Bathroom Refurb

[sally maclennane]

I am hoping to replace my horrible bathroom suite in the next few months. It is 80s tastic, like much of this house, and I hate it with a passion

The actual layout won't change at all so I'm hoping it's pretty straightforward to do. My brother's friend is a plumber and he is coming round tomorrow evening to give me a quote and an idea of timescales. It should involve the following:
- replace whole suite (bath, wc, wash hand basin - there is a shower over the bath as there isn't enough space for separate shower unit)
- remove tiles from all 4 walls and replaster them, new tiles around the bath only
- redo flooring - currently cheap lino
- redo lighting - ceiling may need replastered

Any advice from people who have done this recently? Anything you wished you'd done/not done? And I know it's how long is a piece of string but any idea of costs?

I have some pictures of it to give you an idea of layout but they're not great. Please hold.

[sally maclennane]

These are taken looking from the doorway

[Marth]

Storage. Consider storage

[Mayday]

Wise words Marth! I was just going to say have you thought about storage? We have two massive drawers under our sink and they are so useful. They are u shaped to fit around the pipes.

[Princess Morripov]

I would recommend spending less on the suite and more on the accessories (taps, etc) as that is what would make the difference in terms of quality/look.

I'd definitely look at where you can get some storage (e.g. Built in sink/cupboard) too as that's always useful.

Budget wise I think a lot of it will depend on what you want to do, so if you want to move pipework around to reposition things that could start costing more and whether you'll need to completely replaster/redo electrics etc. I would probably budget about £5kish?

But I think that's massively dependant on what you *want* to budget - you can easily spend a fortune on tiles and flooring if you want to, or don't and save some money. You can get a decent plain white suite really cheap at say Victoria plumb.

I'm assuming you have no other loo so worth knowing whether you can get someone to remove/refit loo in a day whilst the work is going on, or whether you can stay elsewhere whilst it's going on as bathroom renovation is quite destructive to day to day life!

[sally maclennane]

Wise words Marth! I was just going to say have you thought about storage? We have two massive drawers under our sink and they are so useful. They are u shaped to fit around the pipes.

Yes, I was looking at these types of sinks earlier https://www.wholesaledomestic.com/napol ... VqBV-mQzIU

Or maybe this kind of thing, as the WC and basin sit side by side https://www.wholesaledomestic.com/alexa ... VqDPOmQzIU

In fairness though, I don't need a huge amount of storage space as there's only me. J keeps a few toiletries & some shaving stuff here but it doesn't take up much space. Also, behind the door I have a 3 drawer cabinet like this (mine is all white) http://www.marksandspencer.com/country- ... dpredirect

[sally maclennane]

I would recommend spending less on the suite and more on the accessories (taps, etc) as that is what would make the difference in terms of quality/look.

I'd definitely look at where you can get some storage (e.g. Built in sink/cupboard) too as that's always useful.

Budget wise I think a lot of it will depend on what you want to do, so if you want to move pipework around to reposition things that could start costing more and whether you'll need to completely replaster/redo electrics etc. I would probably budget about £5kish?

But I think that's massively dependant on what you *want* to budget - you can easily spend a fortune on tiles and flooring if you want to, or don't and save some money. You can get a decent plain white suite really cheap at say Victoria plumb.

I'm assuming you have no other loo so worth knowing whether you can get someone to remove/refit loo in a day whilst the work is going on, or whether you can stay elsewhere whilst it's going on as bathroom renovation is quite destructive to day to day life!

I will stay at J's probably, but I am hoping it won't take too long anyway.

Re pipework, nothing is going to be moved, the layout is fine so hopefully that keeps costs down.

[Loralei]

We have a similar set up to the second basin link you posted. It provides a very useful shelf (storage!) but can be a pain to get to the cistern for repairs. Our wall is damaged from the plumber pulling the shelf out, but your layout may be easier.

[Derek Nimmo]

Make sure your bath is as flat bottomed as possible if, like me, you prefer showers. If that's the case and seeing as you don't have room for a p bath with the current set up, could you move the shower and taps to be on the middle of the wall on the right so that you have more elbow room in there?

[Livilla]

I would recommend spending less on the suite and more on the accessories (taps, etc) as that is what would make the difference in terms of quality/look.

We spent about £5-6k when we did up our bathroom at our old house, and did as Morripov recommends, most things were bought as cheaply as possible (floor tiles, pedestal sink/loo etc) or sourced on eBay for less than than they were in the stores wanted (light fittings/mirrored cabinet) and then we spent the most money on the taps and the tiles, which were just around the bath and shower above it, then a small splash back above the sink. Mr L thought I was nuts for what we spent on the tiles, but they really made the difference in the room. I definitely had an eye on the impression they gave for resale value, though, we could have spent quite a bit less without them. We also had to replace the windows, as an added cost, and put in underfloor heating for fun (it was good, though, and cheap to run).

[bramblerose]

I would definitely recommend not having tiles but having those waterproof board things *technical* round the bath/shower.

bathroom.jpg

I like the toilet/sink combination and would also recommend that type of thing. Keeps the loo rolls out of sight

Also, use eBay for taps and light fittings. You can get really good quality for much less than you pay in the shops.

[Texaco Shirley]

We've tended to go for coloured glass instead of tiles wherever possible to minimise the amount of grout.

[dizzyd]

We've just had our bathroom and toilet refurbished and it cost around 5k but Mr D did have his heart set on a shower steam cabinet thingy that was nearly £800

The tiles we bought from Topps Tiles and everyone comments on them

We also got a sink unit with a cupboard and a drawer and I love it

We kept the same bath and toilet and towel rail

And got new flooring a new shower unit full tiles in both bathroom and toilet and a new sink unit.

It took about 3 weeks due to problems left over from the previous owner and we had to go to Tesco to use the loo during the first few days and it was put back on at night. We were quoted for a weeks work

[Loralei]

could you move the shower and taps to be on the middle of the wall on the right so that you have more elbow room in there?

Also a pain if you need to access them though :spoilsport:.

[Mayday]

I would definitely recommend not having tiles but having those waterproof board things *technical* round the bath/shower.

We have these panels in our bathroom too and they are really good. They might be worth a look as an alternative to tiles as they are quite reasonably priced too.

[Derek Nimmo]

could you move the shower and taps to be on the middle of the wall on the right so that you have more elbow room in there?

Also a pain if you need to access them though :spoilsport:.

I vaguely looked into this when I bought this place (before I decided I couldn't be arsed to mess around with the relatively new set up and actually it's quite a wide bath so I don't feel hard done by) and you can get some kind of quick release tap mechanism that allows easy access. Obviously, something to ask the plumber about rather than rely on my internet weirdo say so

[sally maclennane]

Hmm, I really like the idea of no grout but I also think tiles can make a big difference, and agree with Liv that they are worth spending money on (see also taps, as many of you have said).

Thank you all, it's really helpful.

[Glint]

We have wet walls rather than tiles. I would also check if you can easily access the underside of the toilet seat if you need to replace it for any reason. I would also buy a toilet that has a standard shaped seat rather than a stylised one.

[bramblerose]

Hmm, I really like the idea of no grout but I also think tiles can make a big difference, and agree with Liv that they are worth spending money on (see also taps, as many of you have said).

Thank you all, it's really helpful.

I meant to say, I have tiles on the other walls, about 2/3rds of the way up. They don't get mouldy as they aren't constantly in contact with the water. I originally told the builder I wanted tiles everywhere and he talked me round to the boards and I am so glad he did.

New bathroom though

[baargain]

I am going to replace my tiles with those boards. But my bathroom is a cupboard without windows.