New Bathroom - Recommendations Wanted

AuntyJean

We are about to completely strip out the bathroom and replace everything (including wall tiles) and this has to last us for (hopefully) 20+ years so we want to get everything right, on a budget!

I would welcome advice on the following and what to avoid please.

1. Steel bath (white)- could anyone advise the best suite and price I can expect to pay. Is steel best? I just want a basic oblong shape with two taps at the end.

2. Shower. Although we have a combi it is inefficient to run a shower off of. (Worcester 28CDi - water never really gets hot even though we have had it checked out by Worcester who say its working fine). We are considering a Mira Sport 9 or 10 kw. Best price so far is £165 from local company.

3. Wall tiles - plain white but NOT the 6inch x 6inch. Cheapest sellers wanted please (Bristol).

4. Floor. We have floorboards which are a bit wobbly and need to be screwed down. If we fit ply over we may have to move all the skirting boards! Any suggestions? The guy who we have asked to fit the bath etc says he wants to lay the flooring first and sit the loo on top but laminate surely won't last 20 years so what if we want to replace it in say 5 years time?

5. Finally, I want a vanity unit - plain and simple - but not one where the sink sticks out like these new modern ones. Anyone know where I can price these up?

Thanks for reading. Any comments or advice appreciated.

Aunty Jean.

Hunnymonster

I fitted a 9.5kW shower from the Mira Essentials range - was under £100 and has never failed to be hot or powerful enough for me - make sure you get correctly rated cable fitted for it though, or you might find the cable heating your house and/or possibly causing an electrical fire.

As for flooring under the loo-pan, they're usually only held down by 2 or 4 woodscrews - it's really childsplay to unscrew it, lift it slightly while you retrieve the 'old' floor and slot in the 'new' - a hell of a lot easier than tying to accurately follow the contours of the base of the loo-pan at least! It's certainly the way to do a neater job.

Might be worth putting some additional plywood down under your bath (I did mine screwed down on 6" centres) to spread the load on the floor because I'm a fat b******d and me + 50 gallons of water needs to be distributed a bit

grumbler

Floor
I fully agree with Hunnymonster in everything he says.
However, I think it is better to place thick joists under legs to spread the weight (it is what I did).
I have chosen vinyl flooring for the bathroom and do not bother about spills anymore. The assortment of vinyl flooring is huge now in a proper shop.

quoia

AuntyJean wrote:

....and this has to last us for (hopefully) 20+ years so we want to get everything right.....

3. Wall tiles - plain white but NOT the 6inch x 6inch. Cheapest sellers wanted please (Bristol).

I thought I'd throw this in for consideration since it is something you may not even know about, especially since the above 2 statements have conflicting "requirements" and long-term "issues"

PLASTIC WALL CLADDING !!!!

Your 1st statement says that you're not upgrading your bathroom in order to sell your house, indeed you're planning to live there for another 20 years or more.
2nd statement - Plain white tiles - very clean and clinical and light and airy and ageless and neutral and probably creating an illusion of more space. Can't fault the idea. PROBLEM - GROUT !!!

Whilst it may look nice ot the outset GROUT gets relatively discoloured and grubby quite quickly. MOULD loves it!
My brother has just removed all of the grout in his bathroom for the FIFTH time in 27 years. The shower area is the first to go followed by the areas that get splashed etc. He has tried the treatments, the whiteners but they aren't very good. The first time he re-grouted he initially just did the bits that appeared to need doing in the shower area and around the wash basin. Problem was the new stuff made what appeared to be very clean and OK looking old grout look dirty. So all of it had to be done.

SO! How about NO GROUT ?
No maintenance for the next 20 odd years !
I decided to fit plastic wall cladding having seen it at my brother-in-law's.


Depending upon the manufacturer, Decos, Plastivan or Marbrex the panels are either 2.6 metres or 2.7 metres long and usually 250mm wide. (The odd 1 or 2 are available in a different width) They are all 1cm thick.
You can also get panels specifically intended for the ceiling. These come in 2.7m, 4m & 6m lengths and are usually 150mm wide.

Before I decided exactly what I wanted (and then bought it local) I GOOGLEd to see what was out there.
I came across http://www.bathroommarquee.co.uk/index.htm

This site has loads of information, shows how to install etc - have a good look around. These also do panels by a company called Grosfillex

Also you can get a FREE cd that "contains many high quality images of our wall panel ranges and demonstrates the stunning effect that can be achieved using our products"
http://www.bathroommarquee.co.uk/free_cd.htm

weatherwax_2

Is the 9.5kW shower from the Mira Essentials range definitely suitable for use with a combi boiler? Our Mira shower has sprung a leak and is so ancient that Mira told us it can't be fixed, so we need a new one asap. When our present shower was installed (about 15 years ago!), we had to have a pump installed under the bath because we don't have a high enough head of water.

What would be the best shower to get, bearing the above in mind?

Quoia, bless you! I've been trying to find out about that wall panelling since I visited my brother in Australia in 1993 and saw it in his shower. It's brilliant cos all it needs is a wipe down and, as you say, no problems with grotty grout.

AuntyJean

Quoia, many thanks for that. The guy who is doing the bathroom for us already suggested the plastic wall cladding which I thought was a brilliant idea but, I only wanted this around the lower part of the walls up to about 3ft with the shower/bath area tiled to ceiling.

Have taken note about the grout discolouring. I must admit we do not suffer from mould in our bathroom. Maybe because it is small & well ventilated or it could be because two of the walls are stud partitoning. Suppose I could go for coloured grout but that would spoil the whole effect.

What about vinyl wall covering in tile effect? Has anyone used this (or even seen such a thing)? Checked out the wall panelling but seems quite expensive (one panel 375mm by 4m £27.99).

Thanks to Huneymonster for the tip about just lifting the loo slightly when replacing floor covering. Never considered that.

Aunty Jean.

fredy_1972

laminate surely won't last 20 years so what if we want to replace it in say 5 years time?

Laminate in a bathroom wont even last 5 years.

The moisture content in the air plus spilt water means the laminate will swell and lift.

AuntyJean

Presumably vinyl would be best option?

Paul1_2

AuntyJean wrote:

Quoia, many thanks for that. The guy who is doing the bathroom for us already suggested the plastic wall cladding which I thought was a brilliant idea but, I only wanted this around the lower part of the walls up to about 3ft with the shower/bath area tiled to ceiling.

Aunty Jean.

I'd also highly recommend plastic cladding, there are many styles available with contrast and insert strips available. We had the walls, ceiling, skirting boards, window sill and door frames done, looks stunning and there no maintenance! Three years on, a few wipes with a cloth and it looks brilliant.

If your bathroom is small another tip is to fit doors to the bath side, rather than a panel. Surprising amount of storage space available, for loo rolls and cleaning stuff!

Paul1

ethelhead

Hi AutyJean,

Am watching this thread with interest, as I have just been granted an advance to do my bathroom and I also live in Bristol.

I've two bits of info from Geo Jones (don't know where you're based, but they're an old school pumbers merchant on Ashley Road in St Pauls near the old petrol station & Teohs). I've no connection with them whatsoever, but mates in the business use then & they've always been very helpful to me.

For steel baths: BETTE (manufactured in Germany) but Geo Jones can
usually deliver next day, I believe.

Showers: When I asked about Mira, they suggested a make I'd never
heard of: BRISTAN. They're least problematic according to
GJ

Thanks for the info on plastic cladding. Will investigate further. In my kitchen last year I went for a laminate that matched my worksurfaces instead of tiles from BDS in St Worryburgers, and it looks great imho.

AuntyJean

Thanks for the info.

I rang George Jones Bos and they do seem to be very knowledgable as well as cheap (Basic steel bath from £110 including VAT!).

The Bristan showers are mainly mixer showers. They say Mira is best for electric showers.