Re-fit bathroom - advice please?

gratefulforhelp_2

I'm wondering if I can get some top tips please for a bathroom re-fit?
It needs to include a bath with shower over, a sink, loo and a shower screen rather than a curtain, with tiled floor and tiles to picture rail height.
Good places to get the stuff and so on.
We have a good plumber and electrician lined up.

tyadog

:wave:

My last refit - suite came from Victoria Plumb - online sales, fabulous customer service, found them very cost effective

Tiles came from Wicks - limestone effect, and on offer - tiled the room floor to ceiling, though hadn't reckoned for how much the actual tiler would cost :eek:

Taps from Focus - very good quality and seemed much cheaper than other places

It looked fantastic, nothing in itself was expensive, but together it looked a million dollars - shame I moved!!

Tyadog

gratefulforhelp_2

Thanks, Tyadog. Interesting that the tiles were bought separately from the suite. Any pitfalls except the tiling costs?

Tucker

Is there no prospect of a free standing shower?

With a re-shiffle it might be possible and miles better than a shower over bath. My bathroom was only 2.2 by 1.8m, but I moved things around and got in an 800mm shower, full size bath, sink, toilet and towel rail and it doesn't feel cramped. I had to move the door slightly to make it possible, which wasn't difficult and made the room so much better.

Either way, think about the layout regardless of where things are positioned now and don't assume bath must go where bath is now etc.....

Now's the chance to change it.

mummyslittleboy

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

I'm wondering if I can get some top tips please for a bathroom re-fit?
It needs to include a bath with shower over, a sink, loo and a shower screen rather than a curtain, with tiled floor and tiles to picture rail height.
Good places to get the stuff and so on.
We have a good plumber and electrician lined up.

Is the plumber a friend? Only XH's BIL is a plumber and he always gets bathroom suites at trade price and will happily pass it on to family and close friends at the trade price if he is fitting it. He always swore by plumb centre.

ormus

wickes & BQ for the suite and tiles. hard to beat their prices. esp when the sales are on.
argos for shower screens. cheap prices.

gratefulforhelp_2

Thanks, tucker. I will look at the dimensions, but its not huge. mummyslittleboy the plumber isn't a friend as such, but can get things cheap sometimes. Thanks, ormus.

The bath is positioned for the view at the moment, which isn't logical as the glass is the obscured kind...

eta any thoughts on electric v. mixer shower system?

tyadog

Hi GFH

We didn't hit any pitfalls at all except for the tiling costs - I hadn't appreciated the cost for installation, so we spent approximately £200 on tiles which cost £1000 to put on the walls (that was all walls, floor to ceiling)! However, I did check the quote with friends who were having a massive house refurb and it seemed in line with prices they had. We had a reliable plumber who brought in the sparkie as required and did the tiling himself. That saved a lot of hassle tring to co-ordinate them.

The only other problem I had was that I came home one night to find the tiles on the wall facing the bathroom door weren't centred on the wall :eek: yes, picky I know!! However I pointed this out to the plumber, who admitted he hadn't thought and just started at the corner. He offered to take them off and re-do it, which I thanked him for and accepted - unbeknownst to him that is what he would have been doing anyway, so it was just simpler that he recognised the problem and made the offer :rotfl:

Otherwise, we spent a budget amount on items which when properly fitted and finished looked superb. No one ever came to the house and didn't admire the room - mind you it was close to avocado beforehand!

Good luck with yours, hope it goes as smoothly as mine did
Tyadog

tyadog

Hi again
Just saw your shower question...

I installed a mixer shower - on the basis that it was instantaneously available as I always had the hot water on.

However, now I would go for electric - purely because rising heating costs mean I am thinking more carefully about leaving the hot water on 24/7 when I only reqire some at bathtimes and washing up after dinner.... so the economics of things would make me go for electric now . I hate waiting for hot water when I need it, hence my laziness about switching it on and off, but I can see its not cost effective nowadays when I need so little.

Tyadog

gratefulforhelp_2

Thanks for both of those, Tyadog I think my plumber will do the tiling, wow thats a big part of the budget. Off to measure up later, as thinking now, we may fit in a short bath and a shower.

redlady_1

I am currently having a bathroom created pretty much from thin air. My only piece of advice is get someone really good who knows what they are doing, not because they are cheap. If I had picked the cheaper plumbers I know I would have come home to a nightmare. Quiz them about what they will do and why they think something is a good idea. Compare them against each other. Also a good plumber will say whether what you have in mind is in fact doable rather than just getting on with it. Tiling is an expensive job. And make sure your plumber can tile well. There is a reason tiling is a separate job with separate tradesmen. I am having a mixer shower and an electric shower.