now for the tiles by using a piece of wood and a level across the old bowl scar.    
My big lesson from this week - sweep the concrete (thoroughly) before you lay sheets of plasterboard on it and then put pressure on to cut. One small pebble can blow out a plate sized hole. What an eediot.  :Doh:  
Tomorrow is top coat, and a bit of a sanding. Then the tiling begins. How is that I can hire a tile cutter for $20 for the weekend, or buy one from the same place for $22.98!?

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## freebaser

Working week over. A few days off so the tiling could get done:  
next I installed the toilet, lot of mucking around with the bridge between the cistern and bowl not fitting correctly. Turns out I had been shipped the wrong one. I modified the offending part with my trusty angle grinder (there goes the warranty on the seat - assuming there was one!) and all now seems to be working well.  
the door is gettin' hung tomorrow and then a bit of cosmetic stuff around the window and ceiling. Its finally coming together.

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## Cecile

Looking good...but I think you should have painted first!

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## freebaser

true Cecile true, however the blokes with the sledgehammers and pry-bars inevitably arrived and I was out of time - I needed a functioning toilet ASAP so I had to get it operational. Another week of chaos in the main house while they finish installing the bathroom and then I can remove this cistern and paint it all proper like.

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