Redoing the bathroom, what should I know?

Ciwan

Hello everyone

We want to re-do our bathroom (tiny bathroom). We would like to tile all the way to the ceiling, take everything out (bath, toilet, sink) and put new things in (shower, toilet and vanity unit sink).

Everthing in our current bathroom is old and the tiles don't go all way to the cieling at the moment, so when showering water gets onto the paint, it gets wet and comes off.

We live in West Yorkshire. We've been to Easy Bathrooms and Atlas Bathrooms. We found them to be very expensive, even though the material is nothing special. I'm talking specifically about the vanity units and the storage units. They are MDF style boards with a thin vineer to give the wood effect! It makes me wonder why a vanity unit (among the cheap ones we found there) is £350!

We're looking for advice and recommendations. I've already had a bathroom fitter come around for a quote. He took the measurements and the price he gave me was £1300, which sounds reasonable to me. I'm going to get a couple of more people in to give me quotes.

Have you recently had a bathroom re-modelled? How did it go? Was it smooth? Were you happy with the result? What things do you wish you knew? Where did you buy your "bathroom stuff" from?

Some "designer" mixer taps are like £350, yet on Screwfix, I see a brass mixer tap that has 10 years guarantee and is only £40! And it looks good too!

We are not looking for "designer" stuff, just functional, good quality fittings. I see a lot of stuff on eBay that is way cheaper than Easy Bathrooms, but I don't know how good their stuff is. Has anyone had any experience?

JohnB47

Just a couple of points from me. We went for large tiles. They are about 12" by 24" and we are very happy with them. This keeps the area of grout small and therefore easier to keep clean and regrout if needed (we haven't had to up to now). Also, if you are having the toilet cistern built into a cubboard unit, make sure the fitter attaches a support bracket onto the pipe running from the bottom of the cistern to the rear of the toilet pan. This is designed to stop that pipe working loose. We found out that our fitter didn't fit one about two years after the job was done - it caused a gradual leak which soaked all the woodwork under the toilet pan and eventually created a large stain on the ceiling below. A real nuisance. Lastly, get one of those little wet vacuums - we have a Kaercher. They're great for keeping the shower screen and bath clean and dry.

ka7e

Ikea have a good choice of vanity units, sinks and free-standing/wall cupboards. Many are specifically designed for small bathrooms or en suites.

gamston

did my 2 bathrooms last year, got bath & shower unit from bathshop123 is ok
tiles from B&Q 12"x8" look right and good price (remember tiles will be up a long time so need to be right
used kitchen units and top for cardboards (fill all of one side so looks ok) spray painted the doors so colour matches tiles
toilet from B&Q cheap one but its good (watch out for shaped toilets as you need shaped seat)
I always worry "what if" so have pipework/cables in places that i can access from outside of bathroom (don't have to pull tiles off wall to access pipewrk/cable, just take off plasterboard on outside wall.
lined shower area with Mapei shower waterproofing
have a spare box of tiles in case you want to change things in the future
put the pipework/cables in ( pipework/cables have isolations fitted in easy access loctaions just ic case)
tiled and painted ceil/doors etc
hardboard and lino fitted
fitted shower toilet units radiator
I know you say you are getting someone in, this gives you idea and thoughts on questions to ask

Jeepers_Creepers

Ciwan said:

We're looking for advice and recommendations. I've already had a bathroom fitter come around for a quote. He took the measurements and the price he gave me was £1300, which sounds reasonable to me. I'm going to get a couple of more people in to give me quotes.

Some "designer" mixer taps are like £350, yet on Screwfix, I see a brass mixer tap that has 10 years guarantee and is only £40! And it looks good too!

We are not looking for "designer" stuff, just functional, good quality fittings. I see a lot of stuff on eBay that is way cheaper than Easy Bathrooms, but I don't know how good their stuff is. Has anyone had any experience?

£1300 for what? That cannot surely be the complete refit?!

Yes, a lot of designer stuff is overpriced, and not necessarily that much better in quality; when it comes to the 'working parts' inside - ceramic cartridges, etc - they are very often from the same independent supplier and are not specifically the tap's actual 'brand' (how many tap manufacturers make their own cartridges? I dunno, but I suspect few if any.) From my experience, more established tap makes, tho', will tend to have better moving parts inside them - the levers, springs, etc.

Screwfix, amongst others, do a good range of taps, and they'd be reluctant to stock 'duds'. That tap you linked to does, however, have a number of poor reviews with a common theme - some taps stiffen up in use and can then drip. I suspect this might be down to something like use in very hard water areas, but that's no excuse - a tap should cope. 

I did once fit a cheap eBay designer tap in my own loo, and the insides broke up (soft water area...) after around 6 months - that was due to poor quality plastic moving parts. Since then I have stuck with quarter-turn taps as the cartridges in these are reliable and easy to replace after a few years when they do inevitably wear out - lots of nice styles available there too. 

Basically, if you go for 'quarter-turn' handles, you can risk going cheaper. If you want fancy waterfall/designer, you may need to look for established brands with solid guarantees. That is a generalisation, of course, not a hard rule.

Pottery - as long as they contain standard internal parts, then the ceramic bits are generally as good as they look - these bits don't tend to 'fail', so if it looks good it should be fine. Ultimately you'd also want the internal bits to be easily replaceable with off-the-shelf items, and not have to source a weird fitment each time. 

bob_a_builder

Do you currently have 2 taps in your basin,  and don't have a combi boiler -  thinking of going to a mixer tap ?
Mixer taps have 2 very small pipes, compared to the 1/2" pipes going to each of your current taps, which can result is a very reduced flow with the mixer
I specifically looked for a mixer tap which claimed worked at a very low pressure ( since we are gravity fed) and even then the flow was very poor

Heated towel rails don't really replace a radiator ( unless you get a combined radiator / towel rail version )

elsien

I have two free standing cupboards from B&M, having checked out the John Lewis ones and realising that the huge price difference didn't appear to equate to an equally huge difference in quality. 

Jack_Cork

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Ciwan said:

We're looking for advice and recommendations. I've already had a bathroom fitter come around for a quote. He took the measurements and the price he gave me was £1300, which sounds reasonable to me. I'm going to get a couple of more people in to give me quotes.

Some "designer" mixer taps are like £350, yet on Screwfix, I see a brass mixer tap that has 10 years guarantee and is only £40! And it looks good too!

We are not looking for "designer" stuff, just functional, good quality fittings. I see a lot of stuff on eBay that is way cheaper than Easy Bathrooms, but I don't know how good their stuff is. Has anyone had any experience?

£1300 for what? That cannot surely be the complete refit?!

I know someone who could do it cheaper, but unfortunately they are busy for the next 6 years 

kdotdotdotdot

Had a plumber round recently to replace bathroom sink taps. We chatted about remodelling and he said it's best to invest money in the hardware, not the sanitary ware. His point being that the stuff that moves is more likely to break than something like a sink or bath tub, so needs to be decent quality.  

JohnB47

kdotdotdotdot said:

Had a plumber round recently to replace bathroom sink taps. We chatted about remodelling and he said it's best to invest money in the hardware, not the sanitary ware. His point being that the stuff that moves is more likely to break than something like a sink or bath tub, so needs to be decent quality.  

I would second that. We had Hansgrowe taps and shower mixer fitted. Pricey but they have lasted (over 6 years) with no problems - touch wood.

WaywardDriver

One piece of advice from experience, make sure replacement components readily available for fittings - taps, shower mixers, shower doors - otherwise may have to replace entire fitting - your fitter should be able to advise.