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 following this with interest, as our family bathroom & en-suite are both due an overhaul.

For those of you that used panels rather than tiles - did you just use them in the shower/around the bath, or did you do the whole bathroom in them?

What happens where they join together? - do you you have a visible join, or a joining strip or something? And can you drill into them to put fixtures on the wall?

Strongly echo previous poster who said avoid nooks and crannies - murder to clean. The house we moved into a few years ago had new bathrooms but with horrendously fiddly fittings,. They harbour dust, scale, mould and are hell to clean. They trap water, too. Really irritating.

In fact, think of how you might easily and simply clean anything, before you install it.

Personally, I HATE those basins sunk into sheets of stuff with a sort of rolled edge surroubding - the water gets down into any gaps behind the back and on the surrounding surface. Ugh.

Non-slip floors in shower enclosures are absolutely essential. We recently stayed in very posh very nice 5* accommodation. The big, glossy shower enclosure was just that: glossy. I had to hury out to find the nearest Boots to buy a rubber shower mat before either of us dared step inside.

Last but not least: ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. Especially if this is an en-suite. Who wants to go to bed surrounded by stale en-suite/loo smells? I'd never buy a house with any sort of bathroom - even an ensuite - without a proper openable window.

Sorry for typos - more haste, less speed.

@RockaLock

I'm following this with interest, as our family bathroom & en-suite are both due an overhaul.

For those of you that used panels rather than tiles - did you just use them in the shower/around the bath, or did you do the whole bathroom in them?

What happens where they join together? - do you you have a visible join, or a joining strip or something? And can you drill into them to put fixtures on the wall?

Ours are completely panelled, walls and ceilings. The panels are about 40-45cm in width, and full length floor to ceiling. There's no joining strip, they butt right up next to each other. Ours actually look like large tiles as they have a horizontal line as part of the pattern. Yes you can drill into them, we bought virtually all our fixtures from the showroom because then the fitters were responsible for drilling and attaching them, but at a later date DH did drill and attach a new mirror.

Absolutely agree with @SylviaTrench about rectangular wash basins not draining properly. We had one like that in the previous bathroom and hated it so much that we ended up ripping it out not long after it was installed (think not just water stains but DH wet shaving and "bits" floating in there forever ). Fortunatelly, we managed to find a replacement basin that had a similar rectangular footprint (so it fitted well onto the existing vanity unit) but a curved bottom profile inside (so that water drained better), if that makes sense.

Sit in the bath before you buy it. Mine looks lovely but no way near as comfy as old blue bath to lie in. In fact you almost can't lie in it have dot sit upright as steep sides!

@RockaLock

I'm following this with interest, as our family bathroom & en-suite are both due an overhaul.

For those of you that used panels rather than tiles - did you just use them in the shower/around the bath, or did you do the whole bathroom in them?

What happens where they join together? - do you you have a visible join, or a joining strip or something? And can you drill into them to put fixtures on the wall?

Joining - you can get them flat edged ( usually for corners ) , those edges go into a ‘profile’ ( aluminium strip ) which you squeeze sealant into first, or the edges are designed like click together flooring.

Panels come in various widths. We used 90cm wide.

Yes you can drill through. Ideally you’d be drilling through to a wall stud (or wall ) if you’re hanging anything heavy.
They’re either plywood , mdf or sometimes ‘plastic’.’ But you know that before you buy!

@tanstaafl @Justcannotbearsed I should have tagged you in my post re anti scald thermostatic mixer valves. These have a dial to set the water temperature and mix cold into the hot water, ours are set at about 45C which is hot but not dangerous.

I've used a lot of bathrooms, the things I've noticed which I don't want in my bathrooms are the toilets where the pooh doesn't drop down but sits on a shelf (nice) & so many bad sink & tap combos. Sometimes the sink is too shallow so the water splashes out or the taps don't stick out enough to wash hands comfortably or to splash your face.

Don't go for small tiles, too much grout

@Ruralbliss

Sit in the bath before you buy it. Mine looks lovely but no way near as comfy as old blue bath to lie in. In fact you almost can't lie in it have dot sit upright as steep sides!

I'd really emphasise this point - when we moved in to our current house it had what looked like a beautiful luxury bath - totally amazing, freestanding, etc – but when you were actually in the bath, the sides were so steep and angular that it was incredibly uncomfortable to a point it gave both of us backache!

If you had asked me before, I would've said that it wasn't possible to be so bad, but it really was ridiculously uncomfortable - and yet had presumably cost quite a lot of money (the previous bath in our old house had clearly been cheap as chips, and yet was really comfortable to lie in).

It also had the plughole directly in the centre which is a fairly unhelpful place when you lie in the bath…needles to say, that bath has come out now!

Consider micro-cement, no grout.

Re the sitting in the bath before you buy it. I did this in the showroom, much to the amusement of the sales person.

We bought the new bath, guess what? Yep it's uncomfortable. Turns out that actually having water in the bath makes a huge difference, sitting in a dry bath in the showroom does not give an accurate experience.

Our old bath the back rest must have been at a more gradual slope and I think wasn't as deep as the new one. So in the old bath I could lay right back, fully submerged up to my upper chest. In the new bath I'm unable to do that, I'm in more of an upright position, and even though the width is the same I feel as if my arms are more trapped somehow.

cries for old bath

Another thing I've noticed, the old taps we had were a curved spout, the new ones are angular and flat. So with the curved ones any water naturally dripped off. The angular ones tend to get water residue sitting on them unless it's wiped off. Style over substance.

For those that have gone for wall panels, any brands you would recommend? Bushboard, Multipanel, Eclisse have popped up on searches.

Good point re curves on taps, sinks etc, to help water run off rather than sit there.

Bath comfort was achieved with a pillow

Watching with interest as renovating a house with 4.5 bathrooms- so need all the help I can get!

Don’t skimp on the cost of the actual fittings - you live with them for a long time.

Roca - a widely available Spanish brand is great - eg Roca Giralda WC

Choose a soft-close seat

Find space for a half wall of custom-cut mirror if you can

Wall hung basins (rather than pedestal) clean lines and increase the feelings of space

A steel bath if you can - German brand Bette is good

Ugh this has just reminded me - when you’re sitting in the bath in the shop, look where the overflow hole is. The bottom of this is your waterline. Ours is really low and even though I’m not exactly a whale, the water doesn’t even cover me fully when I lie down! And I like a nice deep bath 😡

Panels instead of tiles ours still look like new
A cupboard for each member of the household & more
Karndean type floor
Locks on the doors that can be opened from the outside
Powerful quiet extractor on time that goes off 5 min after light goes off
Enough space for all towels to be hung & dry

@JustOneShake

For those that have gone for wall panels, any brands you would recommend? Bushboard, Multipanel, Eclisse have popped up on searches.

Good point re curves on taps, sinks etc, to help water run off rather than sit there.

We put multipanel in the en-suite and Showerwall in the main bathroom.

Showerwall were mdf with the waterproof outer, multipanel were plywood with waterproof outer.

@HandlebarLadyTash that's good to know, which ones have you got?

How do you clean panels, I usually have to get the Viakal out on shower screens/taps even though there is a water softener (something we will probably change as it does not seem to be working very well anymore).

@WhatDidISayAlan

Ugh this has just reminded me - when you’re sitting in the bath in the shop, look where the overflow hole is. The bottom of this is your waterline. Ours is really low and even though I’m not exactly a whale, the water doesn’t even cover me fully when I lie down! And I like a nice deep bath 😡

Dd has this problem in her rental flat - she got a bath overflow cover from the rainforest and said it's a game changer!

We’ve just added an en-suite - things I learnt -

I hate fully tiled bathrooms. They don’t feel luxurious more like a changing room. We went for more of a furniture look that happened to be a bathroom.

Storage! You can get the Electrian to put the shaver/charger point in the vanity unit cupboard so it’s all hidden

I didn’t really see the difference between a bar shower and a concealed one. Bar controls are all out there so easier to get to if they leak.

Go for semi recessed basin on a vanity unit if you need to save space. Don’t put the vanity unit next to the bath - the plumber can’t reach the bath taps….

I came on to say exactly this about taps.

The angular ones tend to get water residue sitting on them unless it's wiped off. Style over substance.

They look messy as soon as you've used them.

I love my comfort height toilet (at average woman height), but my disabilities might play a role in that. Like the sitting in the bath, sitting on a toilet might be something to consider. Soft close toilet seats all the way though.

Also, if having a shower tray, build in seat. We have one fixed to the wall that folds out, so good when I'm sore to sit or just want to scrub about my lower legs and feet in more comfort. There are also corner tubs that have a raised seat section that my father used to have that I liked and I'm eyeing up for when we redo the downstairs.

One thing I am trying to work out for when redoing the other bathroom is dealing with hair - it seems to stick to all the white goods and it's so frustrating to try to clean, never had this before we moved here.

Which reminded me, make sure any plug holes are easy to clean, some of the more intricate pretty ones can be a pain if things to stick to the bottom of them.