Where to start with renovating bathroom (not DIY)?

Wolff

This is something I've put off for a couple of years since moving. But I really need to get the ball rolling on renovating my bathroom. Including ripping out the existing toilet, sink, bath/shower and replacing them, tiling the walls, floor. I also currently have low water pressure to the shower which I need rectified in the new one, even if this involves messing around with/replacing the water tank or boiler.

However I don't know where to start. I've saved lots of pictures off pinterest, so I know the sort of styles I'm looking for. But where do I go from here?

I'm thinking I should pick out all the appliances, tiles, and design it myself and then before buying maybe ask a plumber/bathroom fitter's advice and then pay them to fit it for me once it's delivered... Is that the standard way to do it? I'm aware it's not recommended to go with the big warehouses and get them to fit as they will just hire some random fitter who may not be decent (my friend experienced this problem with her kitchen from B&Q).

Just looking for insight and experiences on this sort of thing as I'm completely new to it all, and seems daunting, hence why I've put it off.

MatyMoo

I used a local plumber who specialises in new bathrooms, he came & talked through what I wanted and then did a drawing & estimate. 

ryan7

If you have low water pressure  and you would like a mixer shower then you should upgrade the boiler first.

An Electric Shower heats water within the unit itself from your cold water supply (similar to how a kettle works), therefore you'd not need a new boiler for that persae.

There are lots of SME firms out there with a strong social media presence so check out their work. Dookits, ane LEDS seem to be the trend at the moment but I'm sure if you contact them direct they will be able to give you what you desire. 

Ant555

First question - is it your only loo/bathroom or do you have another in the house?

If you have a second loo and washing facilities then that makes it so much easier.

We are looking at a refurb but we only have one bathroom so are having to plan carefully around the suggested 8-10 days that  all the fitters we got out have quoted.

We have done three things - 1) the plumbing and heating people we use for the boiler and radiators also fit bathrooms and have quoted.  2) visited a bathroom warehouse type shop and selected some items and asked them for a list of fitters they work with, spoke to two of them (independent tradesmen) and got quotes.  3) visited a bathroom showroom and got their own fitter to come and size up the job.  
Quotes are not a million miles apart - the difficult bit now is trying to get a date when anyone is free this side of Christmas!

Rosa_Damascena

Ant555 said:

We are looking at a refurb but we only have one bathroom so are having to plan carefully around the suggested 8-10 days that  all the fitters we got out have quoted.

I had my bathroom gutted and rebuilt from scratch and a new one built in during lockdown last year. That left me with a rather crummy downstairs toilet which I never used previously (thankfully now ripped out). I resigned myself to camping downstairs for a month and in the absence of any prospect of using a gym made a daily trip to my parents' home to ablute before they woke up (they left their downstairs facilities to me) which meant I could start work at 8am as usual. God was on my side and I am happy to say that I have 2 lovely bathrooms now!

Having more work done this year and prices are just nuts.

Eta: I started with what I needed, the position of the soil stack and then worked it from there. With limited space there was only X amount I could do, so planning both was a relatively straightforward task. The hardest thing was deciding on the tiles and then trying to source a supply when everything was on a go-slow!

NSG666

The worst thing is to get someone to have a look without having any idea what you want e.g. back to the wall wc with concealed cistern, wall hung. close coupled, shower valve type exposed / concealed, bar / concentric. Tile size - small Metros, 1200x1200 porcelain or anything in between.

Visit some specialist bathroom places to see what's available and what's 'on trend' with a rough sketch with dimensions and they might give you some idea. Get recommendations for installers (by someone who's had them do work rather that someone who has a mate that know someone who once changed a ball valve) andlocal FB groups can be great for this esp if the same same name gets multiple mentions.

Once you've come up with your dream scenario speak with an installer who might bring you down to earth with a bump as the showrooms don't know your joists are running the wrong way or your walls are too thin to mount a recessed shower but they might also throw some extra ideas into the mix.

At this point they should be able to advise on the shower flow / pressure and ways to improve e.g. high kW electric, pumped, swap to combi or an unvented cylinder although a bathroom only installer might not know the best option and could recommend what he can fit rather than what is best. None of those were recommendations by the way just in case anyone was going to get on their high horse.

MaryNB

I bought the tiles (+10% for wastage), toilet, shower door, vinyl floor etc. I asked the tilers to provide anything like adhesive and grout. Although they didn't note down the grout colour I specified and bought white without asking. Thankfully I checked with them just before they were due to start grouting and they were able to change it. When you get fitters in keep an eye on what they are doing and make sure they are all on the same page. I was dealing with 4 different people from the same local company who didn't all get the same message. They were also going to leave waste behind until I reminded them they quoted for waste removal. There was an issue with the amount of tiling to be done as well. 

Check the location of the soil pipe. In my bathroom it's far away from the wall so a modern standard close coupled toilet would be sitting a few inches away from the wall. I got a separate cistern boxed in. 

Don't book anything in until you have everything delivered. Some stuff I've ordered for the house is taking ages to arrive.
I don't know what your area is like but I had to contact about 14 fitters just to get 2 quotes so ring as many as you can up front. Don't do what I did, call 4, see what happened, call more when they don't respond. Took ages. 

Ant555 said:

First question - is it your only loo/bathroom or do you have another in the house?

If you have a second loo and washing facilities then that makes it so much easier.

We are looking at a refurb but we only have one bathroom so are having to plan carefully around the suggested 8-10 days that  all the fitters we got out have quoted.

I only have one toilet. The fitter said they'd temporarily put it back in at the end of each day but forgot once. Thankfully I have a friend living nearby but it was still a significant inconvenience.  

Rosa_Damascena

MaryNB said:

I only have one toilet. The fitter said they'd temporarily put it back in at the end of each day but forgot once. Thankfully I have a friend living nearby but it was still a significant inconvenience.  

That is awful and the mark of an amateur. You should be naming and shaming them locally.