Anaglypta – my new best friend. After four years of renovating the hubster and I were at a Mexican standoff with one of the toilets (yeah we got four toilets and they all needed replacing). Technically I suppose he was correct. The room needed stripping, relining, a new toilet, a new window, a new hand basin, new plumbing and a new hand basin (oh probably door and ceiling/light too if we are going to be 100% honest). Total cost was about $2000 for a small toilet, factor in we have four of them and you can see where I am heading.
Don’t get me wrong, if I had an extra $10 000 I would have totally done the toilet and the other two bedrooms still on the waitlist. But I don’t, and I actually have got to the point…..I want to spend some money on myself, not my blimming house! Maybe I should check out getting a personal loan and getting my hair cut.
My solution was to not reline. I suggested Anaglypta. My husband said it couldn’t be done. The Mexican standoff continued until he went away for work one weekend……
Some of the gaps between Gib board (dry wall) and the old 70s brown board was close to 10mm and included a lot of gaps. It hadn’t been plastered and some of the walls were still decked out in the horrible 70s Seratone – Laminex stuff.
Firstly I used a heavy grade lining paper which helped bridge the gap (so to speak). You can see from the photos that even though I have used lining paper the difference between substrates is still quite obvious but probably a little ‘softer’ than when I first started. The next step was to let the lining paper dry and then apply the Anaglypta. For this step I choose the biggest, thickest Ananglypta I could find. In this case it was Egon.
I also went against my builder brothers advice and wallpapered over the Seratone. Now I know this is foolish but since I get asked a lot if you can wallpaper over Seratone I thought I would try. Firstly I gave it a light sand and then simply stuck the paper on the top. This was several weeks ago and its still firmly stuck. My brother is shaking his head. I will keep you posted on this as to how it lasts.
The bottom photo illustrates the ‘end’ result. I say end as I have only done half the toilet. You can still see the separation slightly through the Anaglypta but by the time I paint it you wont really be able to notice it.
Conclusion: I know that the toilet would look much better if I had the extra $2000 to spend on it. But frankly after 4 years of DIY and a budget that went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past what we budgeted I am happy that the toilet is functional again. Its not perfect but it is good. I am happy with it. I’ll post finished photos soon and see what you think.
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