Diy Bathroom.

ema_o

We took tiles and plaster off our walls in the bathroom, OH started doing it by hand, then bought a gadget that went on his electric (I think a drill but it might have been more powerful, he got it from Aldi for about £30) that takes it all off.
If you're planning on getting up the concrete by hand it might be worth investing in something that will do it for you.
I have a feeling you can hire tools as well, might be worth it for the amount of time (and swearing based on my OH) that it saves you.

dander

I've got this book which I like a lot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Complete-Plumbing-Central-Heating/dp/0007164416
But the reviews say it's just a copy of the pages out of the complete Collins DIY manual, so it might be worth buying the full version and getting the tiling info as well.

gmgmgm

I bought the Collins complete DIY manual a year ago at WH Smith for a fiver. They often seem to have these books at silly prices. Well worth it!

tammigirl

I retiled my bathroom by myself a few years ago...I had no experience whatsoever, and if I do say so myself the results are pretty good! Just take your time and plan where the tiles are gonna go before you stick them on, I drew a plumb line ..like you would do for wallpapering..to make sure they were straight before I started. Good Luck. Do you need to take the old tiles off first?? i was told that if I had wanted to I could have put new tiles on top of the old ones...easier and less mess. Or an alternative to retiling if they are on the bottom half of the room is to cover them with MDF panelling sheets...you can get them from DIY shops

Ebe_Scrooge

I did a complete refit on our bathroom a few years back. It's pretty straightforward as long as you're not moving things around ( e.g. new toilet is going in the same place as the old one ).

I wouldn't say it's a piece of cake, but it's not difficult. You'll come across minor glitches where things don't quite go together as smoothly as they could, but nothing that a bit of common sense won't sort out.

The main thing is, plan ahead and take your time. Yes, it's going to take you far longer than a pro would take, just accept that and be patient. The savings you'll make will be worth it. The tiling, in particular, is time-consuming for a novice, but there's no reason at all why you can't make a great job of it as long as you take your time.

In hindsight, I wished I'd have tiled the floor BEFORE fitting the toilet and sink, would have saved cutting the tiles. But hey, that's how experience is gained :-) And I ended up making a nice job of it, just took a bit longer.

Oh, and sealing around the bath - half-fill the bath with water first, so it'll settle into approximately the right place, then apply the sealant.

sam.noble18

A couple of months ago we replaced our bathroom, luckily the new bathroom suite was going in exactly the same place as the old, so we were able to fit this ourselves.

I would advise shopping around to look for the right bathroom as looked at loads to make sure it was the right style for our bathroom. In the end we bought a suite and a heated towel rail online from Click Bathrooms. We did get a plumber in to do the towel rail as originally we had a radiator there and we wanted this to be replaced.

Did the tiling ourselves which was a fast learning curve. Bathroom still not quite finished haven't got round to laying the floor yet.

Good luck with your project!

latecomer

As others have said its perfectly do-able even with no experience provided you have enough time and patience. We took about 4 months to do ours from start to finish and for a large part of this there was no bath/shower and this was our only bathroom. If it is your only one then bear in mind that if you make a mess of connecting the toilet then you may end up without one.......

But I'm definitely in favour of trying anything, our bathroom is gorgeous but then we spent the time and money to make sure of that. Any professional who worked at our rate (and wasted so much adhesive) would starve

digiman97

I,M_SAD wrote: »

Hello,I am seriously thinking of attempting to do as much as I can with refitting my small bathroom.Has anybody any suggestions of a good diy guide or book please?
I will have the electric shower done by a qualified electrician,so nothing dodgy.
My bathroom is hideous and I cannot afford to have it done professionally.
I am hoping I can hack all tiles off however they have put them on a thick concrete
base half way round,would that concrete hack off ok by hand?
Has anybody fitted their own toilet ,just wondering if it,s a bit of a no,no.

The bathroom layout will stay exactly the same.Has anybody tiled their bathroom with no previous experience and was it ok?Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated,thank you.

Hello,

i would get a professional in to do any tiling as this will be a neater job than you could ever do, i have just done up my bathroom but did all the plumbing myself except the tiling,the guy did a really nice job and was worth paying a pro to do this work i did consider doing it myself to save money but am really glad i didn't.
Good luck.

wallbash

Eight say , have a go , one , call in the professionals

Lets hope what ever happens we are kept informed

Ps I,M SAD work out how to post a picture , if you need help , one is worth a thousand words.

rachbc

Be patient, take your time and you can get great results. Thats the biggest lesson 15 years f diy has taught me.

It can't take longer than it took my hubby to do his bathroom...think it was 18m in all - and a threat to not move it til it was done!