Since coming up with the plan and building a model for the new bathroom as shown in Part 2 of this series, now came time to dig in and demolish the existing space.
Tearing apart the old walls and plumbing was dirty work. The small space had once served as a men’s room when this place operated as a tavern and one could see where the original toilet and urinal had been.
Behind the paneling a mess of 2×4s had been used to try to level out the walls from the uneven logs which had not seen the light of day since probably the 1940s.
The room had been built a bit haphazard. A doorway had been cut in through the logs where there was originally a small window creating a passageway between the existing bathroom and this small space that measures only 19″ wide. Old newspaper that had been used to insulate announced the date of 1943 and quickly crumbled among the debris. I tried to salvage some scraps of headlines but the small remnants proved to brittle to be worth the effort to save.
Of greater concern was the electrical lines that fed the overhead light and a small hardwired space heater in one wall.
There are two separate electrical boxes here at the lodge and tracing back the electrical to the actual breakers proved a challenge. To which electrical box and to which which breaker would be left to an electrical contractor bud of mine as this had to be properly disconnected and new wiring would need to be run.
The room had been built out into the original veranda and after removing the ceiling the 12′ sloped ceiling of the veranda was exposed providing this small 6′x6′ space with a much larger feel.
The exposed logs on the two walls would have to be cleaned and re-chinked while the other two walls would have to be reinforced and insulated. The floor being that this was originally a veranda had a slight slope and I would have to decide whether to level the floor for the tub or to build the tub in such a manner that the tub itself would have to be built up on one end so as to provide for proper drainage.
The exterior wall also presented a slight challenge as the original window had been replaced with a small porthole window back in the 40’s. I rather liked the small window but would have to build up the wall some so as to provide better insulation.
The next task however was to clean the logs.
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