Order of work in a bathroom. Is this right please?

Penny_Farthing_2

Yooj - thanks so much for your detailed reply.
The conduit sounds ideal thanks. I'll put 2 in - one each for the socket and the light ( yes we are doing away with the combo)
Everything in the house is covered by an RCD. We were originally going to have an electric shower but when our electrician said what would need to happen to meet the safety standards, we went for a mixer instead. We do have Part P for everything as it stands now (my OH tells me).
Tiler hasn't seen the surface yet but the builder who was going to do the tiling said just a skim would do it, then use waterproof adhesive/grout.
There's a plumber coming today or tomorrow who was recommended by a friend. Even if he charges £400 to take out the loo and sink and put in loo/sink/shower and replace rad (we supply stuff) we'll have saved £500 on the builder's quote.

andrew-b

Consult with your electrician friend on the conduits first if you can. The cables need to follow recognised routes horizontally or vertically. See http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/routing_a_cable.htm .

I would use the white oval conduit (won't need to cut as deep as round conduit) - don't bother with using conduit clips to attach to walls as you end up having to cut out more wall to fit them...a couple of galvanised nails bashed in either side of the conduit will keep it firmly in place.

Probably best to thread the cable through the conduit before it's cemented/plastered over - again check with the electrician that his ok for you to do this and they will tell you what size cable to use. At the very least thread the conduit with string so cables can easily be pulled through after.

Advantage of putting the cables in conduit is future rewires will be much less messy too.

In our bathroom (which was v. similar works to yours apart from not tiling the floor) i didn't bother with your step #5 (tanking
shower) - IMHO it's unnecessary if you have solid walls that aren't going to disintegrate like plasterboard would but others will disagree with this view!

I take it that you have other toilet facilities in the house? We didn't so i kept the old loo in place until much later on in the works and then replaced in a day. I was doing all the works except the plastering myself so it all took much longer.

Also i needed to reroute/replace most of the pipework as some was buried under concrete floor and instead was bought down from the loft and had to be boxed in behind plasterboard so all that was done before plastering.

Yooj_2

Penny_Farthing wrote: »

Yooj - thanks so much for your detailed reply.

No problem

Penny_Farthing wrote: »

The conduit sounds ideal thanks. I'll put 2 in - one each for the socket and the light ( yes we are doing away with the combo)
Everything in the house is covered by an RCD. We were originally going to have an electric shower but when our electrician said what would need to happen to meet the safety standards, we went for a mixer instead. We do have Part P for everything as it stands now (my OH tells me).

I am not a fan of electric showers to be honest...There is nothing worse to spoil the look of a newly fitted out bathroom than a large plastic box stuck on the wall...Far better to have a mixer...Have you thought about a pumped shower? Would depend upon your budget and boiler type...generally you would need hot and cold water storage tanks...Though pumped systems do give a great shower...Maybe have a chat with the plumber when he is there.

Yooj

Penny_Farthing_2

Thanks Andrew.
I'll have to do what I can without talking to the electrician as he's away on holiday for 3 weeks and I won't disturb him.
We have another bathroom to use and we'll set up our camping loo as well since we all seem to need to go at the same time!

Penny_Farthing_2

We have a combi boiler Yooj. Our mixer shower upstairs has one of those flow-limiters on it as one of my sons takes forever in the shower. I'd kind of assumed that even with a similar limiter on the downstairs shower we wouldn't be able to have them running at the same time. We'll have to work out a jungle drums pipe tapping thing when the person who's first in the shower has switched it off !!

Yooj_2

andrew-b wrote: »

Consult with your electrician friend on the conduits first if you can. The cables need to follow recognised routes horizontally or vertically. See http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/routing_a_cable.htm .

If you go vertically up from where you want either the light or shaver point into the loft, then this is within the recognised zone.

andrew-b wrote: »

I would use the white oval conduit (won't need to cut as deep as round conduit) - don't bother with using conduit clips to attach to walls as you end up having to cut out more wall to fit them...a couple of galvanised nails bashed in either side of the conduit will keep it firmly in place.

The only thing with nails, is that I find a wrong move, either with the nail or the hammer could crack/shatter the conduit...So in this instance, I would recommend using a instant grab type adhesive.

BTW, the size of conduit I recommended in the link earlier will do the trick, assuming you have a section each for the light and the shaver point.

andrew-b wrote: »

Probably best to thread the cable through the conduit before it's cemented/plastered over - again check with the electrician that his ok for you to do this and they will tell you what size cable to use. At the very least thread the conduit with string so cables can easily be pulled through after.

Good advice to pull through some form or draw-wire...A good solid piece of string would do the trick as Andrew mentioned....Your spark will certainly thank-you for this, as it will make his life easier.

Yooj

Leon_W

I recently had the same problem as you with a leaking shower cubicle. I had to rip absolutely everything out as the tiles were just stuck to plasterboard which had obviously got wet and disintegrated. I replaced the cubicle walls with a good sturdy ply and used the exact Dunlop tanking kit you refer to above to seal the edges and walls to the new tray to make it good and watertight (in my view it is worth doing it right first time !) I then used an L shaped seal where the tray meets the walls, and tile down over it using a quality waterproof grout to give a second seal and the job, as they say, is an absolute good un.

Like someone above, if you have a separate hot water tank I would go for the pumped option. I fitted a simple pump and basic Screwfix mixer. The results were much better than an electric shower. The wife did mention that she now no longer has to run around to get wet !

When I costed it it also worked out cheaper than having all the electrics sorted and replaced.

Best of luck.

Penny_Farthing_2

Will certainly take your advice -especially re the no more nails, Yooj. We only found out our electrician does evening jobs because he came to our rescue when my DH drilled through a wire (embarrassed smilie).

Leon - would the kit do a 900 corner shower do you think?

broomstick27

Sorry Penny to hijack your thread, but my question is fairly similar.

Just wondering how much it would cost to have someone fit a power shower - we have a hot and a cold water tank(s) but currently just have a tap mixer so the plumbing won't be in place. Would the shower need to be installed (apart from putting the actual unit on obviously) before or after the tiles?

suisidevw

Penny, if you have any issues and need someone in S Wales giv eme a shout as we've had an excellent bathroom fitter for our bathroom. We also had an electric shower that I'd say is asthetically pleasing rather than a white box on the wall! Give me a shout if you want pics or contact details