What do you wish you'd known before renovating: Bathroom Edition

[applesauce1]

We're buying a new house and should complete end of December/early Jan (🤞).

The en-suite and family bathroom both need to be ripped out and started over. We'll do it all before we move in.

This started as an exciting prospect, but now I feel completely daunted as there is just too much choice.

We have a £12k budget for this element of the renovation but, it would be nice if things came in under budget (has such an astonishingly obvious statement ever been made?)

I really like the aesthetic of industrial/modern fittings and reclaimed stained wood. These looks are all over Instagram but don't appear in any catalogues. I really don't want to go for the hexagonal tile thing or anything too 'of the moment'.

Before I spend toddler nap time scouring the internet for bathroom furniture, please tell me everything you wish you knew, or your best advice, for bathroom renovations. The kitchen version of this thread was brilliant.

Thanks @Radiatornoise. We have two extractors - one above the bath in the main bit and one in the wet room (which is where the photo was taken from). They were fairly cheap (and, frankly, pretty ugly. And noisy) but we don't have condensation probs so far. They are made by Xpelair.

Other things I've thought of - I agree with everyone about the dark grout. We've got a dark grey /anthracite (I wouldn't do black, it's way too harsh) on the white wall tiles and a much paler, off-white grey on the floor and shower tiles... It's so much better than white grout. Also, I would really recommend doing your own shopping - find the look you'd like to go for and then do lots of searching to find exactly what you want at the right price... If you leave it to the plumbers/fitters you won't get the best price and they're unlikely to care as much as you about the exact shape /finish etc. I don't think any one element in my bathroom came from the same supplier... We took shopping around to a new level. It was time consuming but totally worth it, both financially and aesthetically, in the end.

That the electric underfloor heating was so expensive to run.

@LadyEloise

That the electric underfloor heating was so expensive to run.

It's a bit late for you but anybody else wanting underfloor heating, there's a way round the expense. We had a radiator in the room the other side of the bathroom and our boiler is just outside the bathroom. When the floor was being tiled we got the fitter to reroute the pipes fo the radiator under the bathroom floor, we have a lovely warm bathroom floor now and no extra expense. Obviously it only works with a smaller bathroom but it's really made a difference to us. We've got a heated towel rail on another wall so the pipes going to that warm up the other part of the floor.

Not to buy anything from Victoria Plumb or other on-line only operations. They are very very slightly cheaper but not when you factor in appalling customer service, pain to return stuff, telephone numbers that are never monitored, too too stressful. Buy local from independents instead.

Just had a bathroom done and I am pleased with the loo and washbasin. If you have a number of occupants it is imperative to have a decent flush, and many modern toilets are very weedy indeed. I chose RAK and I must say the toilet has a marvellous flush!

Plumber strongly advised not tiling whole bathroom as, as pps have said, if there is a leak you have to start smashing it up and replacement is difficult.

After one year my nice, cushiony floor is ruined - by a pair of socks! The dye came out on a wet floor and no product known to mankind will get out the marks. The ceiling has peeled and the limescale continues to advance...

Best advice we had was to tile the entire floor, it has meant we have had absolutely no problems with 'gapping' around our shower tray which can cause leeks.

I had my tiles taken up. They were dangerously slippery and, unless heated, absolutely freezing.

If you’re redesigning a layout, you can’t really move the loo too far from the outfall otherwise you’ll get lots of boxing in.

If you choose really big tiles, you’ll need really straight walls.

Use cutoffs of floor tiles as skirting boards.

Lots of storage and places to hang towels.

Recessed shelves in showers for all the bottles.

Don’t get a non slip shower tray - we’ve got one and I hate how it feels and not easy to clean. Albeit arguably safer!

Definitely get removable shower traps. Love ours.

Useful thread, if a little late for me. I had two bathrooms and a loo redone 11 years ago and was very happy with the way they looked and worked.

Sadly a few weeks ago we discovered that a few blown tiles in the shower had soaked and rotted the floor under the shower tray, so in a huge hurry, I've had to replace the floorboards, buy a new shower tray and rethink the tiles. We've gone with the mermaid boards in a marble effect to replace the huge dark grey tiles (but I liked the way they looked better).

Our walk-in shower was great in theory but DH is very tall and water splashed off him. The panels couldn't be salvaged to work with the new tray, so we shall have a sliding door, which hasn't been fitted yet. I fear the door position will mean a return to the wet arm. And after reading this thread, I wonder whether a non-slip shower will be hard to clean (at least it's not white, and we're in a soft water area so limescale is unlikely to be a problem). Fingers crossed.

I would have preferred longer to plan our choices, it but the builder is brilliant and a total perfectionist, and this was his window. It will look

@applesauce1

So much great advice. Thank you.

We were considering floor to ceiling tiles as I thought it looked nicer than a half tiled room (tiling in the shower or around the bath). I'm worried that this might cause the cost to shoot up, and with painted walls, we can more easily and cheaply redecorate to our changing tastes.

Does anyone have any advice on tiles walls vs. Painted walls?

I'd also love a vanity unit like that in my photo. I'd prefer real wood. Anyone know of somewhere we could find something like this, or will I have to ask a carpenter?

Don't do either and use something like this www.rearo.co.uk/bathroom/wall-panels/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw59n8BRD2ARIsAAmgPmJt8s2ANYiknhtSaOMuHkM7S5BNylux1fpfu6z33eYAZeM-vEr_KU8aAjWGEALw_wcB

No upkeep, no grout and they're so easy to wipe over.

... it will look good, once repainted and I've worked out how to finesse a few colour issues with a couple of metres of trim and sink splash back tiles.

@XingMing

... it will look good, once repainted and I've worked out how to finesse a few colour issues with a couple of metres of trim and sink splash back tiles.

I recommend lampas tiles from topps. I've got marine blue as a splashback but I loved the peacock colour too. Apparently they're lovely to put up and great quality. And on sale until the end of the month I think!

If you're having tiled floors, make sure that the subfloor you're laying them on is solid and flat. Seems obvious, but the previous owners of our house didn't bother so now I have tiled floors in the bathrooms that are underpinned with too much grout, and one of them still flexes slightly. We're replacing them eventually, but I'm not looking forward to the faff that will be excavating the tiles....

Does any body know about soundproofing.

We are renovating hopefully next year.
The bedroom/ensuite wall will have to come down anyway, and a new door, maybe a pocket door for space

I cant bear bathroom noises.

Ha ha. I remember seeing a travel programme about japan and the loos had buttons where you could select which “masking” noise you wanted to cover up any embarrassing noises. More eco than running the tap loudly!

Hi @7Days. I've looked at pocket doors in the past and from what I've researched they're not great for sound insulation, often worse than a normal door. You can however buy special 'sound insulating' doors if this is important to you- it might also be worth looking at putting some sound insulation under the flooring as well. Another thing that will help will be putting things like wardrobes on the other side of the wall, the bulk of the wardrobe and clothes within it will help muffle any noise.

Get the builders to put rock wool in the new wall cavity.

Avoid a pocket door if you can as normal doors are more soundproof. If you need a pocket door then ask the builders to use a top notch mechanism and to pack the cavity with rockwool around the pocket. It will also help with sound if the doorframe overlaps the door by a couple of cm all the way round (so the doorway is slightly smaller than the door iyswim) but that does make it harder to fix if it goes wrong...

You could also ask them to use acoustic plasterboard for the wall. Tiling the en suite on that wall will also help.

Basically you are trying to avoid any gaps, and add mass to the walls.

So much great information here. Just catching up now. Thank you everyone.

To the poster who recommended motion sensor lights: my parents have these and they seem to malfunction a lot. Having a shower in the evening and the light suddenly going off has completely put me off this.

We are tentatively decided that we are building two walls to enclose a pentagonal shower to allow for an internal recess in one wall and an external recess in the other. I can't find many examples of this online so I feel brave and intrepid in this choice. We will use panels within, as recommended, if we can find a suitable match to floor tiles, but will otherwise tile within the shower and paint everywhere else. Thank you to everyone who gave advice on this.

I really like the Tikamoon vanities as many have recommended, but I am equally fearful that the top would be stained by water as other previous posters have advocated. We have decided to either have a carpenter make a unit and ask our plasterer to create a concrete top (and have a countertop sink on top), or go for the other brand that was recommended (very very expensive but absolutely what we are looking for).

I now have to choose the right kind of basin taps. I'll definitely NOT have a waterfall tap (thank you, PPs). What do you think are the best style/type of taps?

We also have to decide whether or not to have a fixed shower or a pole adjustable shower in the pentagonal shower. Any advice on this? My husband and I are only 4 inches apart in height so our vertical dimensions aren't a limiting factor for this choice.

Get a fixed shower hung from the ceiling - headache solved! Not sure what they’re called? Maybe a rainfall shower???

Then you have a small cylindrical adjustable shower head on the pole which you need to clean the shower and you can use for the kids!

We've got a rainmaker fixed shower on the ceiling and a pole one on the wall and the control unit allows us to switch between the two. This works really well for us. We all actually prefer the pole one as it's more powerful but it's nice to have the option of the other one for an occasional change.

If you're short of space plan the layout with a full scale floor plan made from newspaper. Draw the outline with chalk & place the layout on top, I did mine in the utility. You can then check the space between item s to ensure there's enough space to move around, open cupboards etc. There are a million bits you never knew existed or that you need e.g . Brackets for basins, waste units threaded or unthreaded ?, Ubends, waste traps for sinks etc, bits for radiators, isolation switches for extractor fans... The list goes on. Make sure your supplier/fitter includes all these bits in the price & you know exactly what you need.

Also imo rainfall showers are overrated. They look good but are actually rubbish to use.

I've just done 3 bathrooms and a WC in our new house and did 2 and a WC in our previous house. I'm bathroomed out!

Just on tikamoon, I had one of their vanities in a bathroom in my old house and had no problem with water marks. You need to treat it with a good product - look at Osmo or Bona. We used Osmo - I think it was their polyx oil.

I strongly agree with PPs who suggested:

• a niche/inset shelf in the shower for your shampoo etc. This is essential!

• depending on the shape of the shower, having the valves away from the stream of water so you can turn it on to warm up without getting wet.

• if you have a fixed shower head, it's worth having a handheld shower for cleaning purposes

• vanity units with storage

• Toilets are expensive - £200 is cheap. I just can't get excited enough about a toilet to spend lots of money. We got ours from RAK for about £250 each and I've been impressed - they have a strong flush as another poster said.

Some other thoughts:

We sourced pretty much everything ourselves online. Prices vary dramatically so it's worth doing a lot of googling when you find something you like. Also prepare for things to be damaged/missing. It's a painful experience.

Avoid Victoria plum/Victorian plumbing etc like the plague. Know loads of people who've had problems. We've bought a few things from big bathroom shop who I thought might be of the same ilk but have had great customer service from them.

If you have dark floor tiles (black/charcoal) it's worth getting a slate/black shower tray as a white one is a bit jarring.

Avoid encaustic tiles unless you want to seal them and maintain them. They have amazing designs but I wouldn't fit them in a bathroom again as they're v high maintenance.

On tiling, I have both fully tiled and half and half. I love half with a dark paint colour or wallpaper but I think for the style you like I'd go for fully tiled. Tile companies I like/recommend are Mandarin Stone, Ca Pietra, Artisan of Devizes. I tend to go for an expensive tile for one area (generally floor) and then cheaper tiles for the other area (usually walls)!

We have black taps/shower hardware in one bathroom and people have warned me they're a pain to keep clean. I don't care at the moment as they suit the industrial style of that bathroom but I may not be so forgiving in 6 months time!

Oh, I am shamelessly marking my place. Thanks to all for lovely tips!

This is a weird one that no one else has mentioned.
We went with the shower recommended by our local independent bathroom showroom.
We have a megaflo system and our old shower delivered 20 ltr a minute .
The new shower was feeble so we measured it and it was 10 ltr a minute . That was all it was capable of . It came out the next week and was replaced with a much better one.