Planning ahead for a new bathroom

mahemcd · 19 February 2019 at 2:08PM

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are currently in the process of buying our first house and want to renovate the bathroom before fully moving in to avoid major disruption down the line.

We had envisaged giving ourselves around a fortnight from 'getting the keys' to moving in (and having the bathroom finished) but don't know how realistic this will be.

As we don't have a fixed moving in date (it's just a general 'late April onwards') does anyone have any tips to speed up the process once we have a more firm moving in date? Is there a general rule of thumb how long in advance do we need to book a bathroom fitter? I know we can't expect them to be available with very short notice.

We'd be looking at a fully bathroom suite replacement with the walls re-tiling, new shower, toilet/basin, new power shower etc.

Doozergirl · 19 February 2019 at 2:22PM

I think you're better off waiting until you get the keys.

Unless you are exchanging with a couple of months to completion, you'll be lucky to tie dates up.

The company will be setting specific time aside to do the work and I'm afraid that the housing buying process is notoriously unpredictable. Chains collapse and FTBs, with all due respect, often have unreasonable expectations of a peocess that no-one ultimately has control over.

I steam cleaned the bathroom here when we got the keys. Nothing is that bad if it is clean.

It's also not ideal but you can be left with a toilet temporarily plumbed in overnight if needed, presuming you only have one bathroom.

The house buying process is hard enough as it is without adding false deadlines to it. They are almost always missed. I'm sure you think it's taking some stress away by trying t be organised, but it win't feel that when you're pulling your hair out because something in the chain hasn't pulled together yet.

mahemcd · 19 February 2019 at 2:55PM

Great advice, many thanks. I think you're right, I'll wait until we get the keys before doing anything.

Doozergirl · 19 February 2019 at 2:57PM

It is exciting, but look forward to the house first, then the bathroom

robatwork · 19 February 2019 at 5:03PM

A small bathroom can be installed fully tiled in 5-6 days

Mutton_Geoff · 19 February 2019 at 8:12PM

I'd also live in it for a year before you spend any money as your opinions on what needs doing where will change over that period as you settle in.

It would be a shame to make a major investment then regret it later. We are generally conditioned to want everything done now but patience is a virtue as they say.

phill99 · 19 February 2019 at 8:23PM

robatwork wrote: »

A small bathroom can be installed fully tiled in 5-6 days

Sorry but you are talking rubbish.

I fit bathrooms and kitchens professionally.

Currently on a bathroom fit. 23m2 of porcelain tiles. The tiler will be in for four days, maybe a 5th. We have already had 2 days strip out as the walls were so bad, 1 day of plastering and half a day fitting the new bath. Once the tiler has done, I will have a day on 2nd fix and half a day decorating. So that's 11 days.

If you think you refit a bathroom in 5-6 days, then please tell me how as evidently I am doing in wrong. I have only fitted 66 bathrooms, so just a novice.

Doozergirl · 19 February 2019 at 10:21PM

robatwork wrote: »

A small bathroom can be installed fully tiled in 5-6 days

It takes us at least 10. Tiling a small bathroom alone is usually 4 days.

It's a proper building job. If you want it to last then it has to be treated as such.

mahemcd · 20 February 2019 at 1:17PM

Thank you for all your replies. For the record it is a small bathroom and doesn't need to be replaced by any means, so as suggested we'll live with it for a while before planning it's replacement.

robatwork · 20 February 2019 at 4:36PM

The OP should certainly believe the person who has installed 66 bathrooms. I can only speak for my <2m square bathroom that was fitted in 2012.

Perhaps they had 4 people wedged in there, but it was stripped, underfloor heating installed, bath, WC and basin installed and tiled on floor and all walls in 6 days.

I wasn't living there so can't say how long each part took. The tiles are those big ones, not mosaic or anything complex

MichaelDH · 20 February 2019 at 4:41PM

Can I ask how long you intend to stay in your new home? If it's just for a few years before moving on to somewhere bigger, and the bathroom is perfectly serviceable, perhaps a small makeover might be sufficient? i.e. changing the tiles, new accessories etc.

Bathrooms aren't cheap, there will be a lot of disruption, and I don't think they really add a great deal of value to a property, although they do make the property more appealing to buyers, so this is something to keep in mind.

We have lived with our current bathroom for almost 2.5 years, and although reasonably new when we moved in, it had been very poorly fitted and really not to our taste (think matt black tiles that absorb all the light, a power shower with very little power, plastering that looks like it was done by a small child etc.) so it really does desperately need improving, especially so that it doesn't put off potential buyers in the future.

We are currently having a single storey extension built to make the kitchen bigger, add a utility room and a downstairs loo, which has involved new drainage works and moving the existing soil pipe etc, so this has provided a good opportunity to finally tackle the bathroom.

The main part of our bathroom is 2.3m by 2.3m, and we currently have an adjoining separate toilet that's 0.9m by 1.4m. We are blocking up the door access in to the toilet and removing the wall between the two rooms. The toilet will move along the wall in to the main bathroom area, and where the toilet is currently we are going to install a huge shower.

To give you an idea of the cost, stripping out the old bathroom, taking the walls back to brick, fitting the new bathroom, plumbing and electrical work and tiling the walls and floor (with us supplying tiles) is costing £3500. The tiles we have chosen are costing £1000, the shower, tray and glass panels £1200, and bath, toilet, vanity unit, taps, mirror etc. around £2500. Once new towel rail and other accessories are added we expect the total cost to be around £9000! :eek:

We are fully aware that this is a huge amount of money to spend, and it's very unlikely to increase the property value by that amount, but with the other work we are doing downstairs it just doesn't seem right to skimp on the bathroom.

What ever you decide to do good luck in your new home! :beer:

Planning ahead for a new bathroom

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