Redoing bathrooms - tips and things to avoid

[JustOneShake]

We are finally renovating bathrooms and I've been to a few showrooms to get a feel for function and aesthetics of showers, enclosures, etc. I have to say, I am totally overwhelmed with the choice out there, for all budgets, so just wanted to know if anyone has done recently, anything you wished you had known beforehand, any particular brands that are brilliant for product and after sales, anything you wouldn't do without. Any tips or anything that we should definitely avoid.

I’m interested in this too. We are hoping to redo the main bathroom next year so am looking for ideas too.

It would be so great if we could get rid of the bath and just have a lovely shower room but it’s the only bath in the house so it might be a mistake to get rid of it. We would really be squeezing things if we keep the bath though.

I've recently done mine and I wish I had tiled every wall from floor to ceiling.

Top top from me: don't box in your pipes.

I know it looks neater, but when you get a drip coming through the ceiling below, you will have to pull off tiles to find the pipe that is leaking.

Love our low profile shower tray with a big glass screen. Asked for a built in alcove for shower gel etc and they forgot. Heated mirror on wall unit. We went for tiles and wish we’d got Lino instead. Underfloor electric heating is lovely. Get a towel tail that you can switch on by electric in summer.

In terms of companies - Drench we're excellent to deal with. Delivered when they said they would, great customer service when I needed to do an exchange.
Victorian Plumbing were OK - my delivery was delayed by covid & I had to call them about it as it didn't turn up when expected - it was delayed and they hadn't let me know. But they did deliver eventually and they exchanged a faulty radiator valve with no quibbles.

If you have electric toothbrushes, have a wall-mounted toothbrush charger fitted…no more annoying wires.

We went for just a walk in shower room upstairs (stole a bit of a bedroom) but we are keeping the downstairs bath.
Everyone's different but personally I would be gutted if we didn't have room for a bath. It's also brilliant being downstairs as we have a mud-loving dog.

More storage than you’ll think you’ll need! My mum advised me this ten years ago when I was redoing a bathroom and I was forever grateful to her tips!

Don't put a bathroom cabinet above the sink as you will smash the sink when you knock the calpol out in the middle of the night whilst sleep deprived. You can get mirrors with heated sections which don't steam up. Check the toilet before you order one. Lots of new ones have a tiny hole for the poo to go in which gets blocked very easily and a shelfy bit which basically just gathers shit smears every time it is used. I made this error and it gave me so much rage we had to replace the toilet. Weirdly cheaper toilets seem to be a lot better.

Don't go for the cheapest option - we used mostly Victorian Plumbing cheaper products and I wish we'd spent a bit more. We've had to replace 4 of the tap valves and 2/3 of our toilet seats. Get the biggest bath you can decently fit in the space. Definitely alcoves or built in shelves in showers - we don't have them and it's a pain having to bend down to pick shampoo etc up off the floor (the stick on ones always fall off eventually).

Think about where the shower controls go.

It's too late for me, I have to reach through the stream of water to turn off the shower. No biggie, but a day or two after our new shower room was finished, we were away for the weekend in an Airbnb where the shower controls were way from the shower head. Genius.

A really random one but buy a second loo seat! Most loo seats are not a standard size now and we have been searching for months to find a replacement that fits. It’s looking likely that we’ll have to replace the whole bloody loo!

Floating toilet& sink + walk in shower. Really easy to sweep a mop around!

Use grey or dark tile grout, keeps looking new for longer, saves having to keep bleaching the white grout.

Go for good branded taps etc. Grohe, Franke or Bristan are good.

We got a digital shower - brilliant. It turns on and off with the touch of a button.

Echo dark grout - or Aquapanel is great.

Good point re loads of storage.

Go for a comfort height toilet, modern toilets are too low if you are anything but tiny. Get the widest shower tray you can so if in the future you need a shower seat there is enough room for one.

When picking a shower look at whether the heating and on/off controls will affect each other if they are separated. Had one shower where turning on/off lever could accidentally turn the heating dial as well, a nasty surprise or worse if your thermostat is set wrong.

If you are not tall or have a disability look at the depth of the bath (such as the old fashioned deep ones) compared to the floor - can you get in and out easily?

A mixer tap. My current place I have very hot water from one tap and very cold from the other, quite a large sink.

Watch out who you buy from, ensure they don't charge a restocking fee. I had to pay 250 quid for a toilet I didn't want and no longer have, which pissed me right off.

Hansgrohe ibox for shower bath controller. So brilliant. Set the temp and it will fill the bath / set shower at that temp. Perfect with DC

Motion light sensor fitted in corner of bathroom at ceiling height and a couple of subtle spotlights. Saves having to put a light on in the dark. Set the timer to turn the light off after you have got back into bed.
Love it.

Agree with the previous poster about the towel rail, really wish I had done that - "get a towel tail that you can switch on by electric in summer"

Really pleased I went for underfloor heating.

Agree go for good quality taps and fittings. I went for Grohe and was really pleased.

Wish I had got a heated vanity mirror.

@TattiePants

A really random one but buy a second loo seat! Most loo seats are not a standard size now and we have been searching for months to find a replacement that fits. It’s looking likely that we’ll have to replace the whole bloody loo!

I second this suggestion.

It sounds weird, but if you know the make and model there are a couple of Italian companies on EBay that make the right size spares for quite a few brands like Lauren.

If you have a small space, wall hung basins and loos make the space easy to clean.

Wall alcoves in the shower collect water and go mouldy. Get a chrome-coated brass basket for the wall. Ideally get a bigger shower enclosure that can accommodate two people, or a parent and child. Also one of those wall hung toilets that don’t touch the floor, much easier to clean under. My sink cabinet is wall hung too so I can just mop the entire floor.

Black tiles - they collect soap scum and are impossible to clean.
Glass walls if youlive in a hard water area.
Shower doors which open outwards - they drip on the floor.

Don't get sliding shower doors as they're an arse to clean. Shower enclosure of at least 1200mm. Good storage in shower cubicle for shampoo/soap etc.