To lock my bathroom during renovations in the flat

[Hocuspoc]

The flat has just one bathroom/toilet which has just been refurbished. Considering this is in London, the price of the renovation was extortionate.

Now we have painters and decorators coming in to paint the walls, skirting boards etc.
I really don't want them to use the bath or sink for keeping the tools and washing up.
It still bothers me how much the bathroom renovation has set us back and if someone was now to scratch the bathtub or break a tile I think I'd have a mental breakdown.
I want them to use the kitchen sink instead, or to set up some buckets on the kitchen floor - whatever they can come up with - just to stay away from the bloody bathroom.
I am tempted to lock the bathroom to prevent any damage or soiling.

And I feel this is horrible - it is as if I don't want them to use the loo or something (and it is not about that at all).
But then, the guys who did the bathroom had nowhere to go for 10 days while renovating it - so this is not an impossible set up.

I feel I am being unreasonable but honestly with the prices the contractors are charging at the moment I could not care less - they can certainly afford a quick coffee in a nearby cafe and use the loo there.
Thoughts.

Just make it abundantly clear that they may use the toilet but for cleaning materials, they have to use the kitchen.

They are human beings, just ask them. Say "please use the kitchen sink to wash brushes" if you have an outside tap they'll probably use that! You can't lock the bathroom!

If I were you, I'd tell them that I had paid an absolute fortune to have the bathroom done, and that they were welcome to use it but that they had to be extra careful. No tools allowed. I would tell them this individually. I would remind them that if anything was damaged or scratched, that you would loose the plot.

My partner is a painter and decorator and I wouldn't want him to be treated like that. What would you expect them to do pee in the sink? If they are good reputable painters then they would leave the house in a good clean condition. My partner washes his paint brushes at home, we've actually got a hot tap fitted in the shed for him to do it. He takes plenty of equipment with him so he doesn't need to use the customers sink.

Where are they supposed to use the camping loo?!

Just close the door, tell them they're welcome to use the loo but don't want any tools or tidy up done in the bathroom.

Tell the boss/head guy that, that's what you want and that if they damage the bathroom in any way you will deduct the cost of repairing it from the balancing payment because it's only just finished so you want all tools kept out of it.

It's hardly unreasonable to say you can't take tools in the loo.

Or as others have said, get a portaloo and lock the bathroom

I was joking!

You can’t leave them without a loo. That is very unkind. Just ask them to wash their brushes etc in the kitchen or utility room? I have found if you treat builders nicely they will respect your house more.

I would say be careful how you treat your workmen. Skilled painters and decorators, carpenters,etc etc are very hard to come by now. There's plenty of work out there, and they might decide not to do yours if you are unreasonable. We have had loads of work done on our house, and they have always been lovely, friendly, reasonable people.

I was joking, but I have found that on the whole builders don't like to upset the woman of the house, and will take note if you say clearly that a particular area is important to you so please keep anything messy well away from it. Anyway, I doubt that they would think of using the bathroom for cleaning brushes and so on if a kitchen sink is available, or better still an outside tap.

God this brings back awful memories of me telling our builders not to use the master suite while they did their stuff. I would come home regularly to poo stains in both toilets, and I don’t know what in DCs’ bathtub. I would now rather move house than undergo renovations.

Yep, some people are just disrespectful!

Yes, I had my bathroom refurbished five years ago and the existing toilet was just pulled away from the wall with a flexible waste pipe connected, so I had access to the toilet at all times. You are not usually left with no toilet at all.

That reminds me of when a handyman friend of mine came round to paint some external cladding.

A few years previous to this I had had mice in the kitchen which seemed to have come in via the open back door. I told him quite clearly to close the back door behind him and not to leave it open. I got home later on in the day only to find him walking down the stairs (think he had gone upstairs to use the loo) with the back door wide open. I asked him why he had left it open and he said it was ok because he was only gone for a few minutes. Like the mice have an accurate concept of time and would only come in once the door had been open for at least ten minutes.......

I had a 4 month renovation of my flat last year with fitting of adapted kitchen and wetroom. The tradies were all absolutely lovely and went above the spec for me( still within budget as they used their discounts)
I kept them all supplied with constant teas coffees etc and let them piss in my brand new toilet!
Honestly, I think you need to relax and go with the flow, and think of the end result
Tradesman are not Neanderthals!
They have partners and families too
Fill the bath with bedding or even bin bags to act as a visual reminder.

'For those saying how I think workmen are lowlife or whatever - no, most workmen I had in my house were lovely people and got along great.'

'I am not in while they are painting.
I also don't trust them respecting my wishes not to use the bathroom for storing tools or washing them. They will just do what they want and hope I don't notice.
This was my experience 5 out of 5 times.'

Lol pick a side OP

To be fair to OP, I've had about 6 different contractors come in over the last year, all nice people but 5 did at least some inexplicable damage in the process or made weird decisions that would've come across as patronising if I'd preemptively told them not to do them (e.g. please don't piss in my mop bucket, use the toilet instead)

YABU and YANBU!

YANBU to lock the bathroom door if you want.

I’ve had problems with exactly what you are concerned about. One time a bath was blocked with dried paint residue.
Once a kitchen sink was blocked with silver scouring threads from cleaning tools. Both issues were only discovered several days after they’d left, been paid etc. Both were expensive, allegedly highly skilled decorators (their work was great, I guess they just cut corners thinking no one will know…)

But if you do so, YABU to expect them to go and find somewhere else to use the toilet. You have to provide a portaloo. You say you live in a flat, so may not have space for that. In which case you’ve no choice but to just very clearly say to the decorators that they can’t clean tools in the bathroom - you could always get some sheets of Correx and cover up anything you are worried about? It’s will protect it from any paint splatters too

What side, this is not a war, relax.

Someone can be a lovely person and you can get along, and at the same time they can be bad at their job, horrible at planning work, not knowledgeable and understanding what you try to explain.
This doesn't mean they are lowlife or bad people.

The fact is, you can’t deny tradespeople the use of toilet facilities while they’re working. So you either let them use your precious bathroom or you provide a porta loo. Those are your only options.

Be upfront with the Painters explaining that you've just had the bathroom renovated so they're not to use anything in there other than the loo. Specifically TELL them not to use the bath or sink to wash equipment in & maybe, to be safe put a large thrown over the bath or if you can find ay large plastic sheeting use that. Keep reminding them when you see them that the bathroom is out of bounds unless they need the loo. They'll get the hint that you don't want it used if you keep on about it.

Some will, some won't.

We've had some who appeared to be presentable/nice people who've made a right mess. One wiped his arse on a towel instead of toilet roll. Another left muddy foot prints ON the toilet seat, and another managed to leave shit on the wall. These were supposedly "reputable" firms, not dodgy looking "man and van" types in beat up old tranny vans. Trouble is that you don't know the "real" person until they've done the work, appearances can be deceptive.

This! This is exactly the problem. You can't possibly know what they're going to do, how they're going to behave, until after they've started. If you try to "micro manage" them by giving instructions, suggestions, some will take it badly if they think they're being patronised, especially from a woman.

There've been times when I've had to ask someone to re-do something, i.e. a wallpaper with creases or a bad join, and they've gone right into stroppy mode, i.e. sighs, groans, eye rolling, huffing and puffing, etc., even though they were in the wrong, they make out that you're being too fussy etc.

Another one was where a decorator painted our exterior house wall when heavy rain was forecast which I mentioned to him before he started and suggested he do it another day, but he insisted it would be fine and it actually started raining whilst he was doing it. The paint actually washed off and stained the path, but he still got stroppy when we told him he'd have to repaint it - what did he think we'd want when it had washed off?? He just couldn't accept that I'd been right with the forecast and not to start it!

Nobody knows if someone you ask into your home to complete work will be a decent human being or not. That’s the risk you take. But you can’t deny them use of the facilities without providing an alternative.

You can if you tell them upfront that they need to make their own arrangements. But I agree, it's unfair if they're not given advance warning to either cost in a portaloo or think about where else they could go.

Depending on the trade and person, many will be "in and out" all day anyway, going to buy bacon butties, lunches, coffees, etc., or nipping off to the builders merchants to buy things they forgot to bring with them, or off to give a quote or do a small job etc., so they'd be able to go elsewhere, and some working locally to their home go home for lunches, take their dog for a lunchtime walk, etc.

They're not your employees, so there's no "legal" obligation to provide facilities in the same way than if you were their employer. Of course, if they're employees working for a firm, then it's THEIR employers responsibility to put facilities in place!

Like I say, be upfront at the quote stage if "facilities" won't be available and give them the opportunity to plan for it.

We did it with MIL's house a couple of times. Once for a new roof that took two weeks - we were upfront at quote stage with all the prospective roofers who came to quote that they weren't allowed inside for the loo, nor to get water, and that MIL wouldn't be making drinks or snacks. She has dementia and simply couldn't cope with any of that. Most of the roofers who quoted were absolutely fine with it. The firm we choose arranged a portaloo and their workers brought their own drinks/flasks/meals etc. Another time we needed her garden cleared as she'd lost the ability to look after it herself and it had got wild. Again, upfront with the gardeners who said it wasn't a problem as one of their lads lived nearby and they'd just "nip" to his house for the loo and drinks etc.