Bathroom tiles and shower fitting

grey_lady

Apologies if these are silly questions,

i want to get an electric shower installed above my bath, (currently dont have a shower) by firstly resealing the bath, adding some additional tiles and then getting a plumber to actually fit it. The question is should i fit the tiles before getting the shower fitted? or do the tiles go around it afterwards?

My second question is would ordering a 9.5k (Triton shower from
Screwfix) be ok being as the wiring would all have to be installed from scratch so there wouldnt be any limit or would there as to what wattage shower i could order?

I plan to get a electrictian in to wire it all up once its been fitted.
Now im confusing myself, does the wiring even happen after the shower is fitted or before??????

Many thanks.

knightstyle

Hi, Yes a 9.5kw is about right, any less and you would only get a trickle of hot water.
Can you put the shower on a wall where you can get to the other side of the wall an airing cupboard for example? If so then you can tile first and get the electrician and plumber to run the cable and water pipe up and through the wall. This gives a neat job.
If not try to get the tradesmen to run the cable and waterpipe in the wall, then tile, then fit the shower. Of course you will need to get the shower before they can run the cable and pipe.
Don't forget the bonding as required by the regs.
It is a good idea to have an isolating valve fitted in the airing cupboard or somewhere to switch the water off to just the shower.

grey_lady

Thanks Knightstyle - i hadnt thought about bonding but
my flat is only 8 years old, is that new enough so that
it would be bonded anyway?

wishiwasarichgirl

I did this recently, my wall was already tiled halfway up and thought about tiling up to the height of the shower, but everyone wanted silly prices so i didn't bother - hasn't caused any probs.

I got a tradesman who could do plumbing AND electrics, otherwise it meant paying 2 lots of labour - very expensive. It did take a lot of phoning around to find someone willing to do both.

If the wiring all has to be installed from scratch then it won't matter what shower you order - they will use the appropriate wire. A higher wattage shower needs a thicker & more expensive wire, and might require a bigger fuse (I had to have a new fuse but might be cos my fuse box is old as the hills)

Worth getting a couple of people around for a free quote, they can usually advise you of the order to do thing as well.

Jem8472

we had our shower put in recently.
I tiled around the bath. I just left a row at the top for the electrician to run some trunking. As we live in a flat with someone above us we could not really run the cable in the ceiling. The water pipe just comes out of the side of the bath panel and up to the shower.

Once all the electrics were done I just finished off the tiles at the top and got my gfs bro to seal it all.

grey_lady

Many thanks for all the replies, im going to order the shower to arrive on Monday and then get the electrician/plumber to take a look, think i will leave the tiles until they've seen it.

knightstyle

Hi again, Your rewire should have included the bonding and you should have a certificate to tell you and other electricians that the work complies with the IEE regs.
Make sure the new work comes with a certificate.
Just thought, if the plumber wants to run the pipe on the surface to the shower ask how much extra to have a chrome pipe and fittings. This is much better than a copper one which will tarnish.

grey_lady

HI Knightstyle,

Did you mean me? i havent had a rewire - the flat itself is only 8 years old,
quite suprised it was built without a shower in the first place! but thats what i meant by 'would the wiring not be new enough to have all the bonding done to current regs'.

All of the paperwork about the flat is still with the solicitors, it is still under the new home guarentee but im not sure if theres anything seperate for the electrics. Will ask the electrician i get in about getting a certificate for the shower.

Thanks for the tip about the chrome pipe, the bathroom backs onto the living room, dont really want the pipes coming through there :-) but it is plasterboard so he might be able to run it up through there.

Many thanks!

knightstyle

Hi again, If the flat is only 8 years old you, not your solicitor, should have been given the electrical certificates by the builder. It is not too late to go to them and demand them now. This is a legal requirement for them to supply them. If they refuse get them to pay for a full electrical inspection.
If you want to look yourself you can check the bonding:
Mains bonding - green/yellow cables from gas and water pipes where they enter the property to the earth terminal near fusebox.
Supplementary bonding- smaller green/yellow cables to join kitchen sink and other touchable metal in wet areas together and to earth terminal.