Hostile Environments and HAZMAT suits

My wife is a brave lass. She has served her time in the army and has visited a few war zones. The downstairs Toilet was to be her biggest challenge yet. Left abandoned for decades the mold was inches thick and the ammonia smell was nauseating.

After buying our house we subsequently learnt it had been on the market for at least a couple of years. Inside was piled deep in discharged clothes, toys, cooking utensils, boxes from decades past. Mold, dust and cobwebs were thick on many walls. The internal pictures alone would have put 95% of most potential buyers off from visiting this house. Luckily, there wasn’t a picture of the toilet as we may not have visited either!

The Toilet from Hell

The cistern was cracked, the fosse septic or septic tank location was unknown and was probably unusable. The cold water pipe to the toilet and sink was cut. There was no hot water to the sink. There was a dusty glass window that looked directly into the kitchen area.

Even though it was unused the smell was quite special. The only thing to do was to strip the walls of wallpaper and tiles. Remove the sink and replace the toilet. Every surface needed to be soaked for days in bleach and sanded with a wall sander.

This room will be coming down. It is only temporally being used until we can get either bathroom running. The sewage outlet will however be where the washing machine will sit so the pipework is in a convenient position.

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 @Our French Renovation