New bathroom help

[Equimum]

We bought a Victorian house last year, and hoped to not do any major work for a few years. We have, however, become aware of some leaks in the bathroom, and two plumbers have advised that we could really do with a new bathroom (which we agree with).

As we had not really planned this, funds will be fairly limited, so I’m wondering if anyone has any advise on keeping the costs down, especially ideas on where we absolutely need to tile and what types of sanitary ware could keep that to a minimum. Also, any ideas on where to look for sanitary wear, tiles etc would be gratefully received. We’ve never done a bathroom before.

TIA

curing leaks and installing a new bathroom are two entirely separate things, rather like having a flat tyre, and buying a new car.

Refitting the bathroom is likely to cost a few thousand pounds.

I'm sure the leaks are fixable without a total bathroom refit so it depends on what you want to do really.

If you can afford it and want to upgrade then look at it as an investment in your property and get the best bathroom that you can afford. Keep it in keeping with the age of the house and go for something timeless.. ie white, and you won't have to touch it again for a long time.

Labour is the biggest cost. Having a bathroom fitter for two weeks will cost around 2k. Keeping everything in the same place will cut costs. If you start moving the plumbing around the time therefore the costs go up.

Is the sanitary ware salvageable? With new taps and tiling it can often be given a new lease of life. You can build cabinets around old sinks and toilets to give a modern look.

Tiles are tiles. It's the design that costs money. Stick to something plain and maybe accent with a more expensive tile.

Good quality taps (Bristan are my favourite) and shower mixer (round-knob Aqualisa) will serve you well. White sanitary fixings will match across brands. Modern low-water content WCs often have a disappointing flush, I can only suggest a well-established UK maker such as Twyfords.

Avoid pop-up wastes. They leak.

Please don't hide your cistern away in the wall where it will be difficult to maintain. Especially don't seal it in with tiles. Have the bath panel easily removed by undoing a couple of screws. Don't have it sealed in with tiles or silicone.

A shower mixer that is mounted on the face of the wall is a hundred times easier to maintain or replace than one that has to be dug out by smashing tiles and plaster.

Nothing is as durable in a bathroom as chrome-plated brass accessories.

Don't put a shelf or cupboard above the basin. One day a glass jar or bottle will fall out and crack it.

Include a modern, near-silent extractor, wired to come on with the lights and run on for an adjustable period afterwards.

Heated towel rails don't give out much heat to warm the room. Especially when they have been lagged by a thick insulating layer of towels.

An airing cupboard is more use than you think.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate that fixing a leak and needing a new bathroom are different things. The bathroom we currently have is probably about 20 years old, and certainly not white! The problem with fixing the leak is basically explained by Piglets post. Basically, the shower is a built unit (i.e tiled partial wall as one side), fully tiled, and the tray is both sealed to the walls and there are tiles in front of it. Our plumber reckons we’d lose a lot of tiles and probably damage the tray if he attempts it, and they don’t make anything similar now. It would also damage the carpet (which the house came with).

So, in brief, the bathroom does really need updating, we were just hoping that we would have a bit longer before actually having to do it.

We are currently thinking of a free standing bath, and, with the exception of the new shower cubicle, only tiling the floor. We’ll keep everything in pretty much the same place, as it works well (minus the bidet, which we wouldn’t replace). Does that sound practical?

will you be able to walk all round the bath, to clean behind and under it?

Probably wouldn’t actually be able to walk round it, but would be able to slide a cloth, mop etc - is that enough?

We have managed to save a lot by being flexible about our sanitary ware and I’ve bought everything from eBay/Facebook selling pages. I have time though to a certain extent-ie no immediate leaks to attend to. All duravit, grohe, Bette products but regardless of what I’ve saved the installation will still be the expensive part....