Daft question about bathrooms

[pinkcarpet]

We recently moved house and the new place has a fairly new ensuite bathroom but having lived with it for a while there are some things I hate and want to change. The shower head is one of those high wall mounted drenched ones and I’d really like to add a hand held/wand thing. The sink is a bowl sitting on a plinth and the shape of the sink and tap style means the water splashes everywhere so I’d like to replace it with a normal sink on top of a vanity unit.

Is it possible to do these small things without having to replace everything?

The walls and floors are fully tiled and I can’t see how to do anything without needing to retile everywhere afterwards.

You say it’s a fairly recently installed bathroom - in that case the tiles are probably still available to buy. It may be possible to change the basin and shower head, then simply put replacement new tiles on the small areas affected. I’d ask your plumber what the cheapest options are.

yes

you are talking about the shower head, which sticks out of the wall so a pipe can be put on it.

a new basin will probably be fixed to the wall and may need a pedestal to conceal the pipes and waste, it can be sealed to the existing tiles with white silicone.

Incidentally, there is a lot to be said for having the shower mixer and pipes exposed on the wall, rather than buried in it. As you have noticed, it is a great nuisance to have to smash tiles and dig into the wall when something needs to be repaired or replaced. Even worse if there is a leak in the wall.

Chrome pipes can be used, coming down from the ceiling.

Look for an experienced and well-recommended local plumber. It is not a disadvantage if they are old and wrinkly, they will have seen it all before.

An advert on a website listing is not a personal recommendation. These sites generally charge the traders for a listing and allow them to edit or control the reviews that get posted, especially complaints, which may never appear. Goggle "websitename complaints" and you may see something interesting.

Is there somewhere I can search for replacement tiles? They look like some kind of stone effect not normal glazed tiles

Thanks PigletJohn that’s very helpful!

None of the plumbers I’ve spoken to so far have been very keen but I’ll keep searching

post some photos for more ideas

Here’s the shower

Here’s the sink. We already had to smash one tile on the supporting part of the sink to fix a leak!

Photo here

I can't see how the shower is fixed, but there's a good chance that there is a pipe or spigot coming through the wall that a connector for a hose or rail can be fixed to. It would be visible when the existing head is removed. Likely there will be an ornamental pull-off trim hiding a plate screwed to the wall.

There is an example of a push-on wall outlet that seals onto a clean copper pipe here and they tend to have a screw connector than any standard shower hose will fit. The screw fitting is the same as comes out of a shower mixer. On Aqualisas, and others I have used, you can screw on a chrome tube with a fixed drencher head, or a hose for a handheld. You can fit a diverter valve to send the water to one or the other. A plumber should know all that. There are examples on the site I linked.

the basin seems to stand on a stone-like worktop. It will be difficult to retain that without breaking something. You might look for a basin with its own vanity top that can fix to the wall and hide damage to the wall, but try to find matching tiles. Take of the bath panel and see if the installers had the sense to store some spare ones there.

A vanity top fixed to a separate worktop is prone to water getting into the join. This is very bad if there is wood or chipboard involved. You can get one-piece moulded basins and worktops which IMO are preferable, and easy to clean. I've only seen them up to about 900mm width. They are usually stood on some kind of drawer or cupboard thing, which hides the pipes. Plastic ones are available but flimsy. Porcelain is much better, unless you put a shelf or cupboard on the wall above the basin, because one day a bottle or jar will fall out and smash the basin.

btw if you ever have to remove tiles, a diamond blade in a multicutter will zip the grout out, and there is another blade that is angled to go under the tile and cut the adhesive. Tilers will probably have one, but a simple one is available for £50 or so.

You can just make out the blade shape on this one. It doesn't spin, it vibrates side to side.

if you're looking for matching tiles, look in Wickes and Topps tiles first. They're quite popular. If there is a tile specialist shop in your town, try there. The builders will have gone somewhere local.

Thank you!!

Unless you really hate the sink itself I would perhaps change the tap initially to see if that solves the water splashing everywhere. Some tap styles are awful for that!