Time is ticking for our teams to finish their main bathrooms, and they need to move fast if they want any chance of winning the biggest prize in Block history.
With a $250,000 kitchen upgrade on offer for the winning team, the stakes in the first week have never been higher.
But not everything is going to plan, and last-minute renovation dramas are causing major disruptions as teams scramble to complete their waterproofing.
Stream the latest episodes of The Block for free on 9Now.
After being thrown into the show last-minute, following Joel and Elle’s shock exit, Rachel and Ryan are still settling into Block life.
After finding out their plans of having a walk-in shower in their bathroom didn’t meet regulations, the couple needed to come up with a solution fast. While a quick fix is closing the wet area by adding a built-in shower screen, Rachel isn’t willing to compromise.
“That wasn’t ever an option for us… it was going completely against the aesthetic of our design,” she says.
EPISODE THREE RECAP: Foreman Keith shuts one team’s site down after someone else ‘snitches’ on them
Luckily the pair end up making major alterations to the floor to meet regulations. And it is a massive sigh of relief when the Blockheads get the tick of approval from Foreman Keith.
But it’s a different situation over in House 4.
Dylan and Jenny’s plans get tripped up by the exact same regulations as they’re told they can’t have a walk-in shower without making changes to their floor.
“If we did that, we wouldn’t be able to finish,” Jenny admits.
“When you have something in your head, I hate things changing but I feel like it’s The Block so I’m gonna have to get used to that.”
In House 5 Omar and Oz have big plans for their bathroom, so the last thing they want to hear is that their floor needs to be ripped up and redone to meet safety standards.
Foreman Keith pays them a visit to deliver the bad news.
“The floor was a little big staggered next to the shower side so he told us we had to pull off some sheets and redo that again as well,” Omar says.
Keith tells the boys that there’s no other option but to start again and the boys start to worry about how far behind they’re falling.
“That was very disappointing. We’re gonna be waterproofing on Friday. We’re so far behind,” Omar reveals.
But the pair somehow manage to get back on track and redo the whole space in time to waterproof.
Meanwhile reno rookies Ankur and Sharon, who were comfortably ahead, are also hit with a massive setback.
“We thought we were in a good spot then everything started to go downhill,” Ankur reveals.
Foreman Keith pulls Ankur aside and raises his concerns about their waterproofer priming the floor with mud.
The situation becomes worse after the same waterproofer leaves the job later that night without finishing.
Sharon reveals she had to beg the company to send someone back, and the same tiler ends up returning at 1.30am to get the job done.
“You can imagine how awkward that was ’cause he didn’t want to be there in the first place. We had to watch with an eagle-eye to make sure the waterproofing was done to the standard The Block requires,” Sharon says.
The following morning a tired Sharon smokes after finding out she was bumped down in the queue to have her underfloor heating installed.
“Ours was supposed to be first but some d–kheads cut the line,” she vents to Rachel. “I don’t know how they do that.”
READMORE: What you need to know about waterproofing on The Block
But we do, and so does Jenny in House 4.
“Last night I called the underfloor heating guys and said, ‘What can I do for you? So you can come earlier’ and he said, ‘You can buy me some cruisers’,” she reveals.
She delivers a case of cruisers and the tradies deliver on their promise to install her underfloor heating first.
“Jenny is good. She bribed them with a slab of cruisers,” Sarah-Jane reveals. “I respect the hustle… and I was like, ‘I’ll be on the cruisers next week’,” she adds.
Over at House 1, Tom and Sarah-Jane scramble to track down an emergency shower screen after finding out their original 2.4-meter one didn’t comply. They finally manage to secure a screen, but the next challenge they’re faced with is getting the tick of approval from Foreman Keith.
It’s an anxious wait for Sarah-Jane who is itching to leave the site and spend the afternoon celebrating her daughter Cleo’s first birthday.
But Keith calls the plastering “beautiful” and gives them the green light to start waterproofing.
The couple race off to visit their baby daughter and it’s a beautiful moment as the family sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cleo and share a cake together.
“It was so good to see Cleo… I picked her up and she had a grin ear to ear,” Tom reveals.
“Mummy misses you so much,” Sarah-Jane tells the baby girl, who happily picks up and hands her dad the entire cake.
With the teams back on track after finally finishing waterproofing their bathrooms, Shelley Craft meets all the contestants and does her first walkarounds with Scotty.
It’s bad news for Rachel and Ryan who get a reality check after Shelley questions their contemporary style of bathroom with no nod to the heritage era of their house.
READMORE: Shelley and Scott do their walk-arounds for Bathroom Week
Related Clips
Meanwhile Oz and Omar are understandably star-struck when they meet Shelley. Oz gets goosebumps and can hardly talk.
Scotty and Shelley worry that the teams aren’t hitting the mark with their rooms, and are particularly worried about Omar and Oz’s bathroom being finished in time.
It’s a hectic couple of days and our Blockheads are all working hard to deliver the first room on The Block. Stay tuned to see what they deliver on Sunday.
In Pictures
Scotty’s house renovation so far
Sneak peek at the first three rooms.
ViewGallery
The Block airs Sunday at 7.00pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on Nine. Catch up on all the latest episodes on 9Now.