New bathroom...help and tips needed.

[Drywhiteplease]

Am doing 2 bathrooms from scratch. I'm baffled by the choice and prices.
I need shower cubicles, baths, vanity units, wall mounted radiators, loos obv, mirrors that don't mist up.

What did you save/spend on?
Any tips?
What would you do differently and why?

myron - what is a "summer switch" on a radiator?

I'm thinking it's where you run the towel easily off the electric when the ch is off??

I meant towel rail!

Good extractor!
Electric under floor heating for background heat and warm toes in the am.
Good quality taps and shower. Thermostatic showers cost but having a shower with a constant temperature is worth it.

Don't be swayed by plumbers deciding your layout by what is easiest for them!! Do not do it!! You'll be stuck with a crappy layout because the plumber was lazy and it will annoy you constantly.

Don't be afraid to have existing pipe work and water supplies moved. It's never as bad as it seems.
Most of the mess will be from removing old tiles and fittings etc.

Get a shower shelf made! I had two made in each bathroom so that I don't have to bend down or have a limscaled clunky caddy thing to bump into every time I shower.

Storage. Whether it be a vanity type unit or wall hung or completely seperate. You need somewhere for all the crap! And you can never ever have enough storage. Ever.

Look on eBay for sales of end of line (toilets etc).

Look out for sales from major suppliers. August is often a good time.

Sales for tiles will save you a fortune. It's worth buying in advance or waiting a month or two. You can easily save 20% to 30%.

Don't skimp on labour costs. Go with a professional. In particular get an expert tiler (and not a plumber who likes to think he's a tiler!). It's the difference between a quality finish and something which looks home spun

If your extractor is powerful, you won't need to spend on a demisting mirror and you can have something elegant instead.

Megaflos are great. We have one but without a decent quality thermostatic shower, its pointless.

Good quality bath. Don't get fancy shaped plastic baths! They are tomorrows avocado suite! Either enamelled cast iron or enamelled steel, pending on style you're going for.

Avoid plastic. Plastic loo seats, plastic bath anything plastic.

Beware of plastic shower trays. They warp and move ever so slightly every time you step on them. This moves it away from the wall and any sealant away too so you have leaks all the time.

Resin trays are better. Only beware if you're a body oil fan. They will discolour. Get steel enamelled trays instead (Kaldewei )

Ooh loads of ideas.
Myron where did you source your shower for such a good price? Think I will visit plum base and open a cash account if I can get 40% discount.

If the hansGrohe shower is too much what brand should I look at for quality?

My budget for both rooms is £6000.....can I do it?

I used Victoria plumb online for bath, basins, units, shower cubicle, doors and base, bought shower and loo from b and q cos I wanted to physically see them. The plumber was very impressed with the quality. I loved my bath, slipper. The water stayed hot for ages. Also in every shower we have installed or redone we have used cheap vinyl on the walls. Lots of design choice, cheap and easy to clean. Its also a laugh putting it on. One piece over 3 cubicle walls. Speed is the secret!

Our last few bathrooms have all been sourced from our local tiles/bathroom/kitchen/swimming pool supplier. So Villeroy and Boch sanitary wear and furniture, hansgroche brasswear, keuco mirrored cabinets and accessories (loo roll holder ect.). I would say all was middle to slightly high end stuff but the good thing with all these suppliers is they do many different ranges and combos and you have a lot of flexibility with finish ( ie in our ensuite we have some fancy rain shower/hand held shower head combo but in our basement bathroom we have their bog standard bath fitting - about £1500 difference in price for brasswear for each room).

Supplier did designs for each room too - just tell them what you want and see what they come back with.

ghostinthecanvas - I'm finding it hard to think what vinyl on the wall would look like, sounds unusual... can you put up a picture?

This is brilliant, I'm getting a clear picture of what I need.

Soft closing loo seats? Do they break or are they a good idea? (Bare in mind I have a lot of children visiting who aren't careful)

I find the reverse with soft closing loo seats. visit other houses and end up slamming their loo seat shut as expect it to soft close!

I will Patty. Be in the next couple of days though, I am not home just now. The last one we did has a mosiac pattern on it. The lino on the floor matches but is plain. It sounds weird but does work. The thinnest vinyl is best.

MrsCB our wetroom is not slippy at all, the dc do not use it much though as I give them a shower in the bath. I suppose it must depend on the sort of tiles used too though. I much prefer the wetroom to our enclosure in other bathroom with tray as it is so much easier to clean, I just mop it with the rest of the floor. Also there is only one glass screen to keep clean. Overall it looks much more streamlined too. One thing to bear in mind is that wetrooms can be quite cold so try to have a radiator near the shower area.
If you do go for a shower tray some of the low profile ones from Matki are worth looking at.

Soft closing seats are amazing! A definate must. I do the same as Janmie and slam other peoples toilets!

We did our bathroom over the last weekend

I got the floor tiles from here and I would highly recommend them! The tiles are beautiful and they were very reasonable!

We have installed a shower mixer bar which I bought on eBay which is amazing! It was about £55 and is the type with the chrome exposed pipe work and monsoon shower head!

We also got a vanity and sink from here but you can also get them similar from B&Q and other places for similar prices

It is a really dusty process though so prepare yourself for that!

Get a shower which is exposed (valve surface mounted) and all metal - not chrome effect plastic. Surprisingly hard to find but well worth it.

Don't put ceramic floor tiles in an upstairs bathroom unless you have concrete floors upstairs. The floor will move and the tiles will cracking, even with flexible tile adhesive.

I think prices have gone up in the last 2 yrs and there are newer models since. This looks like a good price for the shower. It's exposed valve for ease of future maintenance and obviously thermostatic. Beware of 'Eco' shower heads - they have a valve restricting the flow of water which obviously conserves water but defeats the purpose of wanting a high pressure flow. However, it's easy to open the shower head and remove the valve manually - well, I ordered the plumber to do just that.

Does £6k for 2 bathrooms include labour costs? Even if it does, it is possible to come in on budget, you just have to shop around, haggle and prioritise your spending/adjust your expectations.

You need to make a list of everything you would like to have/need to buy and place a provisional sum against that - don't forget wastes, shower trays and maybe a shower tray riser kit. Measure your wall and floor space to estimate Sqm for tiles. You can then make decisions whether to fully tile, half tile or part tile the walls for instance. FYI, it's approx £25 per Sqm for tiling labour costs which may include grout and adhesive. I knew straight off that I would be looking at tiles under £30 per Sqm for example so obviously the likes of fired earth was out of the question.

My joiner built me a full height cupboard and shelving from mdf and charged me £400. If you have tradesmen already on site, make use of them.

'Summer' switch of the towel radiator is the feature where it is wired to the electrics so that you can turn it on when the central heating is off e.g in the summer. I can't remember the correct term for it so I stand to be corrected.

Boundary bathrooms also seems to provide some competitive prices.

£6k doesn't include labour.
Myron am tempted just to buy 2 of those showers now...great price !

That's the shower we have in the DCs bathroom. It looks good. we paid 544.68 for ours but we don't pay VAT.

Soft close hinges for the loo seats are great

We had to do 3 bathrooms and a downstairs loo when we did up our house. We sourced a lot of stuff from Aston Matthews during their sale-- and due to our large purchase got an additional 20% off most items. They have a wide range of prices and the quality and customer service are fantastic.

We sourced vanities and our tub for the family bathroom from Albion in Essex. They are expensive but good value for what they make. The customer service isn't that great but they resolved all the issues we had with them in the end so I would recommend them.

How do I put a pic on? There is no attachments button.
I am on an android phone. I am sure I have done it before.

Why do some threads say choose file and some don't? Sorry Patty don't think I can put up pic of shower/lino.

Putting a pic on is a nightmare.
I've made an appointment with the PLUMBASE bathroom planner on Wednesday. A good starting point. She actually sounded right on my wave length.....talked about looks I like, bringing photos, extension plans, sticking to budget and discounts. My sort of woman.
Have made a list of what I want (using a lot of your tips) will see what she says.