Utility Renovation: Completed Plumbing and First Fit

Well after months and month of delayed work, the utility room renovation was finally started. Long story short, when I first looked at the house, I knew there would be potential to out in a downstairs toilet and I didn’t love the utility room cupboards but it was practical at present. When I got the keys, I was shocked to see that they had ripped out the units and left exposed plaster work and damaged the brick. I tried to fight it but unfortunately my solicitor advised it wouldn’t be successful. The conversations when back and forth with the sellers for a number of weeks and the final responses were: 

I ended up organising for the same company who did the main bathroom upstairs to renovate the area and add a downstairs toilet. When I became unhappy with their work, I obviously cancelled the project which was suppose to start in September. I then arranged for another company to come and do it for the week of my annual leave in October, but that sadly also fell through. I posted the job as an advert on My Builder and desperately tried to find someone else because the utility room as it stood was incredibly impractical. 

After no response for almost 2 months, I decided I just needed to get the utility room part completed. I already had the units as I had bought them at the same time as the kitchen units and they were just sitting in the garage, along with other cloakroom parts. I decided to post of job for just the plumbing aspect. My dad said he would do the stud wall and then I’d be able to go onto the next step with the plastering etc. 

I was quickly approached by a number of workmen and ended up finding someone who is now my go-to plumber. Once again, as has become commonplace in this house, it didn’t quite go to plan with the work first getting delayed after the birth of his son; an emergency caesarean ended up meaning he took more time off work then planned. This was swiftly followed by him breaking his hand and again being unable to do the work  

When the new year came, he finally completed the first fit alongside a colleague, taking 3 days to complete. This included pipe work for the toilet, sink and washing machine. He also arranged for a gas engineer to move the gas pipes too. Following further discussions, he agreed to complete the rest of the required work in the cloakroom as well, once other jobs were finished first. 

I was shocked at how much dust and mess was made with the work, on top of the noise which seemed to go on forever. All the dust ended up coming through into the kitchen and lounge so after the first hour, I quickly blocked off the utility room door into the kitchen and set about cleaning the best I could. The utility room area itself was always left pretty tidy, as he brushed and vacuumed up every night before leaving. 

I’ll be sharing the entire process of the utility room and cloakroom makeover throughout the next few weeks so stay tuned and be ready for the final room reveal!