Showrooms v Plumbers' Merchants

Hi Martin

When we moved into our new (first) home we planned to 'do' the kitchen first.

Having been in a month or so the musty smell got the better of me and I took off the bath panel to find a dripping cold water pipe, rotten (blackened) unsealed chipboard flooring under the carpet and a major damp problem!!

Kitchen got bumped down the priority list and off we drove to B&Q/Focus/MFI/Homebase/Wickes/Gardner Haskins ("everything for your home and more, gardner haskins super store"!!!!) to check out the range of options.

We managed to find a standard plastic bath/panel, pedestal basin and low level WC suite for about £250-£300 to take away - extra for delivery (you can't fit squat in a 306 coupe 3dr!).

On leaving one B&Q store we notice a plumbers merchant (happened to be Travis Perkins but I would assume the same of all of them) accross the road, thought what the hell and dropped in.

The old boy behind the counter spent 30-35 minutes with us talking about what we wanted to do and how best to go about it before even showing us a suite. He convinced me it was possible to fit it myself using push fit fixings advised on metal vs plastic baths and showed us a whole range of options.

We left having bought a bag of fittings, some copper pipe, a metal bath and an armitage shanks pedestal sink/toilet.

£165 inc delivery at a time/day of our choice.

I fitted it using push fit fixings (having removed the chipboard floor, replaced the joists and laid wooden floorboards) and it WAS as easy as he said it would be and all went smoothly.

It can't harm asking...:j

Yes. They had a HUGE warehouse full of all sorts of stuff and a whole load of bathroom types. The guy had no problem taking us in and showing the bath we would get prior to us making the decision.

The thing I really liked was that we were able to select the bath we wanted, the sink and the toilet not just take a particular one because it was part of 'the suite'.

As we just had a plain white metal bath we got a different sink/toilet combo and it worked out really cheap!!!

We also found this approach better when buying the flooring I mentioned, went to a place called Robbins timber and they pretty much undercut everyone else with flexible delivery etc.

I'd say give it a go, as long as you have a plumber to do the techie stuff (main pipe runs and ensure the wiring is all correct - esp with earthing the pipes etc) the rest is easy. Can DEFINATELY recommend push fit connectors and they are dead safe if you get the plastic grommet to hold them in place.

Interested to hear how you fare :beer:

My Dad swears by Jayhards, we didn't go there as they don't have an outlet near us but I THINK they are a bit of a crossover retailer/merchant