Bath & shower positioning

danrv

Hi
I’m renovating my bathroom and just considering the orientation of the bath and shower before doing subfloor and plastering.
The current bath is going but will keep the shower.
It would be easier to keep as is so can lay the subfloor around the pipework and just fill in over the electric shower cable in the wall.
The electric shower is piped into the mains water feed as shown (long pipe under bath).
The window is at the taps end.

Could install the new bath the other way round so taps and shower are at same end.
I don’t mind it as it is but not sure if there’s a ‘usual’ way.
Any help appreciated.

FreeBear

The location of the waste pipe will dictate which way round the bath goes to a certain extent. The hot/cold water pipes can easily be adjusted to suit.

Are you going to chase the cold water pipe for the shower in to the wall ?

If so, do sleeve it in plastic conduit (20mm is the perfect size for 15mm copper). Fit a single socket back box in the wall behind the shower unit at the top of the conduit. This gives you space to use compression fittings on the feed pipe and you could even bring the cable down in to the same box. A back box at the bottom, and you have somewhere to put an isolation valve (use a full bore one).

Plaster and cement will corrode copper tubing, so running it in conduit will protect it from the plaster/cement.

Running the mains cable in conduit will make life a lot easier should the cable ever need replacing or upgrading - Use 25mm conduit for that, and you'll have plenty of room for a beefier cable.

danrv

FreeBear said:

Are you going to chase the cold water pipe for the shower in to the wall ?

Thanks for the reply.
It’s already chased into the wall and there’s an isolation tap in the pipeline.
The mains power is also chased in but not in conduit.
That’s really why I’m thinking of leaving the bath and shower as they are. No need to chase in a new copper pipe then.

FreeBear

danrv said: It’s already chased into the wall and there’s an isolation tap in the pipeline.

Yes, I see that from your photo - A !!!!!! bit of work that could do with being a bit neater. Ditto for the cabling. Personally, I dislike seeing cables just buried in plaster without conduit. It causes problems should it ever need replacing.

EssexExile

Will the new bath have a flat area to stand at the shower end? Personally I'd turn it round.

JGB1955

We turned our bath around so the shower, taps and plug hole were all at the same end. It means a long drain pipe going back the whole length of the bath but hasn't caused any problems , 12 years on.

danrv

EssexExile said:

Will the new bath have a flat area to stand at the shower end? Personally I'd turn it round.

Thanks.
Haven’t thought about a flat area or whether it’s needed.
Will have a look at some options although a standard 170cm long bath won’t fit. 
Have seen one at a local B&Q that’s just over 167cm.
Yes, easier to switch bath round than move shower but need to consider the drain as mentioned earlier.

Elmer_BeFuddled

FreeBear said:

Are you going to chase the cold water pipe for the shower in to the wall ?

Or, while at this stage, why not replace existing copper (sunken) pipework with plastic plumbing pipe from the stopcock to the shower connection (it's already white/save painting exposed bits)?

Ajmason42

Most baths have the standing area at the tap end. our old house had it your way round until we changed the bath suite  have to say hated it  I would set it up the right way round if you can move shower to the tap end all depends on the placement of the other fitting we also went for a square p shower bath was much better  if you can afford it if you are doing all that work I would change the shower to a new unit as well 

danrv

Ajmason42 said:

Most baths have the standing area at the tap end. our old house had it your way round until we changed the bath suite  have to say hated it  I would set it up the right way round if you can move shower to the tap end all depends on the placement of the other fitting we also went for a square p shower bath was much better  if you can afford it if you are doing all that work I would change the shower to a new unit as well 

So there is a right way round. 
Maybe time to get a bathroom pro in if changing the orientation. Power and plumbing will need to shift if moving the shower.
Obviously the quicker the work’s done, the better.

pelirocco

You don't have to have taps at the end .We have a bath that fills from the over flow and a control panel away from the shower where we can select bath ,rainfall shower or the shower head on movable  bar