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.

Any bathroom needs Glitter Grout

yy to dark grey grouting
I thought white looked "cleaner". it did for about three weeks, but not since then.

Oh, if your bathroom is ensuite, put a heated radiator far away from your bed. When I was next to the en suite bathroom and it was on, I baked!

6 months after our new power shower Was fitted the electrics seized up.

DH called the plumber, who advised that the unit must have rusted as it wasn't waterproof

You might feel a tit asking if your shower is waterproof, but trust me it's worth checking

Definitely grey grouting!

Definitely get have a separate hand held shower hose to wash hair, we had one added over bath, duck boards are crap, ok if you have an outdoor shower but inside they are awful, don't get a plastic bath, heated towel rails are brilliant, and good ventilation is a must.

Mistakes:

• Tiles arrived while we were out at work and tilers got straight on with the job. We then realised the tile company had sent the wrong ones - after the tricky tiling job was half complete.

So, make sure you check all products are correct before installation. Or at least give the details to your builders so they can check.

• We chose different tiles for wall and floor. They don't really go together brilliantly (they did in the showroom but not at home). With hindsight we should have gone for the same tile all over.

• Click clack waste on bath. When DD sits on it she lets out all the water by accident.

Successes:

• Tiled wall niche for shampoo etc. We have put ours above where the shower spray hits the wall, so it doesn't fill with water.
• Wall hung loo and sink - floor space looks huge
• Lots of built in cupboards. Even titchy or shallow ones are worthwhile in a bathroom. You can even squeeze a tall narrow shallow cupboard (just right for bottles) between the struts of a partition wall
• Great insulation on any external walls, before they were plastered - means we don't need to heat the room nearly as much
• Large tiles, pale grey grout instead of white
• Waterproof board (wediboard I think?) behind tiles
• We chose a sink style with a large surround to avoid needing a separate shelf
• We chose our extractor fan carefully - quiet and powerful - and wired it to come on with the light, but with an override switch for when you want total peace

Oh and another shower one. DH is threatening to put an off switch for the shower outside the bathrooms, to stop the DC using all the hot water.

Oh yes and underfloor heating!

Consider having a shower cubicle treated to dry without streaks. Not sure of the correct technical term but we got ours from The Shower Lab and they coat the glass with a specialist product that means the water just sort of drips off. It's amazing. I am however (ahem) a bit sad in so much I still use a squegee thingy to wipe shower when done or use a karcher window vacuum. Shower always looks brand new. I hate shower glass with water/limescale on..

Make sure your tiler over-orders the tiles, and that you keep the extras stored safely. Then if you need repairs years later, you will be able to replace tiles rather than be forced to completely re-tile.

We have section of Porcelanosa bubble tiles. I love them, as they bring some cheerful fun into a beautiful but austere bathroom.

I also love our towel rail. Don't remember exactly what it is, but it looks like this picture. It's plumbed into hot water, so always heats up when you run a bath or shower, even in summer when the central heating is off. Also, its shape makes it easy for everyone to fit their towel on.

To bring it to the level of the poo trolls - and honestly I have no way of knowing how you could tell this before hand - maybe how far back the loo seat is? But try and avoid a loo like ours -it is impossible to have a poo without it getting skids - now DCs are older not so bad -they can deal with it themselves but when they were little it was permanently (or felt like it at least) skiddy...
Also it has two silly little ledges on the underside of the bowl - not sure what they are there for except collecting dust.
Box in all pipes - but not permanently - make sure you can get access to all pipework -and have isolator valves on all fittings...and you can also check for leaks etc pretty easily ...my old loo had a concealed cistern in the eaves - I knew I have a leak when I walked into a room downstairs and the ceiling was bowed - had to make holes in the ceiling to drain the water before it collapsed...
(another one here with a tongue and groove (real wood) bath panel - discovered the boards had been individually attached to the bath frame - no way of getting behind it to deal with leaks without breaking it up...)

Another one here advising NOT to buy white floor tiles. Shows all sort of hair...head, pubs,even dog hair. Grim.

Question to Blodplod who is clearly queen of the clean shower glass - what is your recommended routine for someone like me who didn't have foresight to get specially coated glass? What's this karcher window vacuum???

Brilliant tips - particularly like the dinner outside idea and will do that (if I ever get around to getting the bathroom done)!

I've seen bathrooms on tv where they use the same tiles in different sizes e.g. Large in the shower and smaller on the walls. Has anyone done this in real life?

Novelty taps might look gorgeous, but try to imagine them when they have been used. My parents got one of those - it does not look good with hard iron rich water deposits and it's a total pain to clean, can't get into the corners with anything
www.tapshop321.com/bathroom-tap-packs/modern-bathroom-tap-packs/marco-farrelli-waterfall-bathroom-tap-range/

Oh and another one - tap on a worktop separate to a sink - this type of idea.
When you wash your hands and turn the tap off with wet hands it drips on the work top - you get a puddle under the tap. I used to keep a cloth under mine to catch the drips ...v. attractive.

Don't do what my landlord did and put a heated towel rail on the wall directly to the side of the toilet at perfect 'naked thigh scalding' height.

Things I've done right

Large, flush shower tray
Double sinks built into a cupboard (builder copied Fired Earth vanity for a pittance), great for storage.
Plain white large tiles, colour comes from T&G that can be painted
Fancy pants heated, back lit mirror with blue tooth for playing music in the bath
Limestone floor, never look mucky

Biggest regrets
Electric UFH, costs a bomb to run. A bigger heated towel rail or radiator would've been better
John Lewis silvery grey towels, have turned an awful green from washing.

Another bid for not putting a cabinet or shelf over the basin.

I've seen a basin where a disinfectant bottle went right through the basin and out onto the floor.

Ok, probably going to sound a complete idiot now, but the omnitub-are you meant to sit, well, on your bum with your legs straight out iyswim?

Ah, forgot about taps. Do NOT go for waterfall taps! Yes they look lovely, but if you're in a hard water area you get limescale really quickly on them. I have ended up cleaning and polishing them daily .

I know the advice is against it but now I really want a niche in my shower. What a fab idea!!

Oh and the bath plug that goes up and down when you turn a knob (forget what it's called) - well that broke after about two years. Can we get a new one we asked plumber? Well yes but that means taking the whole bath out. WTAF????

So we now have a plug we shove in but of course we couldn't get one the right size so it doesn't fit properly. Just have to wedge it in and hope for the best!

Balloonslayer, this type of flat silicone disc is fab if you can't find a proper plug to fit your bath. www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Good-Grips-Sink-Plug/dp/B0039A58HI