Where to start with planning a new bathroom

[LilywhiteLil]

Apologies for the naivety but where on earth do you start?! Should we be visiting showrooms to decide what we want and purchasing it, then finding a fitter or contacting a fitter in the first instance to have them come round to see if the work we'd like is possible etc?

We would like to move the sink to another wall, as it's currently under the window and so very low, and to remove the bath and install a large shower.

When do we choose tiles? And taps? Help!

Thanks in advance

One of the things that I have in my shower is a wall covering that is amazing. I have never seen it anywhere else. It is instead of tiles so no grout to discolour and it is so,easy to clean. I have had it for. 16 years and it looks just the same as when it was installed. Cant remember what it was called

We found someone to fit it who came round to give us a quote for the work and tell us what was physically possible in terms of moving pipes etc. We then went and looked at showrooms, took pics of what we liked and our fitter helped us source it all for half the price. Cost us £2500 all in last year. B&q quoted us £4000.

Brilliant, thanks both for the advice! Will start looking for reputable fitters in this area & go from there.

We looked at lots of Bathroom magazines to judge what style we liked and what storage we needed. We measured up the bathroom. We drew it out on squared paper, to scale. We knew where the waste pipe was and where the water came into the bathroom. We made sure we did not design anything awkward. We looked at bathroom suite catalogues to see what size and type of suite we wanted and what furniture looked good for our needs. What would fit in? Did we want a wall hung loo? Free standing bath, or fitted? Wall hung basin or fitted onto a cabinet? Bathroom furniture finish etc. We worked out if it would fit in giving enough circulation space and hassle free plumbing. We went to a bathroom shop and discussed what we wanted knowing they stocked the make of suite we wanted. We had a good look at the products close up. We chose it and the shop found a fitter. All worked perfectly.

I guess we may have saved money doing it another way, but often fitters have no idea of style or what would look good in your house. They do not design, they just fit. I would not trust the ones I have worked with to do that. They will work out where the water and waste pipes are if you cannot do that. They will say they cannot do lots of things, but they could if they wanted to.

Go to a tile shop for the tiles or get them from the suplier of the suite. Often the shop will have everything.

Wow bojorojo that's quite the planning you did! Can you come and do mine?!

Thanks for your detailed advice, it's really useful.

Not much to add but knowing where the soil pipe is and which way the joists run helps. Once we had seen taps we like buying them online helped. Builders merchants can supply the more common bathroom brands (Duravit, ideal standard, etc). Put the most powerful extractor fan in you can (hate damp bathrooms!) and Amazon is quite good for bathroom cabinets. eBay for tiles. And a builder with plumbing ability to fit. Bathroom fitters seem very expensive and unable to work around the normally hiccups you get

I went into Bathstore with our room dimensions and they did a design for us. A fitter came recommended and we sourced the sink and shower through him, got the bath from B&Q and tiles direct from the manufacturer. I got taps, towel rail, light fitting, etc from various places online. Get a written quote which specifies exactly what you are having done.

Find someone to fit it first. There are plenty of shops around, but not many plumbers, tillers and bathroom fitter who are good, local, and available.

Ask for recommendation from friends and neighbours. If you see an installers van nearby, ask for a card and write on the back of it the address where there are working. Call round a couple of weeks later and ask the householder's opinion.

Websites are the worst way to find one. They are generally paid by the company to carry the advert, and the comments may have been screened, or even written, by the trader.

Look for a recognisable local landline, and a company name that you can look up in the phone book. Avoid 0800 or 0845 numbers because they will be marketing agencies who sell on your details.

local tradespeople with a good reputation don't need to pay for listings.

Oh and in my experience bathstore couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Their planner couldn't compute it might be possible to have two windows in a room. He gave us a shower cubicle that stopped mid window and told me I could a builder to fix it by blocking up the window.

We found a fitter through recommendations and he measured up and discussed ideas. He had an account with several places- Wickes,plumb store etc so we went in and had them plan and price several options.

It must depend on the member of staff - I felt quite guilty getting the woman in our local branch to do a design: she was great and I had no intention of buying from them having read reviews of their stuff! We too had two windows in the room.

Best place to start is think about how you use the space.

Do you need a seperate shower cubicle or can you make do with one over the bath. You've mentioned you wantvto move the sink around what wlae don't you like about the layout?

Next get a few plumbers/bathroom fitters around to have a look at the work. Get a rough idea on costs and see whats possible for your budget. Make sure they do everything from boxing to pipework!

Not sure what you want to spend but a complete bathroom isn't cheap. But spend more on a quality product and it will last.

Next the fun bit! Visit showrooms and websites get a feel for what you want. Double check with your plumber to check a product will work.

CGI designs are a great way to visualise your bathroom. Make sure you get tile samples too!

I hope this helps, sorry if a bit long winded. If you'd like some more advice give me a shout, i own a bathroom retail company and would be happy to give you some more pointers and advice ☺

Best of luck

Thank you all for your words of wisdom, they are all really helpful. Special thanks to you, CoryDunford, that's really very kind of you