Ok, let’s look at some before and afters:
We’ve seen this view a few times, but it’s gone now…
The tub is gone. Good riddance! And now you can see the radiator that was previously cased in. It will hopefully be moved to under the window to leave space for the tub on the left wall.
In this photo it’s hard to have the depth perception to see the actual thickness of the exterior wall, but see the brick below the window, that’s the exterior, then there are some 1” thick boards attached to the back of the 2 x 6 studs creating a narrow space for insulation between the brick and the wood, then on the front side of the same 2 x 6 studs, the lath and plaster are attached, creating a second dead air space. So from the inside of the brick to the back side of the lath there’s approximately 8” (that’s not counting the actual thickness of the bricks, or lath and plaster, it’s only counting ‘dead air space’ between). I was really surprised to see just how thick these walls are. I’ve never worked on a brick house before, so maybe this is normal, but it strikes me as being incredibly good quality.
And this was the previous look of the vanity and toilet corner. Yes we saved both the toilet and sink as we were hoping to. Yea! No cracks that I could see in the sink after it was out.
Same corner, now you can see what was hiding behind the weird ‘box’ that was left of the vanity, it’s an old cast iron breather pipe. (I think that it will be, or most of it will be coming out to be replaced with PVC.)
So I realize I didn’t get an exact before picture of this wall, but it’s gone now. Currently what you’re looking at is the wall removed that previously divided the bathroom from the back bedroom closet. And you can see the chimney in the far right corner that was in that previous closet.
You’re also looking at a lot of water damage stains from when the roof was leaking. Fortunately for us, the previous owner did replace the roof, even though she didn’t re-paint inside. Every room has some ceiling stains and some of the walls look like this.
Our plan is to rebuild the wall, only placing it into the closet about 20” in from where it was. So the new wall will actually butt up to the chimney. This still leaves almost a two feet depth for the bedroom closet on the other side, and will give the bathroom the added space needed for vanity and stackable washer/dryer spaces.
Ok, now we need to get the plumber back in and tell us if there’s enough space for the tub and toilet as I described in the previous post: “Little Brick Cottage, this bathroom has a plan, sort of, maybe”. Please, please, be enough space.
