So, the long awaited bathroom renovation has started and I am going to try and keep a bit of a diary. With our house there is always some wee funnies that we have to deal with, but they get so numerous by the end of a project I have forgotten them all.

I’ll begin at the start, the ‘bathroom project’ should hopefully see us: rip out a few walls; put in a new set of doors into the lounge; completely gut the bathroom and start again. At the moment we have a very odd set up in the house, including a full U-Turn to get into the lounge (who thought that one up!?). With the bathroom extension (only an extra 2 square metres) we will lose our current lounge access, so we’ve decided to install a set of bi-folds off the hallway. I should probably start the story there with the creation of the bi-fold door lintel.

Last night the destruction phase started. It all started promisingly, we got home from work last night, tidied up the lounge a bit (ironically) and then started to rip the plasterboard off the lounge wall. There is something slightly satisfying about putting a hammer through a wall – repeatedly.

But, as with our little house of horrors there is always a wee surprise waiting around the corner and last night it was waiting for us at the top of the lounge wall. Normally you build some walls and they have top plates on them, these top plates support the rafters which in turn stop your roof appearing in your lounge. Top plates should run the length of the wall and not have any gaps….herein-lies our issue. Someone has decided it would be a great idea to cut a portion of our top plate out…what for? Firewood? Liked living on the edge? Did they not notice the rafter that rests on thin-air? After a bit more destruction we had gotten over our frustration and come up with a plan of attach for the dodgy wall – perhaps we will even execute said plan this weekend. Does make you wonder though, if we hadn’t decided to pop a giant hole in the wall would the ceiling have fallen in (and which ceiling, we have 2).

Lesson learned (again): the house is 99yrs old it is bound to be full of”classic Kiwi DIY”. I am sure we will one day learn to plan for things we never thought possible.