Bathroom Dilema… WWYD/Advise ??

[rockinhippy]

IE: can I please have some other input before I strangle DH

We have 2 nasty dilapidated mismatched time warps bathrooms that are desperately in need of an overhaul, have done for years, but getting people to actually do the work is a nightmare, but thats another novel.

so we've finally decide to give up & go to one of the chains & have an appointment booked for next week - now DH is arguing with what I THOUGHT was decided as far as what we are having done

So I'm throwing it open to the MN jury.

2nd floor bathroom is a small shower room, straight refit with an electric shower - I figured this made sense as gas is going up & up & is in short supply so unlikely to be the cheaper option in future any way & I do intend to look into solar panels at some point as we have a shadow free south facing roof, may or not be possible, but seems to work either way ??

1st floor bathroom is currently small with a shower bath/sink, toilet is separate, but we hope to knock through into what was the old boiler cupboard & extend it - we are not sure yet if Wickes et al will do this sort of work - didn't actually get a straight answer in store.

IF we can't extend, it also will be a straight refit - sink & bath with shower hose taps - I don't see why we need 2 actual showers & feel that as the room is so small, losing the shower screen will open it up & make it seem larger IYSWIM -

DH now disagrees & wants a shower plumbed into our gas hot water system.

If we can extend into a larger bathroom I would probably go along with it, even though I think its unnecessary to have both showers, as I prefer baths anyway - I would much rather use the space have a double sink so we can have one each and I won't want to shove his razor and bristles up his arse

I thought we had decided all this, but now it's coming on top, he is is being an argumentative arse changing his mind, though saying he never agreed in the first place

So my question is - do we really need 2 showers - 1 electric, 1 gas ?? theres only 3 of us, though potential for 5 beds, so I suppose we have to think about if we ever decide to sell too

Sorry that doesn't read well - 1st floor bathroom is a shower bath combo

If you are thinking of selling I think 2 showers is best. And I would go for a shower screen over the bath.

You may prefer a bath but more people shower, I reckon! With five beds you could potentially have 2 adults going out to work & a couple of teens going to school in the morning. Showers would be what was wanted.

Having said that don't get rid of the bath. We did that in a house (as we all shower) * & ended up reinstating the shower to sell!

*Nearly said We are all showers

sorry but I agree with your husband. Nearly everyone prefers showers on a daily basis and two showers in a 5 bed house is ideal. You can get nice glass screens that fold a bit i think so wouldn't be too obtrusive.

Agree with magimedi. Baths are for luxuriating & taking your time. Keep your bath, I would be put off if there wasn't one in a house. If there's space for a separate shower cubicle when you knock through but you want to make it feel spacious then do shower over bath. Or shower tucked behind the door & at back of bath (if that makes sense) might keep feeling of space.

I have a feeling a chain won't knock through for you (we had a quote from b&q when we did ours & it was just "this is what is on our shelf, this is what we can fit" they shoehorn standard sizes in). I would knock through otherwise when you sell that's what people will see as needing doing & possibly not value the work you've done.
We went to an independent bathroom shop & got recommendations from them, the chap we went with was absolutely great organised other trades etc. Plus they had more choice, much nicer styles & some at better prices than the chains - worked out about £2k cheaper than b&q even with my much more expensive tile choice .

Agree with others - 2 showers - even if one over a bath.

PigletJohn will be along soon to point out that electric showers do tend to be very, very weedy though...so you may want to have that as your second/less used shower rather than the main shower.

We have a smallish bathroom and did not want to shoe-horn in a cubicle so went for one over the bath (which is a lush double ended, extra long, extra wide one). did not want to distract from the "bath" focal point, nor did I want to make the bathroom seem smaller with a glass screen over the bath so went with one of these - it is hidden completely away most of the time and when we do occasionally use the shower over the bath you lift up the bar, pull our the curtain and perfect floor protection. You can then fold it away wet. Am so, so pleased with it (got the idea from here). www.outasight-vb.com/

I'd get two showers that are as powerful as possible (electric showers tend to spit rather than jet). The wall between the cupboard and the bathroom can probably be knocked down by yourselves with a club hammer and a couple of hours to spare.

we replaced the ancient dribbly shower in our en suite, and had the power shower vs electric shower debate. as it was the only shower in the house (family bathroom at the time didn't have a shower) we opted for electric on the grounds that, because the water was heated as you use it, we could never run out of hot water for a shower.

Fast forward 5 years, we redid the family bathroom and put a power shower in over the bath. It is a MUCH better shower than the electric one. But, after two dawdling teenagers users, the water runs out and you have to wait 40 minutes for tank to reheat. So we are very glad that we have both options and retained a bath - I love my baths, but am the only person in the house that uses it.
When we made the decision about the en suite our children were younger and we couldn't really envisage how much they would use a shower as they were still at the bubble bath stage. 8 years later, and I can't remember when either had a bath but they shower every day.
If you can install two showers (one over bath if necessary and retain a bath I would say do it, you are keeping options open for yourselves and also for potential buyers should you want to sell at some stage.

Thank you everyone, that was REALLY helpful :)

& no need to apologise for agreeing with DH - my only real problem with him was his changing his mind was that it was whilst I was looking at the baths we'd agreed on with view to sitting down & organising/buying it that day, he then starts with snide remarks about not having a say & bickering whilst looking at showers

I was torn when we first started discussing it, so I was happy to go along with his suggestion that just having the one shower would be cheaper & basing that on only the 3 of us living here & no plans to move - if he had said lets look at this again, I think we should go with 2 showers BEFORE we set off to order it all I wouldn't have been so at him. I agree that thinking of the bigger picture, ie what if we do want to sell makes more sense & you are right, 2 showers with 5 beds is common sense.

We can't have a power shower in the top bathroom, something to do with water pressure & us having a combi boiler 2 floors down from that bathroom - I think it can be done, but think it affects the pressure & we end up with a trickle, or cant use both showers together anyway - at least that was what our plumber friend told us

I'm loving that shower screen fish I've not seen that before, but it would be perfect if we can't get anyone to knock out the bathroom into the cupboard :)

unfortunately doing it ourselves isn't really an option - I physically can't due to health problems & DH - well lets just say I don't want to be waiting another 5 years - he's really good once he gets going, but motivating is a whole "nuther story" - nightmare & in fairness he is knackered from his work, odd shifts etc, but he is known as last minute larry & I don't need the stress -

for example - having a living room floored laid - we needed the carpet lifting for the guy arriving - DH insisted the floor underneath was fine - yet he had no way of knowing it was as he'd never seen it & no talking any sense into the stubborn old git- so he started lifting the carpet at 6 the night before the guy was due to lay the floor - only to find it was partly tiled & the tiles had to come up - he finished lifting the lo 20 minutes before the guy arrived - & then had to go to work, having done a full nights hard labour hacking up tiles - but he learnt nothing from it at all & every job he does is the same & it drives me NUTS.

mammyKaz - THANK YOU :)

Gawd knows why, but we have n't thought of looking at smaller independent bathroom stores - we've had so many building firms through here, I have lost count - yet only ever had 1 pee taking quote out of any of them as they don't want the work & its now 2 years since our friend said he would do it - hence why we've given up & going the chain route -

we don't have any local independent stores, none in or around town, probably why its never occurred to us - but googling has just brought up 4 within our county that do cover where we are, so we are going to give that a try instead - Wickes cancelled until further notice - I didn't like the reps attitude anyway moaning about no parking & not liking to walk from 2 street away if it was raining

so it will be 2 showers, 1 electric, 1 power shower - over bath, but if we cant extend the bathroom, will be using your screen link fish :) & will give the independents I've found a go

Thank you all :)