Bathroom renovation - hints and tips

pippa80

Hi there,

Apologies if I've missed a thread/threads with this info (please direct me if I have!).

My OH and I are planning to have our bathroom renovated. We're in London and have about £8,000 to go towards it, though will save up more if that's necessary.

Any tips of where to start, dos and don'ts etc?

I'm guessing that independent contractor will be better than going to homebase.

Suggestions for makes of the fixtures and fittings?

Thanks!

Canucklehead

Hi... see this recent thread.

HTH

Canucklehead

Hintza

We are currently building a new house I will just list some of the things we have used. Criteria was to last 20 years and be easy to clean and keep:-

Roper Rhodes and Laufen sanitaryware and sinks

Hansgrohe taps and showers

Rearo and Bushboard (Nuance) wetwall (instead of tiles)

Karndean for the floors (only a small area so not a huge budget killer)

Villeroy and Boch Bath

Pebble Grey for a mirror and loo roll holders

We used Scope in Glasgow for most of our stuff but also found Plumb Wales quite competitive.

Leif

I've heard from a number of sources that it is not worth spending big money on the bath, sink and loo, as you pay for the name/style. Getting a good fitter is important. A colleague went through Homebase, and the fitting was excellent. But one example does not prove much.

phill99

I am a great believer that the quality of the products is not as critical as the quality of the fitter. A cheap suite and tiles can look a million dollars if fitted by a competent tradesman. An expensive suite can look like a dogs dinner if fitted by a comboy. Do your research on the fitters. Even if you have to pay over the odds, its well worth it.

Also, have a picture in your mind of what it is you are trying to achieve. Envisage the finished room and the details in it eg, location and number of lights, shaving point, how the tiles meet other floor finishes etc. Once you undestand the detail, you need to work backwards so that all the cables, pipwork etc can be put into place before the tiling etc starts. Its no good half way through saying "I want so and so there" which means the fitter needs to undo work to put it right.

sugarwalsh

Search around for good deals - we picked up taps in a slae for £10 for example. Don't forget to factor in if you are moving any of the pipes, obviously not moving them is cheaper.
Tiles and flooring are often the biggest expense in a bathroom, so don't forget to work those into the equations too. If you are really stuck then go to lots of different bathroom places and get them to do some designs for you, then haggle, check prices on line etc when you decide what you want.
If you know anyone who has had a bathroom fitted that you like then ask them who did it, recommendations are the best way to find a good fitter.
£8000 is a lot to spend on a bathroom, you should easily get something really fantastic with that!
Have fun and enjoy finding your ideal bathroom
MEgan

dave82_2

What sort of size is the bathroom? What sort of state is it in now? What are your requirements/nice to haves? We are in London and did our for under 8k and we went for some nice stuff. We plan to stay here long term so didn't scrimp on the bathroom. I do agree though it is more about the fitting that the stuff you go for.

http://i56.tinypic.com/2jcvf5i.jpg (before)

http://i56.tinypic.com/s6m4if.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2qw3dq1.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/i1fbjo.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/e84nyh.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/fokwlt.jpg (before)

http://i55.tinypic.com/2w4cswl.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/33w179u.jpg

Taps are crosswater http://www.crosswater.co.uk/
Shower head is Aqualisa midas 300
Shower tray and screen are Twyfords Hydr8 (recomended on here)
Sink and toilet are Saneux http://www.saneux.com/
Unit is Bahause http://www.bauhaus-bathrooms.co.uk/
Tiles are Vitra
Bath is Villeroy Boch
Radiator and towell rail are Kudox

I ripped the old bathroom out myself then we had :

Celing boarded and plastered
Walls replastered
All new plumbing
New soil stack
Floors boarded with marine ply
New suit rads etc fitted
Tilling

Finally plumbers merchants are the place to get good deals and in most cases matched the best price we could find online.

bluesnake

From experience make sure you have a good fitter. Even with 14 years, they guy could still be rubbish!

Water pressure: if you do not have enough, many of the new shiny faucets may not flow, or the water just trickle out. You end up going back to screwable tap heads with washers.

Try to not to get the new 'water saving toilet' tank as there is often just too little water to do the job. Make sure you have a time tested and simple flush mechanism in the toilet, yes buttons do look nice, but...

Have access panels, even if they are concealed.

Avoid thin things like fibreglass shower trays and think more resin concrete trays:)

TOOTHACHE

We just had a new bathroom put in.
We allocated £6k to do it but have only spent £2.5k... it looks fantastic.
Luckily for us a friends who is a bit jack of all trades was quiet and he helped us out.
We looked at £900 bath tubs which still were still plastic and decided to just buy a very modern, smooth looking suite from B&Q for £300 all in.
The taps it came with are lovely, very modern and good quality, the only bit we decided cheapened the suite was the nasty plastic bath panel so we made our own from tongue and groove.
We found natural slate tiles in the sale, complete pain in the butt to lay as they are all different thickness' but once grouted with white and a slight sheen look so classy and expensive.
They lift the entire room.
The wall tiles are the big rectangular 'bricks' (bigger than a breeze-block) which again were end of line B&Q - the drill bits and the cutters cost a fortune though as they were so strong.
To be honest we had envisaged the bathroom to be quite expensive, let alone fitting it. I truly believe you can buy an off the shelf suite and really set it off with lovely tiles and good workmanship.