Bathroom is starting to look like a room

As the temperature is starting to drop, we have decided that completing the bathroom, with a wash basin and a shower is now the highest priority. Daytime temperatures are still very nice - usually between 18 and 25 degrees, but nights are starting to get colder (we had 6 degrees at 0630 this morning) and darker. Daylight savings will end on the 2nd of April this year - delayed one week due to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne) and then it will get darker sooner too. As such, the bathroom is high priority.

Having completed the roof above the bathroom a couple of weeks ago, we then had to get into the dreaded affair of doing plasterboards. Most people you talk to hate doing plasterboards. Not having tried it ourselves we were a bit unsure how it would all go. The boards themselves are made out of gypsum and lined with paper on the front and back. The once we got were mainly 2.4 x 1.2 meters long and can easily be carried by two people, though you have to be careful so that they don't break in the middle. They can be up to 6 meters long, and we have no idea how people transport them without breaking them (well, you have to use special equipment.....). In terms of installing the boards, we used glue on the studs behind the middle of the boards, and screws along the edges. We started on the walls to get used to how to do it, and generally, it went quite well. The cabin walls are unfortunately not 100% streight, so we had to do a bit of cutting and testing before the boards could be screwed in place. Having done the walls, the ceiling was the next task, and that turned out to be a bit harder as the ceiling is raked and we are only to relatively short people...... But using a step ladder, a big brick, a couple of pine studs, and a small helmet (to hold the board up using the head as well as the hands) we managed in the end. The first board was pretty hard in that it was the full width and almost the full length. It then became a bit easier with smaller cuts, before the fourth and final sheet was about 2.4 meters long and just over a meter wide. This took some doing, but we managed in the end.

Having finished the walls and the ceiling, we then had to make up some small parts to make it all look nice. The cabins that is used as a bedroom had its roof beams coming into the bathroom (this is due to the special design of these cabins). This did not look to good inside the bathroom, so we used plasterboard to make a box under the celing to hide these roof beams sticking out of the wall. We also had to make an edge on the other side of the bathroom, where the roof from the other cabin was sticking out a bit into the room. This was also boxed in. This might all be clearer by looking at the pictures below. Finally all the external corners were strenghten by putting on metal angles and then the plastering work could be started.

At the point of writing this, Geir has had half a day of plastering and the technique is getting a bit better. Hopefully today will be used to complete the base coat and maybe do some sanding of what was done yesterday. Then there should be a top coat and some more sanding before we can paint the room in a nice light colour. We'll come back with some more pictures when it is done, but here is what we have done so far.

Starting to put the first sheet on the bathroom wall	Walls nearly completed. You can see roof beans in top right hand corner and the other box to be done in the top left hand corner.
Box over roof beams completed with metal edges	Box over cabin ceiling completed
Rough base coat in place, but with more to be done	The room that will eventually be our new internal toilet

And finally for today....the contractor putting up the electricity poles started work yesterday and will hopefully complete the poles today. Not yet sure when we will get the electricity connected - it might still be another month or so - but at least something is happening!!!

Any problems, please email webmaster. This page was last updated 24/07/2008