New bathroom needed..

ButtonF1Fan

This is my first post on diy boards, so go gentley.

Our bathroom was/is leaking. I've called out british gas home care, they had to cut through my ceiling to access the pipe work... this was the only way to acess the pipework as previous owner of this house did a bodge job!

b and q quoting £4400 (but its not a true price, excludes tiles, fixing flooring, replacing ceilings etc) severn vale bathrooms are quoting 5600 and this is a local company, strong reputation and COMPLETE quote, includes new lighting, flooring, wall covering, plumbing......... so imo cheaper.

Can i get a total install cheaper? i'm in gloucester. my bathroom is almost square, a bath length one direction, about a ft or 2 longer the other way. currently we have a bath, sink, loo and shower. we want to install a shower/bath where normall bath is now, and have loo and sink in fitted cupboarding on the wall that currently has the shower and loo. this makes better use of the space and uses current waste routes for loo/bath as these are working.

I dont want to diy it myself! i need a pro, i dunno what i'm doing. where to start???

Canucklehead

JulieJesta wrote: »

This is my first post on diy boards, so go gentley.

Our bathroom was/is leaking. I've called out british gas home care, they had to cut through my ceiling to access the pipe work... this was the only way to acess the pipework as previous owner of this house did a bodge job!

b and q quoting £4400 (but its not a true price, excludes tiles, fixing flooring, replacing ceilings etc) severn vale bathrooms are quoting 5600 and this is a local company, strong reputation and COMPLETE quote, includes new lighting, flooring, wall covering, plumbing......... so imo cheaper.

Can i get a total install cheaper? i'm in gloucester. my bathroom is almost square, a bath length one direction, about a ft or 2 longer the other way. currently we have a bath, sink, loo and shower. we want to install a shower/bath where normall bath is now, and have loo and sink in fitted cupboarding on the wall that currently has the shower and loo. this makes better use of the space and uses current waste routes for loo/bath as these are working.

I dont want to diy it myself! i need a pro, i dunno what i'm doing. where to start???

Good morning: Source brand name sanitaryware, brassware (Twyford, Ideal Standard, Mira, Aqualisa, Grohe, Bristan) and tiles etc yourself from plumbers merchants eg. PTS, City Plumbing, local independents after you have consulted with a plumber (find one here)....get 3 quotes and compare like for like. Helpful guides available here


HTH

Canucklehead

EliteHeat

JulieJesta wrote: »

I've called out british gas home care, they had to cut through my ceiling to access the pipe work... this was the only way to acess the pipework as previous owner of this house did a bodge job!

In what way was it a bodge job?

ButtonF1Fan

No access to pipes, Tiles all wonky, Shower cubilicle doesnt match tray. bath "sinks" an inch when you get in. entire wieght of shower held on half a floor board as they chopped through the boards twice 4 inches apart when they guessed where to cut! water leaks from bath, etc etc. Walls and ceilings mouldy due to leaks. water damage downstairs in kitchen and hallway. insurance said tough luck.. as mis-installation even if years before we got here, is not covered. nice

macman

I'm puzzled as to why you need a complete new bathroom because of a leaking pipe-are you saying everything is water damaged? If so doesn't your home insurance cover this?

chrisbell_84

I have just had my bathroom re-fitted and my bathroom sounds exactly the same size as yours, with the same stuff just fitted.

I would recommend an Aqualisa Shower, although it depends on water system you have. I have a gravity fed system, problems with my electrics so needed a pump. h-i-e website offered the best prices, a lot cheaper than the plumbers merchants A plumber sourced one for me and quoted me £625, got it on here + delivery for £440. All the plumbers love them as they are so easy to fit, but are actually very good quality. Mine comes with a 5 yr guarantee, parts and labour. You can go for a much cheaper one, normal thermostatic mixer, but i didnt have much choice in the matter.

Bathroom furniture i got from City Plumbing, they give you same discount they give trade people so def worth buying through them. Dark grey counter-top, back to wall toilet, semi recessed basin, and the two 600mm units cost £670. Worth checking out the sales at bathstore though, i missed out but same stuff was £600, i only found out afterwards, typical.

Bathscreen i bought off ebay - lots of choice and really cheap, just go for the branded ones, my screen was £175, cheapest i could find online was £290. The delivery was next day, the biggest bathroom supplier on their i think is completedistribution.

For fittings,online retailer homesupply were the cheapest, they sell loads of good branded stuff fittings for at least 40% off if you bought in the shops. Worth checking out ebay as well, some manufactuars like Bristan have an ebay shop where its really cheap, but i'd look at home supply first

Tiles/Flooring - cost can range massively, Hire an independant builder and see whether you can go with him to topps tiles/other tile shop and take advantage of his trade discount, i got 20% off the normal price.

It looks a lot of work, but this took me about two months to research, but it saves you a shed load of money and you dont compromise on the quality, infact, you better it.

Good luck.

Chris

ButtonF1Fan

macman wrote: »

I'm puzzled as to why you need a complete new bathroom because of a leaking pipe-are you saying everything is water damaged? If so doesn't your home insurance cover this?

We knew the bathroom wasnt well fitted, but we didnt judge it as a problem when we bought house. insurance said badly fitted, rather than accidentaly damaged so they arent interested. I currently cant use my bath, scares the heck out of me! It creaks, then as i said above it sinks/drops with is very worrying!

Now recently shower went wrong, water running down my walls and sitting in the ceiling space. damaged the whole hallway ceiling, kitchen ceiling is the same under the baths waste pipe area. So its not just the pipes, its the huge amount of floor boarding theyve chopped holes in so floor is very weak, plus long term minor leaks, and the recent incident. bathroom is totally tiled, and where the grout and sealant is badly done its rather mouldy, and its the source of one of the leaks.

Its got to a stage were its pointless to keep trying to fix it, and its kind of made urgent as i cant use my bath, but if i'm not really quick in my shower water comes through, down the wall, accross the ceiling and drips onto the hallway light. scarey!

andyhop

Go for a bathroom thats over engineered, ask to see previous installers work, We always offer to show prospective customers previous jobs in person

Tanking and good quality material is a must, Do not buy cheaper low end rubbish otherwise you will be doing it all over again in 5yrs or less

To achieve a good finish in most bathrooms it requires the walls taken back to brick and a fresh start made

usignuolo

The severn vale £5600 quote sounds a fair price to me (assume it includes all tiling?). Don't pay them whole amount up front though, keep some back for if there is a problem.

Alternative approach: we recently had a new bathroom installed, We explained EXACTLY what we wanted, builder quoted for all the labour, and then we choose and bought all the major components and fittings and he bought materials. We reimbursed him for the stuff he bought and he left us any leftovers. (Not much). Subject to a few adjustments for extra work at the end this worked out fine.

(Wickes has quite a useful bathroom planning guide although you don't need to buy it from there, Bathstore has a continuous sale and some interesting things but beware the way they charge for each individual component for a sink for example).

Biggest hassle was getting all the stuff from different suppliers on site at the same time.