fitting a bahroom suite

Greg6721

my house is 13 years old and i just bought a new bathroom suite.

as a joiner iv had a few quotes from plumber friends and quote have been around £200-250 which in my opinion is quite high so im going to give this a go myself.

can anyone point me in the right direction? are fittings universal from then to now? will a shifting spanner be enough to do the job?

any pointers would be great

bockster

wow, thats quite an open ended question, depends how big a bathroom job it is. will it be like for like all round with everything in the same position? even then you may end up with the bath slightly higher/lower, same with sink if its on a pedestal, toilet pan outlet can also be different height/distance from wall, wastes could be in slightly different positions.
pushfit pipe fittings are great and can make plumbing easy but there can still be obstacles like access/unforseen things.
don't get me wrong, all problems are overcomeable, but require varying degrees of skill/experiance/tools!. i'd be amazed if you did it all with an adjustable spanner!
try youtube for howto video's. before you start try to compare position of wastes/connections as mentioned above.
remember to renew you earth bonding correctly when you've done the plumbing.
take good care to fix the bath level and very secure, get the bath feet over joists if possible. for a good job, don't screw anything just to plasterboard in a bathroom if possible, (i've just done my bathroom, the sink, although (kind of!) on a pedestal, was held to the wall with one very loose plasterboard fitting and some silicone. from the loft above, i was able to drop timbers down into the wall for everything from the sink to the showerscreen to the shower rail even mirror fixings.)
by the way i'm not a plumber but have always had the opinion that you have to try things or you'll never learn and will always end up paying other people............and i like to keep my money.:p

hope some of this helps, if you do give it a go, come back with any specific questions, there are quite a few others here who will give you good advise, and let us know how you go on.

bockster

1984ReturnsForReal_2

1) If you think that £200-£250 is high I believe you won't get much help from any professionals on here.

2) You will need:

Tap Connectors
3 size of waste pipe
15mm (& maybe 22mm pipe)
All pipe fittings.

A "shifting" spanner isn't enough unless you want to have leaks everywhere from the start or some that appear in a few weeks.

You need at least 2 "shifting" spanners (yes, one for each hand because you will be using both hands at once).
A tap wrench (solid one piece ones are better than adjustables)

& if you want to do a proper job you will need a blow torch, lead free solder & a decent flux. (there is £80 minimum on its own).

Don't forget some PTFE tap & plumbers mait....

& a pipe beburrer.

& wire wool.

& no cheap compression joints...

& isolation valves

& the pipe clips

& don't forget to keep the taps open when you are soldering.

& if you want monoblock taps you will need back nut spanners..


Oh, & it should take an absolute minimum of 2 days (perhaps a day & a half) for a straight swap & no making good, just you bath in, sink in & toilet in with the fittings you have bought attached..

£200-£250 too much.......................... I take it that price was too much because you would be "helping them out" with the job...

McKneff

Too much........... what on earth makes you think that.

Give over, just hand it over to a professional who knows exactly what they are doing.

It will probably take you 3 times longer, more stress, certainly not as good a job. and hopefully no flood lol

My husband was a decorator and the times he had to go and rectify DIY bodge ups was incredible.

He has seen more paint runs that youve had hot dinners.

Greg6721

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

1) If you think that £200-£250 is high I believe you won't get much help from any professionals on here.

2) You will need:

Tap Connectors
3 size of waste pipe
15mm (& maybe 22mm pipe)
All pipe fittings.

A "shifting" spanner isn't enough unless you want to have leaks everywhere from the start or some that appear in a few weeks.

You need at least 2 "shifting" spanners (yes, one for each hand because you will be using both hands at once).
A tap wrench (solid one piece ones are better than adjustables)

& if you want to do a proper job you will need a blow torch, lead free solder & a decent flux. (there is £80 minimum on its own).

Don't forget some PTFE tap & plumbers mait....

& a pipe beburrer.

& wire wool.

& no cheap compression joints...

& isolation valves

& the pipe clips

& don't forget to keep the taps open when you are soldering.

& if you want monoblock taps you will need back nut spanners..


Oh, & it should take an absolute minimum of 2 days (perhaps a day & a half) for a straight swap & no making good, just you bath in, sink in & toilet in with the fittings you have bought attached..

£200-£250 too much.......................... I take it that price was too much because you would be "helping them out" with the job...

im a joiner mate, i earn £10 an hour and i work alongside plumbers who are not on much more than that.

i have looked at the old suite and new suite, the wastes are the same size, the tap connections are the same size and position on the bath, 2 flexis will fit the sink perfectly and the waste on the toilet is the same size as well. its a straight swap. nothing complicated.

do i think £250 is too expensive for what every one of them has told me is going to be 1 days work? absolutely

McKneff

Joiner and plumber on around £10 an hour, boy you are being underpaid.


I work for a construction company and joiners are on around £15 and plumbers £18 around north yorks.

Greg6721

McKneff wrote: »

Joiner and plumber on around £10 an hour, boy you are being underpaid.


I work for a construction company and joiners are on around £15 and plumbers £18 around north yorks.

its quite a complicated system to be honest but its more bonus orientated.

it can work in your favour if you are on the right job but if your left snagging its back to £10 an hour

i think the plumbers are on £11 ish an hour that why im not happy at paying him 3/4 days wages (tax free remember) for something that will probably take 4 hours for him or a full day for me.

i have an idea of what i need at the merchants tomorrow so ill give it a go and igf i then have to get someone in so be it but i dont forsee any issues

1984ReturnsForReal_2

If your mate wants to charge you £250 for a days work he is hardly a mate.

£250 is a reasonable sum to charge for 2 days work.

& 2 days work is what it is to do a proper job & test it.

McKneff

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

If your mate wants to charge you £250 for a days work he is hardly a mate.

£250 is a reasonable sum to charge for 2 days work.

& 2 days work is what it is to do a proper job & test it.

Where does it say that the mate is going to charge £250 for just the one day?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

McKneff wrote: »

Where does it say that the mate is going to charge £250 for just the one day?

do i think £250 is too expensive for what every one of them has told me is going to be 1 days work? absolutely

Post at 9.34pm yesterday.................

vein

Personally I would (and did) pay to have the professionals do it, I would say £250 is a fair price. Though If you are pretty handy with DIY and feel confident you can acheive the same results as the professional then I can see why you would want to save the £250.

I had my suite replaced last summer and it cost me around £250 for my family friend plumber to come in with his mate to rip out the old suite and install the new one. There is no way I could have done a job that was anywhere near as good as the job they done. Took them one evening and a full day to complete.

On the other side of the coin though my Dad replaced his bathroom suite himself. He has made a great job of it but he is a DIY enthusiast with many more years experience than me and it did take him about a fortnight to finish it all off. If I had tried to DIY my bathroom I reckon it would be me getting finished off by my wife for taking so long about it