Bathroom: have you just replaced the suite?

[Dillidilly]

Renovating a 1920 house, but most of the renovating money was used to live on during the pandemic year 🙄 so having to abandon our original plans and work to a much stricter budget.

Our en suite is in its own room off our room, and about the size of a family bathroom. The waist-height tiles are not to my taste, but do have a bit of an art deco look I guess, which fits in with period of the house. And they are in good condition.

I've been wondering about just replacing the suite, which is extremely knackered, plus new flooring. And working with the tiles. Beadboard bath panels in a deep green perhaps, etc.

Has anyone done similar and been happy with the results? We were quoted £10K for the free-standing bath bathroom of my dreams, which is completely out of the question now.

If you can't live with it as it is then yes, why not get some quotes. The main issue will be things connecting in the same place - like soil pipes etc....

Can you upload pics? People might be able to offer up better suggestions or spot potential problems if we can see what you're working with.

Good point, @BarrelOfOtters. It's so old that our plumber had to improvise a repair to the cistern because the modern part didn't fit. So age may be an issue with the connections, etc.

The tiles are large faux marble with brown/grey veining, with a decorative border in brown/metallic squares. What grates are about 8 tiles that have the border motif repeated randomly on them.

Please inspire me with your creative ideas to work with the tiles! I was thinking herringbone vinyl flooring, beadboard bath panels in a deep colour and a bathroom chandelier. The room itself is lovely, very bright and airy with a sloped bit of ceiling at one side.

Off to work now, but will on my return!

Would it be so bad to chip the tiles off? Then put panelling up or replacement tiles. It'll probably be easier than trying to work round the tiles. Bathroom suites, if you don't go mad - are very reasonable. Some new flooring. It won't be mega expensive if you don't need new plumbing.

Trying to keep costs as low as possible...

Tiles.
7 of the patterned tile sprinkled around the room.

It's likely that you'll end up with holes/damage to the tiles as any replacement whitegoods will likely have differently placed outlets for pipes/waste. You could run pipes above the tiles, but that's not particularly elegant either. You'll see how things fit exactly once you bought your whitegoods. If you feel they show too much damage to the tiles, you could take off the tiles and a cheaper alternative to replastering and retiling would be to put up a panel (mdf or ply) to cover the damage. That can then get painted and, if you like, styled to your preference, e.g. with plain shaker mouldings or georgian style beeding, or you could use cottage style t&g panelling.

These are the sensible points I need to hear @NellyBarney!

I think you'll have damaged tiles. We just replaced our family bathroom and the walls and flooring will have to be removed once the white goods are gone. Budget for some cheaper tiles and tile only around necessary areas? You can also get laminate for flooring.

Honestly, if the random repeats bother you now they'll bother you even more when you've spent money on a new suite etc. Think about how many times a day you're in your bathroom and how annoying that will be to regret not getting new tiles! I would wait and save up until you can afford to replace them. If money is tight I'd prefer a few months living incredibly frugally rather than going through all the disruption of getting a new bathroom for a result you'll always feel a bit disappointed about.

This is my concern @SaltnPeppaPig
I think we'll just have to hope the loo flush holds out for a bit longer.
I also like the idea of beadboard on the wall instead of tile, which I'm thinking will be cheaper. We have a shower room elsewhere, so it's only me having a bath sometimes in the en suite which means it doesn't get a lot of condensation, etc.

Wise words Mumsnetters, thank you!!

Hi @Dillidilly

We're having to save money on our en-suite renovation so this is all fresh in my mind at the moment. We're going for a mixture of cladding the tiles with T&G Green MDF in places that aren't directly exposed to water and replacing shower panels in the other areas because I dislike them so intensely.

I have done a few bathrooms now though and in my experience there are lots of things that you can do to keep costs down...

1. Don't move anything from it's current locations unless completely necessary
2. Fittings come at lots of price points and you can get a good deal if you shop around. Don't get it all from a bathroom shop and you'll save a fortune
3. Ditto tiles, shop around, online retailers send free samples.
4. You can tile over tile, they don't need to come off but taking them off does cause a mess underneath which you can have re-skimmed and then painted or need to tile over, both will probably cost a similar amount.
5. There are a lot of good and very convincing vinyl flooring options you can look at to save money.

How much is your budget and do you have a particular style in mind?

Does it function? If yes, then carry on saving. Do you have an alternative loo to use if it breaks? If yes carry on saving. You don't NEED to replace it yet.

True @Ariela

@SollaSollewoooh, thank you, I hoped to hear from someone who has also been doing a budget redo.
I hadn't thought about putting the beadboard over the tiles, or tiling over them. Food for thought!

My original plan (DH doesn't much care lol):
*Inexpensive subway tile to waist height to save money
*Heritage/vintage style tile for the flooring.
*Free-standing bath 😍
*Loo/basin art deco squarish styling.
*Bathroom chandelier
*New rad.
*Half height coastal shutters at the window

I think we can save on all that and still get a similar look. E.g. no free standing bath, vinyl flooring, beadboard instead of tiling.

Original rough quote for the above was £10K. Can't afford anywhere near that. We are having to tackle rising damp in utility/kitchen this year and new boiler.
I guess I'd love it to come in at £5K? I also think we could save by removing the tiles and cheap laminate floor ourselves.

Seriously, I'd focus on the rising damp and new boiler, and save for the bathroom. Definitely agree on not having a free standing bath - they must be hell to clean behind!

I had a freestanding bath in my ensuite in our last house and by the end of it didn't use it and used the bath in the other bathroom. It's a pain to clean behind and the water goes everywhere.

Looks great but is just not very practical!

Hahaa, have you both been talking to my DH about the difficulty cleaning around free standing baths?!

Oh yes, those are this year's main projects.

Where are you based @Dillidilly ? Currently getting my bathroom done in south London so could pass on a name.

Also, I'd get some advice on here about your "rising damp", because it's so rare, I doubt you have it. If you don't have to pay £££££ for snake oil damp proofing, you'll have some money for the bathroom!

Thanks @LisaVanderpump1we are on the east coast, but we have a great plumber who has done quite a bit of other work for us including a complete shower room gut and refit.
With regards to rising damp, we've had 2 specialist companies inspect, and I'm lining up a very well respected local company for a final look too. So we're happy with that as they have actually seen and investigated.

I agree that the tiles are likely to get damaged and tiling last is a pain so I’d factor it in at the start.
to save a lot I’d be looking at auctions and returns and second hand. Keep an eye on auctions and you can get a real bargain www.johnpyeauctions.co.uk/Browse/C20021808/BATHROOM-AND-PLUMBING

Another thing I hadn't thought of @Onekidnoclue, thank you!

Yes - beware of people curing rising damp...

It probably isn't rising damp.