Bathroom fitters?

[woodpig]

Our Bathroom is past its best so needs replacement. We want new bath, sink and toilet. Electric shower and full tile. Size is 2m x 1.5m. We'd like to change the layout and obviously the old shower unit and bits need taking out.
Anyone know how much this is likely to cost and a good outfit to design and fit? I'm somewhat reluctant to call in a specialist firm as we did this before for the kitchen in our previous house and the sales guy was very pushy. The price quoted that time started way over the top and was then half the price after some haggling so I'm wary of paying over the odds. On the other hand trying to get separate trades in doesn't sound like fun either! Any suggestions or reccomendations much appreciated! :wink:

 

[jpt]

We had a similar thing done about 18 months ago except we had a full size shower stall instead of a bath. We didnt go for the most expensive fittings but the tiles cost a bit, overall it was just under £7000.

We designed it ourselves and went to City plumbing http://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/branchLocator for the parts they were very good and although they cant recommend any plumbers they did give us cards for 3 plumbers who are know to do this type of work.

We got 3 quotes and went to see their reference sites and picked one of them, he did a brilliant job.

john

 

[Eric The Viking]

+1 for John's comments above, but it's impossible to cost it without knowing in detail what's involved.

I'd strongly recommend doing the procurement and design yourself, but...

... moving the soil pipe can be expensive and difficult, as it can't go through joists, only parallel to them. If you can avoid that requirement, good. That said, have a look at space-saver loos: we have an Ideal Standard one: it fits in a corner, with one side against the shower screen (looks surprisingly good). I couldn't have done the shower room without it, as there was simply no other way of getting everything in. Now it feels fairly spacious:

Almost all bathrooms have an inward-opening door. How that sweeps makes a huge difference to whether you can make the layout work. It needs to open a full 90 deg. with someone in the room. Don't be afraid to swap the hinged side over if it helps.

We put a bath in one bathroom with a 'bulge' for the shower end. BIG mistake: (a) it's unnecessary as there's plenty of room to shower without it; (b) the bath is uncomfortable to use as a bath, as the other end is far too steep. You can't lie in it comfortably, and my wife, who's not very tall, hates it; (c) as a bath it uses a huge amount of water; (d) it's fibreglass (horrid!) and wasn't adequately supported on the supplied feet (had to add more support underneath); and (e) there's a curved shower screen for it that isn't long enough - spray inevitably puddles on the floor. That bath is also made by Ideal Standard, so they obviously don't get everything right!

I lowered the ceilings in two out of three of our bath/shower rooms (old house: high ceilings). They're warm and snug in the winter. The one I left is madame's favourite for showering in the morning, but she complains it's freezing in the winter. Morals: 1. drop the ceiling if you need to (good for hiding wiring and extractor piping, too), 2. always put in a bigger radiator than you think you'll need (you can always turn them down, but not above full-on).

Also, you can 'perk up' a plain white suite with nice taps, tiles and flooring - saves a huge amount of cost over designer stuff.

Hope that helps a bit.

E.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As above, white suite. I fell for a really expensive heated towel rail once - never again. It didn't occur to me that for nine months of the year when the central heating was off, the towel rail was of no use.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Double up: towel rail plus 300W electric element. Fit a timer for it outside the bathroom (on the bathroom isolator circuit, obviously). BUT don't do what I did - make sure there's enough room to withdraw the element without taking the rad off the wall! They do fail and it's really embarrassing.

The energy used isn't huge - you can get away with only using them in early spring and late autumn, and as long as they come on an hour or so before anyone gets up it's usually fine. You get a bit more condensation than you do in the winter though - the surfaces are cold and the air is wetter to start with in spring and autumn.

The old IR radiant heaters worked really well, but I don't think we're allowed them any more. [edit] It seems we are, but although they work well they do look ugly, and I've never really trusted them in a bathroom.

 

[woodpig]

It's only a small space but I should be able to fit a Kaldewei mini in it if I can move a the loo a few inches. It's ground floor and I believe solid. The soil pipe goes out the wall though. The door opens outwards which is handy. Bath, Sink, Toilet and Taps should be possible for just over 1K, plus shower unit, screen and tiles. Ideally I'd like very large tiles as I like the look and prefer less grout lines. I've fitted the last two bathrooms myself but I'm not up to it these days due to health issues.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you have to move your pan away from the soil pipe, a Saniflo is fine in a domestic environment.

 

[Eric The Viking]

It's only a small space but I should be able to fit a Kaldewei mini in it if I can move a the loo a few inches. It's ground floor and I believe solid. The soil pipe goes out the wall though. The door opens outwards which is handy. Bath, Sink, Toilet and Taps should be possible for just over 1K, plus shower unit, screen and tiles. Ideally I'd like very large tiles as I like the look and prefer less grout lines. I've fitted the last two bathrooms myself but I'm not up to it these days due to health issues.

We have a Kaldewei pressed-steel shower tray upstairs. It's really well made, with a non-slip pattern (cost extra tho), and I'm really pleased with it. If their loos are as good you can't go too wrong.

Mixed feelings about large tiles. Generally I agree, but fitting pipework needs very acurate setting out -- beyond some plumbers (DAMHIK!). They're also take no prisoners: if the wall is flat, fine, if not you probably have to board it or re-render first, adding cost. Also lazy tilers won't spend the time cutting openings properly, prefering to cut across tiles to go round wastes, etc. It looks really nasty, IMHO.

OTOH, one of ours is done in mosaic tiles, which are basically glass. Those things are evil! You can't easily cut them without a diamond saw and a lot of patience. Looks brilliant, but our tiler nearly had a nervous breakdown, and even now after five years or so I keep discovering holes in the grouting in places.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Saniflow????

You have no fear / shame / sense of smell, Sir!

 

[Lons]

You can get offset and flexible wc connectors that can solve out of line issues, I've used them many times.

Might be worth considering multi wall panels instead of tiles as they come in 8 x 4 sheets. They ply type not plastic.
Just finished my latest one and it's a superb job.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Certainly, Multikwiks are fine - I was thinking more of a place a soil pipe couldn't reach.

 

[whiskywill]

You can get offset and flexible wc connectors that can solve out of line issues, I've used them many times.

Might be worth considering multi wall panels instead of tiles as they come in 8 x 4 sheets. They ply type not plastic.
Just finished my latest one and it's a superb job.

Any recommended brands/sources?

 

[Adam9453]

Large tiles can be great, just require more patience and care to do. I'd recommend skimming the walls so they're flat to start with as flat walls make any tiling look better and much easier. I'd strongly recommend betterbathrooms.com as everything we ordered was not only cheap but very good quality (solid heavy brass knobs on the shower valve etc), we saved enough doing the upstairs bathroom that we could afford to do the downstairs toilet as well. I'd recommend getting the trades in yourself as it'll save you a fortune and gives you full control over who's working in your house.

 

[lurker]

The best shower money can buy is aqualisa quartz digital
Not cheap but easy to fit so not as expensive as you might first think.
All the gubbings is up in the loft and I promise you will never have a better shower
We bought one on recommendation and since then many family and friends have had them fitted.

 

[woodpig]

The best shower money can buy is aqualisa quartz digital
Not cheap but easy to fit so not as expensive as you might first think.
All the gubbings is up in the loft and I promise you will never have a better shower
We bought one on recommendation and since then many family and friends have had them fitted.

Thanks. After recently being without hot water due to a boiler breakdown we're aware how handy it is to have an electric shower. Water pressure is very good where we are.

 

[blackrodd]

If you just need an offset for the toilet, there's these at varying offsets,__

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=multi ... B500%3B500
For information, just click on each, for details.
HTH, Regards Rodders

 

[SammyQ]

I pulled a fast one with an inset basin. We couldn't afford a marble (washstand?) top to set it in and our first attempt with 100mm tiles was a filthy grout disaster. I then went to Bee and Poo and found El Cheapo floor tiles, about 300mm x 600mm. Four, with corners trimmed VERY carefully using a template, equals very nice top indeed. Sure, still four grout lines, but infinitely easier to maintain and at about one tenth cost of even a spit-thin piece of marble, never mind the thick stuff you need to use to support heavy china. I then used a fifth as strips to create an upstand/splashback about 90mm high.

Sam

 

[gregmcateer]

Regards getting it fitted, I'd ask a few people locally who either
a) do it, (ie plumbers with skills at tiling), or
b) have had it done and are happy with the workmanship.
If you used to do it yourself, then have a look at their work, as you will probably want a good standard, and can tell if they are up to it.