Bathroom redo - where to spend, where to save?

[Kucingsparkles]

Our main bathroom was a bit crap when we moved in many years ago and has got worse with time (I could make a list but would take too long). Then just before Christmas, ironically while we were discussing whether we could afford replace it in the next couple of years, I glanced up at the kitchen ceiling and noticed a stain - yep, the bathroom was leaking. Everybody in the house is now using our tiny en suite.

I have contacted a couple of bathroom installers who will (hopefully) come around and quote. I am expecting they will want to know roughly what we want done: given that this is an unplanned bathroom redo, what can we save money on, and what should we pay more for?

For example, we would expect that it's worth getting a good brand of shower and a decent bathtub that doesn't move when you get in. And we'd save instead by getting standard white 15x15 tiles or whole wall panels. Is this right?

Depends on whether you are selling soon or plan to stay for many years.

We recently renovated our family bathroom but I knew we would sell within the year so didn't want to spend too much. Areas which were easy to save on included tiles and flooring and painting the whole thing. It still cost much more than I initially anticipated though because of the fitting, which was a huge chunk - difficult to get a discount on that unless you know someone who will help you.

Could you not get the leak fixed for now and figure out the job you want to do in the next couple of years rather than doing it cheap and cheerful? Always better to plan big jobs properly if possible.
That said, we had a stain under our ensuite when we moved in that we assumed was historical and fixed because that's what normal people do. Turned out no, the previous (now deceased) residents just shut the door on it, and to fix it did take ripping out the bath (which we'd never used thank the lord, as we'd have had major problems as the waste was shot). So perhaps investigate the leak and whether there's a fix to let you plan better?

No thoughts on this either way! We're not planning to sell up for the foreseeable future, but have no particular fondness for the house and so we could decide to jump ship if something came up.

We ended up having to do a bathroom refit in similar circumstances as few years ago (although it was on the cards eventually due to horrible eighties tiling and scratched and water stained sanitary ware).

First thing - it is worth getting all the internal pipe work thoroughly looked at and replaced if possible - we did that as well as having all the connections to the main pipes properly jetted. It has made such a difference - we haven't had any leaks since and hardly ever get blocked pipes (we were averaging a blocked drain a fortnight before).

We got the walls completely tiled (small bathroom) and that helps with keeping it clean and controlling condensation/mould. We went for plain white metro tiles with a cobalt blue pencil and dado tile border at shoulder height for interest. That sounds a bit plain but the slightly industrial look it is in keeping with our thirties flat. One thing i regret is getting white rather than grey grout (I was wary it would look like a public toilet but the amount of time I spend scrubbing the grout now) Walls and Floors are great for tiles.

I think unless you have specialist needs you can save on sanitary ware - it is possible to spend loads on baths, sinks etc.. We just went with plain white D shaped bath and a plain porcelain sink, under sink drawers and a mirrored cabinet. Our bathroom fitter had a trade account at a plumbers merchant so got these for a good deal.

One of the better things we did was get the radiator moved, we had loads of stupid boxed in pipes - our fitter moved the radiator and replaced it with a tall one so he could removed all the boxed in popes, that were no good to anyone except for gathering dust and bashing ankles.

best decision - getting an under sink storage unit with pull out drawers (like pan drawers) - life changing!

worst decision - not getting heated towel rail.

Also - do not tile in the bath panel and remember to add an inspection panel if your stop cock is in the bathroom.

We bought bathroom set from Wickes, kept the electric shower, used aqua board instead of tiles. It was fitted by a local plumber and carpenter as also remade the airing cupboard. This was done in 2018 and looks as good as when fitted.

Could you not get the leak fixed for now and figure out the job you want to do in the next couple of years rather than doing it cheap and cheerful?

Ah, well, that takes us to one of the things that is crap about this bathroom and why we would have replaced it in a couple of years anyway. The entire bath (under which the drainage for the sink also runs) is completely tiled and grouted to the walls and floor. In order to investigate the leak, we'd have to smash off the whole bath panel.

Then we have another crap thing, which is that the shower has inexplicably got less and less warm in recent months. The other shower in our en suite is fine, so it's not a hot water problem. To fix that, would involve getting behind the tiles too. So already the main bathroom was not very useful as we were only using it for the occasional bath and DDs brushing their teeth.

Obviously we could just fix the leak and put back a random panel and carry on not using the bathroom for anything except brushing teeth, but this seems almost like a false economy too - a whole room almost useless, whilst our en suite gets everybody in it all the time.

I think you are right - once the panel has been stoved in and the bath removed then you may as well carry on. As an aside what sort of insane person tiles in a bath panel? I mean if you are going to do for aesthetic reasons that at least make it removable! Our boiler pipes in the kitchen are boxed in with a little tiled removable cover so when the boiler is serviced it just has to be pulled out. I assume something similar could be done for a bath (although why you would - bath panels are usually made to seamlessly match the bath in terms of colour and design so IMO look fine untiled)

It could also be you need to remove at least the panel, if not the bath, for a bit to dry out/repair the wet floor underneath the bath - is the floor concrete or wooden floor boards?

We had a new bathroom a few years ago. I wish we had spent more on taps as they are corroding. Initially we had a dark grey floor that showed up all water marks. If you are having a cabinet unit with inbuilt sink, it is worth getting a good one
You could save on mirror. Bigger tiles are cheaper to fit than small ones

We had a similar leak issue, the water started to drip from the kitchen ceiling. We claimed in insurance and got most of the new bathroom paid for and the ceiling replastered. If you go down this route, don’t take the cash they offer! We got 3 quotes and negotiated with the insurance company. Also don’t forget to keep the VAT receipts and you will need to claim that back after separately (well with our company you did).

It could also be you need to remove at least the panel, if not the bath, for a bit to dry out/repair the wet floor underneath the bath - is the floor concrete or wooden floor boards?

Oh God, you think? <wails> It'll be wooden floorboards (1920s house).

By the way, thanks everyone for your comments! I am taking copious notes.

Sorry to hear that this sounds very annoying indeed (similar we couldn't get to our leaky waste to fix it without the whole bath coming out as the plumbing had been done in such a way that there was no access). We fixed that.
Spending on cabinets is worthwhile, we have a lovely unit now with proper storage cupboards for cleaning stuff, spare loo rolls etc, which we'll replicate when we finally do the family bathroom from it's current carpeted 1970s hell. Agree with others that sanitaryware is an area you can save on, but get good taps and flooring.
Do have a good think about the space and whether the current layout is optimal, moving a soil pipe is costly and challenging, but moving sinks and bath/shower far less so. Think about electrical work at the start too, e.g. fans and wired in wall cabinets need a first fix to get the cables in after the smashing stuff up point.

Storage and lighting. If you have a good tiler, you can do amazing things with basic metro tiles. We spent big on both bathrooms and the downstairs loo five years ago, but it still looks brand new. What kind of water do you have? If it's hard, think about a softener if you spend a lot on the taps (especially those daft flat pouring ones like we have in the en suite).

Hi @Kucingsparkles what a faff for you. We're in the process of updating our ensuite and did our family bathroom just over a year ago but at least able to do it at our own pace. We've done a few renovations so things I've learnt are...
Other than in the thickness of the acrylic one acrylic bath is much like another. I would save rather than spend on it unless you want something very specific. I wanted an extra deep standard sized bath and it was still only around the £350 mark
Tiling with metro/square white tiles I'd second what @mazylou says, the key is to get a really good tiler especially if you're going to use a darker grout. They are great and cheap but very noticeable if not done well.
Victorian plumbing (not Victoria Plum!) do great quality fittings and reasonable prices. We've just bought another toilet and shower from them. The shower is Hudson Reed, manufactured in the UK for about £400.

Personal preference but I hate shower panels and am getting them removed in our ensuite, I've never seen any that don't look plasticy. They are also not cheap to buy though they are cheaper to fit.
Definitely consider storage early, just like in kitchens drawers are much easier to use then cupboards if you're going with a sink with storage underneath.
I've had a few of the Ikea ones and always been pleased with them.
If you haven't already I'd have a look at pinterest/instagram to find some bathroom styles you like. I've noticed that a lot of bathroom fittings searches are broken down into Traditional/Modern so it helps to narrow things down if you know what style you're looking for.

Yeah we were encouraged to get a shower panel around our bath (we have a shower over the bath) by our plumbers merchant. I refused as I thought it would look too institutional. I stand by the decision (even having spent two hours this week with bar keepers friend paste and a small brush scrubbing grout).

Our, good, plumber said - sanitary ware is sanitary ware...don't go over board on that. Good shower makes a big difference as does a good extractor fan.

We spent quite a lot on the taps.....but got them on line so was a big reduction on from the plumber's merchant.

Fittings that are chrome and won't rust.

Tiles - just get plain ones and only tile where you need to. Then if you sell you can quickly repaint the non tiled walls.

We had a very similar situation and just had our bathroom redone. We saved by not replacing the toilet or basin (changed taps and had new plug put in) so that looks new now. Didn’t change where anything was so was a direct replacement. We went with aqua panels instead of tiles which worked out so much cheaper. In total it cost us £2200 we got an independent fitter same bathroom at B&Q £5000. I got what I wanted made up and then nearly died with the price and lead times was looking at January, this was back in November which wouldn’t have worked anyway as we had water pissing through ceiling and no other option for washing

we had water pissing through ceiling and no other option for washing

Oh poor you! We are fortunate in having another bathroom, but still it would be good to get the whole thing over and done with.

Will probably be doing a slight change to layout. The current location of the sink is really annoying. Can't open the glass shower screen without it crashing into the sink. So I'm thinking we would move the sink opposite the loo and also get a P-shaped bath (see my not-to-scale sketches).

I'm resurrecting the thread because we finally have some progress on getting a tradesperson. We don't have a start date for the work yet but he's recommended we choose (and if necessary order) our fittings.

After looking at a million chunky brochures and several showrooms, we have pretty much decided on the bath/sink/loo/taps/etc. Also we will be going for big rectangular white wall tiles, brick pattern, grey grout. I care not how boring this seems.

Our sticking point is the flooring. We decided on wood effect, but can't stretch to underfloor heating and so would prefer LVT or similar. Before I plunge into Advanced Search for 2394875 Property threads about wood effect vinyl, does anybody have (affordable) recommendations for the most wood-looking plank-looking vinyl flooring?

Karndean for the vinyl flooring.

Only just seen this thread, could you get a stand-alone shower cubical behind the door/opposite the loo?

Can't help with flooring, I'm looking at Tapi myself.

Have you decided on layout, because I have comments about that but if you're happy with what you've decided I won't

Layout not confirmed yet! Comment away!

Not sure of the dimensions of your bathroom but wondered whether this might work? If the sink is behind the door it would bash it when you open the door and this way the suite is grouped together so your floorspace isn't broken up, which I think helps a bathroom seem spacious.

This is what I would do too.

I also would not put the sink behind door.
Could the loo go behind the door mounted on other wall to the one you suggested for sink?
Could the sink then go beside the loo nearer to window?
Love the large format white tiles. I've only seen them NOT in brick layout and low gloss with grey grout - very smart looking.
Love the wood look vinyl idea.
Don't skimp on water and sound proofing.