Soon selling - install new bathroom or not???

anirishlass

Ok, here's the dilema. Due to a new job abroad, we are putting our house on the market in September. We've been in less than a year and have spent time redecorating and changing things around a bit and generally the place looks great (though I would say that ) However, we have not really touched the bathroom.

House is two-bed terrace, but the bathroom occupies what would normally be second bedroom. So, second bedroom a bit smaller than others in street but bathroom huge, but not looking its best.

So, should we go the whole hog and replace completely to make the most of the space and to give a wow factor, (just had a quote for £5000 to re-do the whole lot including new suite, lighting, tiling, glass wall, heated towel rails and removal of ugly and over large cupboard for emersion heater etc)?

Or, should we just buy new bath panels, do some re-tiling, change doors on dodgy cupboard try to change taps on bath and just "dress" the place really well?

I know which would be the normal MSE path to take, but would that be a false economy?

Thanks for your thoughts....

Jonbvn

The £5k you spend on the bathroom upgrade will not increase the selling price of your property.

Save your money and "dress" the place.

themaccas

We've just had this dilemma and decided to go for it - have our downstairs cloakroom, ensuite and bathroom completely re-done. We have had new toilets, bath, sinks, taps, shower, heated towel rail in ensuite, all new tiling, new flooring (vinyl), painting. The total cost for all this has been £4400 for all 3 rooms. We kept costs down by stripping off all the old tiles ourselves and doing the painting ourselves. I wanted to make sure we would get the money back we spent and I feel sure we will, the other thing is I think it will sell quicker and easier which counts a lot if you want to move on quickly.

Happy_saver_4

Kitchens & bathrooms sells houses .

Whether you need to spend £5k , glass walls etc is very debateable.

Removal of a cupboard, a new white suite and white tiling and rad etc should not come to £5k.

It all really depends on the max value of your property as to how much you should spend. Can you redesign the layout to give 2 beds + bathroom? Spending £5k on the bathroom in a 1 bed terraced house would seem extreme.

pigeonpie

How grot is the existing bathroom? I would not touch it if it is ok as an incoming buyer will do it up to their own taste and you can negotiate the price to take account of having to do up the bathroom. I would only do a 'hit and run' or minor improvements if it would jeopardise the sale as it's seriously horrible!

redkitty_3

Hi, newbie here!
I was selling my place but then decided to rent it out instead. Bought it over a year ago and spent a fair amount doing it all up and it basically was going to sell for over the asking price. My advice is don't spend £5k - I spent about £1500 on my bathroom including everything. I sourced most things from eBay, esp taps, and got the bath from a plumbers merchant for £100. I got a reasonable plumber to fit it all too, but did tiling etc myself. You can do these things fairly cheaply sometimes...hope this helps.

telfordwhite

You could make a small bathroom look lovely for less than a grand.

If you don't need to replace all of the bath, sink, toilet you can do it considerably cheaper. You can get nice white tiles fairly cheaply and decent flooring won't cost much for a small area.

I'd spend about that on it, who knows if you'll get the money back but the wow factor will certainly help to get a buyer.

albacore1854

Where do these builders get their prices from?

fair enough earn a living, but outright daylight robbery!

real1314

What colour is the current suite?

If it's white, just sort out everything else. Leave the suite alone.

Has it got a shower? If not, get one fitted. and a glass bath screen.
Nice new flooring.
New light (nothing too pricey).

How much of it's tiled? New coat of paint on the walls, maybe even paint the tiles if they're not white?

Couple of hundred quid will turn a "must re-do as soon as we move in; take cost off offer" bathroom into a "that'll be ok for a year or 2; we can save up the money to do it".

Doozergirl

£5000? You are having a laugh!

God, don't paint the tiles. You WILL end up buying a new suite if you do that.

If your suite is white you can easily make it over, if not, you can do the whole bathroom, fitted for under £1500. You must buy all of the bits yourself and ask a plumber to fit it for you and a tiler to tile it. Don't go to the length of getting the electrics moved or anything - you're selling.

If it IS white, then you can do it for far, far less than £1500 even. You need to scrub bath, toilet and sink to within an inch of your life. Use scourers.

You can tile over existing tiles. Tile the floor too. Topps Tiles do mosaic for about £13 a square metre and it does look the job. I like the white ones and the aqua blues. It's very hard to find tiles for little money that don't look cheap.n If you are careful and your base is nice and flat, the mosaics are very easy to lay and you can actually do it yourself (I have done it!)

Replace the taps (there's a great company on ebay, that are literally within walking distance of me and they do designer looking tap for a fraction of the cost). Put a metal Ikea blind up on the windows. Buy matching towels and toiletries and hide any toiletries that aren't a designer brand. New light fitting or shade.

Bob's your uncle, new bathroom. Easy.

moneyuser

Doozergirl wrote: »

Replace the taps (there's a great company on ebay, that are literally within walking distance of me and they do designer looking tap for a fraction of the cost).

Can you name the company or PM it please. I'm upgrading my bathroom and trying to find some bargains