New bathroom - hints, tips, recommendations please

[sweetheart]

Hi all,

We are doing our bathroom out and thought it would be £5k tops. We had a guy round to plan tonight and his coatings came out at £11k! So first off I was wondering who's had a new bathroom recently and if it's not too rude how much did it cost. Secondly any hints or tips on what you love about your new bathroom or things you wish you'd done but didn't?

£11k does seem a little steep - but it does depend on level of finish.

To give you an idea, we had to get a bathroom built last year (bought a 'doer-upper') admittedly it is small at 7' x 10' but the cost was in the region of £4.5k.

Everything was fairly mid-range price-wise. We used porcelain wood effect - this sort of thing ) for the floor tiles and large mosaic wall tiles. Shower is a 95cm walk in with a 'rain-shower' head and a separate 'power-shower' head. Bath is standard, sink is 65 cm, loo is close-fitting, radiator fairly standard of this type.

Shower-head(s) definitely a success, as are waterfall taps for bath & sink. Ditto floor tiles - one thing I will be adding though when we next do the bathroom will be underfloor heating - had it in our last place and, while not particularly heating, it really does take the chill off the floor in winter!

Defo 11k does sound bit steep! I would defo get somebody else and get the same spect and see difference in price.

We had ours done about 5 years ago cost about 5k, bath , sep shower cubicle decent glass cubicle can't remember mm close couple toilet soft close seat and sink. Sanitary ware is Roca. Tiled top to bottom with dado tile and picture random tiles large tiles. Shower cubicle was Wet wall panels didn't fancy cleaning in between grout!! Had ceiling spot lights and upvc panels.
Towel rail and ceramic floor tiles.

Would next time have walk in shower and underfloor heating!!!!

Ours was around 8K few months ago. Local company which comes with guarantee, were recommended by a friend.

Slightly larger than normal new build 4 bed house

We got separate bath taps moved to the middle (love this as sometimes jump in bath with little DS, separate corner walk in shower, sink unit with 2 drawers, toilet, chrome towel rail, de mister led mirror, spotlights in ceiling and karndean flooring. Fully tiled on walls which I absolutely love as my kids are splash happy. Happy with it all. Went mid range, white with some gray.

Big tiles are quicker to fix. Also less grout to clean.
I discovered this after covering three walls of our bathroom in tiny tiles which took our builder forever (£££) and are a total cleaning nightmare.

We've just had ours done - it came to about £9k in the end and was finished on Christmas Eve, thank goodness

It's a small room (3x1.5m) but it was completely covered in horrible tiles, so we had to include replastering and some remedial brickwork (missing lintels) and joinery (skirting, window architrave).

We went to a local bathroom supplier recommended by our plumber. They talked us through all the choices and permutations.

We put in a bath with a pumped gravity-fed digital shower over, with loo and basin in fitted unit, Karndean flooring (smart and hard-wearing but warm under foot).

The fitted unit pushed the cost up a little, but was the best use of space because the end wall is only 1.5m wide. It gives us a nice long countertop and a neat finish.

Get a good shower - recommend Aqualisa. We have a diverter fitted, so one button runs the shower, and another pumps water into the bath (no taps!).

No tiles either - we fitted shower panels (also known as wet wall or mermaid panels). No grout!

Those towel rail radiators look nice, but don't heat the room enough, especially the chrome ones - we went with a traditional radiator and towel racks.

Fit a good extractor fan to reduce mould.

Another tip - we had a shaver point installed for recharging toothbrushes etc. but they put it inside the cupboard under the sink.

All the clutter of cables is out of sight - perfect.

Oh dear, 11k is alarming. We're just about to get quotes for ours and I'd hoped to keep it in the region of 5-6k and that's with a wall to come down and hopefully new windows

A couple of years ago we had our en-suite updated for 5k (v small area)

Made the mistake of having beautiful crackled subway tiling which looks lovely but is a bloody nightmare to keep clean in the shower area. When we do the main bathroom this year will for sure be looking at screening within the walk in shower and not tiles.

Finally, we had a square toilet put it and I regret that as it is not comfortable! If you can, sit on your loo before buying

YYY to underfloor heating and a good extractor fan.

Another one going eek at the 11k, we normally do most stuff DIY but work commitments mean that's not going to happen if I want the bathroom done this year. I had something more like 5k in my head.

To Sususu: If planning to redo this year, worth noting that crosswater and other major brands have a month long sale from approx mid September each year and you can get much for your money, up to 50% off. Might be another one as well, I only know about this one as builder told me to hold back buying till then.
HTH

Plenty of heating. We've got Karndean on the floor, so had 2 heated towel rails.

Don't forget about storage - it's a pita to have to keep cleaning materials, spare shampoo and loo roll etc elsewhere.

A big, deep bath is lovely but takes forever if your dc want a deep bath every night. I'd go smaller next time. Corner or middle taps are handier than centrally located ones on one end if 2 dc will be sharing.

Larger tiles = less grout.

We have a small bathroom (about the width of a bath and not much longer) and had it done 15 months ago. It was under 5k for removal of old fitting and tiles, some plastering, reptile floor and most of the walls, move position of and fit bath, loo, sink, shower installed ... We just had to paint it.

My tip would be to find an independent fitter who can supply and fit, but choose your own tiles for him/her to put up.

Aesops can I ask are the crackle subway tiles particularly hard to keep looking good or just the same as tiles in general?

As long as you seal them tartiflette they should be just the same. I have no problem with keeping them clean even after a few years they look beautiful and as new (they are off white). Just the amount of grouting in the shower area is a pita to keep white.

I cannot remember the name of the sealer but can find out if you are doing yourself, if not, then a good tiler should recommend.

We've just done a bathroom and spent quite a lot but it did include moving a wall, moving the door, and complete redoing of layout incl new plumbing and electrics everywhere.

Some tips:

1. Build in a lot of storage anywhere you can. Include some small (for toiletries) and some larger (for spare towels, loo roll etc).

2. Get storage cabinets built by your builder and painted, rather than the veneered or gloss ones sold by the bathroom companies. Painted can be touched up if it chips, veneer can't.

3. Big tiles, not small. Grey or beige grout, not white. Avoid gloss tiles for the floor (slip hazard). Avoid plain white tiles for the floor (will show every bit of dirt).

4. There is a lead time of up to 3 weeks on bathroom items (more for special orders) so get your kit ordered well before your builders are ready to start.

5. A wall hung loo and sink will make the room look bigger and make cleaning easier.

6. Electric underfloor heating isn't a huge expense and makes a big difference.

7. Think about your lighting and fan set up. For example do you want the fan to come on with the light? To stay on for 5 minutes after light is off? To be moisture controlled? All these options are available. Choose a quiet extractor fan (there is a website Quietmark which tells you which are the quietest).

8. If you have a towel rail, you might want to choose one which is dual fuel ie can be electric as well as hot water heated. That way you can have hot towels even in the summer when heating is off.

9. If you have small DC, choose an Exofil rather than bath tap, and you may want a hand held shower attachment to make hair washing/bath rinsing easier.

10. Get your builders to create a tiled niche/alcove in the wall of the bath and shower - a neat place to put your shampoo.

11. Avoid real stone. We had lovely limestone tiles in a previous bathroom, but over time they flaked and spalled as moisture had got in behind (despite careful sealing and grouting).

don't get a cheap toilet. I was so pleased with myself saving about 150 quid by being one that looked the same as one I looked, but from Victoria plumb - it's rubbish, as are they. a real case of buy cheap, buy twice. I will have to replace it and will end up costing so much more.
on the other hand, cheap tiles seem fine. but as someone above said, white was a mistake on the floor.
our new bathroom cost about 6k in the summer.
and yes to underfloor heating, the electric stuff is fine for the small space, but make sure they may it all the way to where your get are when on the toilet. I almost cried when the builder cheerfully told me he'd run out of the stuff and it didn't reach quite to there but didn't matter. to him maybe...

sorry, lots of auto correct mistakes there.
where your feet are when on the toilet

Aesop

How do you seal the tiles?

I have avoided tiles except for splashbacks, but want to seal them in properly. The only way I know is to get a firm like grout pro in to do it (found them on the internet) but I reckon that would be expensive for 3 titchy splashbacks. ..

TIA

Gozo

It is just a liquid that is applied over the tile (I think?) it comes in a tin

Thanks Aesop, I do like the look of them.
Great pointers minipie.

Do we think it can be done for under 6k (small-medium sized room, incl knocking down stud wall and replacing 2 manky UPVC windows) ??