To ask what bathroom mistakes you have made

[Egoanono]

Doing up the bathroom at the mo, ripping it out and starting from scratch. Mid range budget but want a high end finish. I'd love to learn from your mistakes (and successes! please.

[Salmiak]

Insist on using anti mould grout, anti mould rubber stuff that goes round edge of bath, etc - it's only a tiny bit more expensive but will save a fortune in mould and mildew spray cleaners.

[DrDreReturns]

The white towel rails give out way more heat than the chrome ones, and are also easier to clean.

[worldsworstchildren]

I echo atticusclaw2 words..... check progress every day. In our bathroom some of the tiles facing us as we walk in the door are 'bowed'....ie they stick out further than the tile below/either side.

[Aki23]

Bookmarking as we are having ours done in January. I would say get someone in who is recommended. Ours has done most of the local streets including his parents who live a street over.

[AcrossthePond55]

Inadequate ventilation!! Get the biggest, most powerful vent fan you possibly can. And have a window that opens! (Bought old farmhouse with unventilated master bathroom with no opening windows)

[BowieFan]

Cheap sinks and toilets and baths are fine, but don't skimp on toilet seats or taps. DP was in pain for a week when the original toilet seat cracked and trapped an... erm... part... in it.

Cheap taps will eventually become impossible to operate. We have ones with nice big handles on now so I can do them with my arm if I've got stuff on my hands.

[blueturtle6]

Remember to leave space to put laundry basket.
For those with glass shelf and electric toothbrush issues, I use a shallow dish that some hand soap and hand cream came in.

[buckyou]

Make sure you buy tiles from the same batch. We had white tiles and then got some more of the same type but they were a different batch so a different colour!

[SisterHelenoftheEternalCatchUp]

Don't install the bath below (on barely above) the outlet pipe.... it will take forever to drain and drive you mad.

[ANewStartOverseas]

Tile as much of the walls as you can. Much easier for cleaning AND it looks nicer.
Invest in a good ventialtion system. We have one that start automatically when the air is too damp. No more mould etc... even though all the clothes are dried in the bathroom over winter.

YY about a heated towel rail and waterproofing the plasterboard behind the tiles in the shower.

[QueenLaBeefah]

I know they are out of fashion now but avoid mosaic tiles like the plague. They are a nightmare to keep clean.

[Cellardoor23]

Salmaik I did the same. I have anti mould stuff around the bath and shower as well. Still managed to get mould in the corner. Worked great everywhere else though!

Realised it was because there was a dip so the water was accumulating in it. Fixed it now. So yeah, make sure it's completely flat when you do it with no dips!

[WhereYouLeftIt]

Don't put a niche in your shower! Yes it's very handy for the shampoo bottles, but it fills with water and needs to be squeegee-ed dry every time you shower, otherwise the grout starts going orange. There must be a way to do it, slightly angle the floor to drain I suppose, but however it's done, we didn't do it.

If it's a standalone shower rather than a shower over the bath, don't just have a fixed shower head have one that has a hose between controls and head support that you can lift off and use to clean the tray etc. I end up using a watering can! to rinse the shower tray/tiles when I clean, as using the fixed shower itself wets everything not just the bit I'm cleaning.

[DrDreReturns]

We went for an electric shower as opposed to one fed from the boiler - because if the boiler packed in I still wanted to be able to have a shower!

[dancerdog]

Do not, repeat do not install an MDF tongue and groove bath panel. Just the look I wanted, and then swelled up and cracked within a short time due to bath and shower splashes. Yes, I know it was MDF, but reasoned that why would anyone manufacture a bath panel without making it waterproof...?
Current plumber is going to make me a new one made out of floor -to - ceiling upvc wall sheeting.

SisterHelen- that may be why our bath empties so slowly - will check with plumber!

[Jupiter2Mars]

Make sure that there is access to the hidden part of the tap fittings without breaking tiles, mirrors etc so that leaks and replacement washers can be repaired easily.

[SansasEscape]

10/10 thread. Came looking for poo, stayed for the handy advice. Good show!

[ElspethFlashman]

Oh just thought of another one (whilst going to the loo and looking around, lol).

If your walls are tiled, don't drill into them to hang toilet roll holder/towel ring etc. Buy twist and lock suction ones. If you twist them well they're just as sturdy and no matter how careful you are, drilling will crack one tile somewhere.

[FurryLittleTwerp]

Don't get a walk-in shower with a wooden duck-board to step out onto. Ours very quickly became damp & revolting underneath, with stuck-on hair & black stuff. I have to scrub it in the bath every so often - just horrible. It looks great, but never again!

[atticusclaw2]

Or buy free standing toilet roll holders so that you don't have to drill into the tiles at all.

[growingbytheday]

We did our bathroom last year but I was worried about re-tiling the floor because of slips with our little grand daughter and my big self. It is all white and chrome which looks good in a smallish bathroom so I went for a non slip heavy duty vinyl in white, sorted you would think? NO!! It was beautiful until you stepped on it. A week of showers and it looked like a dirty protest, I could not clean it with anything! It laughed at bleach, jif cream cleanser, flash, I tried scrubbing it and simply removed fibres from the surface so when it dried it was still dirty but had an interesting case of alopecia. We now have black rhino floor.

[Egoanono]

Love love love, these are the best help ever!

[Redkite10a]

Seriously consider an electric towel rail - that way your towels will dry when your heating is off. Make sure it is big enough to hold all the towels you need to.

If you get a flat bottomed sink, be prepared for the extra cleaning - because water won't drain away they accumulate dirt and limescale very quickly.

[atticusclaw2]

Our towel rails are connected both the the heating and the electric, its the best of both worlds.