New bathroom... what would you recommend, what do you wish you'd done?

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On the brink of starting a major bathroom redo.

Would love to have an idea of (recent) costs - we will need to take out an old hot water tank and boiler, and remove the cupboard the tank was in. Hoping to reuse at least the basin...

i have this on the wall- my fav thing

https://www.smithersofstamford.com/storage-furniture/concrete-paper-storage.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwv-2pBhB-EiwAtsQZFMaZEpISjiCEgy7TcuOIkMNks0TStX--qFwQNRq39esN71CiuFTF1RoChOcQAvD_BwE

didn’t get a heated towel rail- wish I had!

That's a sweet spider holiday camp.

We have a combi boiler and excellent water pressure in our shower. I am really picky about it so i promise you it’s not just a case of us not knowing what we are missing!

controls don’t have to be outside the shower exactly, just reachable without the water going on you, so we have a long rectangular walk in shower and the controls face you on the wall as you go in, but you turn left to go under the shower, if you see what I mean.

Dark grout without a doubt

We got both the bathroom and ensuite done a couple of years ago, and the boiler and water tank replaced, at the same time, and a wardrobe taken out to give us more room in the bathroom, £25k. Our only regret is that we went for a frameless shower in the en-suite. The walls were not square, so the panels have never sat properly, so the door leaks, grrrrr. No amount of silicon seal will fix it. Couldn't have an open shower because it's small, so should have gone for a standard box shower in there. C'est la vie. Everything else was perfect. Everything boxed in, mood lighting, big fuck off tiles everywhere, but not fully tiled, toilet and sinks flush and off the floor, walk in shower and oval bath. Big radiators and towel driers off the mains hot water. Extractor with override switch, so only comes on when if you want it, then automatically goes off after 5 mins or so when the light is switched off, and has an automatic breeze cover thing.

Check the height of the toilet you order. Turns out ours is 8cm taller than many which means it is uncomfortable for the shorter members of our family

As a few PP have said. Think practicalities/maintainance before you think aesthetics and you will thank yourself in the future

1. Radiator/towel rail that you can control independently of the central heating. Otherwise you cannot dry towels in the spring/autumn if the heating is not on

2. Accessibility to plumbing. Do NOT put the bath taps on the "wall" side of th bath. Looks great, but when the taps go (they are generally only warranty for 5 years as limescale will eventually fuck them) you then have to either consider pulling out the whole (tiled in) bath just to replace the taps. (Or you are lucky and have a fabulous builder who managed to replace them from beneath/making a hole in the porch ceiling!)

3. Have an "exposed" shower - so the chrome pipe coming to the shower head is external to the wall - rather than behind the tiles. So if shower breaks after 8 years and needs replacing, you do not have to messing around with tiling.

4. Hand towel rail. Bog standard ones (rings of some sort attached to the wall) always are the first thing to "go". Think about how to avoid them. We have one in our downstairs loo (had to repair several times) - but in the other two bathrooms have the handrails as part of the sink like the pic - zero issues 10 years on

+1 to this. So nice to be able to run it on electric as well as part of the heating.

Our towel radiator is only connected to the central heating and it's not an issue at all because I just turn the radiators in the rest of the house off in the spring and then the towel radiator is the only one that comes on with the heating in the morning. We have an electric towel radiator in our old bathroom and it's quite expensive to run plus it has to be manually turned on and off.

Underfloor heating here too. Wish we had put it in. Would have been an extra thousand pounds, so decided against it.
Things we did that I like:
Walk in shower
Rain shower attachment
Mirror with light
Vanity unit
Curved bath
Built in shelf in shower
Floor to ceiling tiles

Our towel radiator is connected to the hot water system AND the heating. This means that in summer, I can set it on low (although annoyingly, it's not very low - the thermostat is shite) and it will heat up and dry the towels even though the heating isn't on. And in winter, it keeps the bathroom nice and warm even on days, the rest of the heating hasn't come on. It's also handy as the hot water tends to kick in after a shower, so the towels then get nice and dry.

We also installed electric underfloor heating. It's on low mostly but really lovely when it's very cold to activate it a bit warmer.

Ours is too small for recessed spots around bath/shower but that is th one thing I'd have loved if we'd had the space. Convenient, attractive and a lot easier to clean than any metal/plastic things.

We DID manage to put a nice glass shelf above the bath for use in the shower (the shower is over the bath) and that's great as it holds a lot, looks nice and is still easy to clean.

Put as much storage in as you can. I wish we'd done drawers rather than cupboards under the sink.

You are lucky that you have good enough mains pressure to drive two showers at once plus a combi boiler powerful enough to heat the water demand.

It is not usual. I'm pretty sure in my place it would fail horribly, especially since the two showers are on the top floor.

We only have one shower, that’s plenty for our family of 3 people, one of whom is 7 and showers in the evening!

I just installed a normal rail above the radiator. The towel hangs down and dries when the CH is on. Cheapskate and its not a heated towel rail I know.

I second the water softner. The thing is if you look in your shower cubical nearly all the scum and mess is caused by limescale. Removal of that and your shower will look good for much much longer. Also things like bar mixer showers will not clog up, and cleaning everything becomes much much easier. Not only in the bathroom but they will also help increase the lifespan of stuff like dishwashers and washing machines. I think they are well worth it.

This!

I didn't find our water softener expensive in the big scheme of things - about £750 including fitting. And then about £5 worth of salt per month.

Sorry haven't read the full thread- just done ours and everyone is quite jealous of my wall mounted toothbrush charger 😂😂 They mocked me but now they want one 😬😂

My tips

Niche in shower/beside bath for toiletries (only possible if stud wall or build out)

Shower controls on the long wall, not under shower head, to avoid wet arm

Walk in shower with glass panel is best, means no rubber bits to get manky. However shower screen needs to be >1m to avoid splashing

Shower enclosures with sliding doors - you get what you pay for - more money = better mechanics and thicker glass

If water pressure is poor then avoid huge rainfall showerhead, choose smaller angled head for better shower

If doing shower over bath: install shower head on short wall above shower screen height. Put shower/bath controls and bath tap on long wall (or use bath filler). Then get a glass shower screen that folds a full 90 degrees so it can fold flat against the short wall, under the shower head. This way you can have an unobstructed bath.

Choose a basin with lots of ceramic surface area around the sink to put toothbrush etc. Don’t choose bowl style basins, collect dirt round where bowl meets surface.

Vanity unit with deep drawers is ideal for quickly putting things away of you like a clear surface.

Avoid black taps or dark tiles with hard water

Tiles with a bit of a speckle or pattern are much more forgiving in terms of showing dirt

Never use white grout

Large tiles in shower and on floor to reduce grout lines to go grubby

Matt stone resin (Lusso Stone et al) looks lovely but is harder to keep clean than ceramic

Brushed stainless show marks less than chrome

Don’t choose a loo with a “poo shelf”. Do consider rimless

Wall hung loos and sinks/vanitys are easier to clean under but cost more as you need the frame, concealed cistern etc

Get wediboard or marine ply and/or ditra matting laid under the flooring in any areas likely to get wet

some more

toothbrush/shaver socket installed inside a cupboard so it’s hidden

plan in space for loo roll holder, laundry baskets, waste bin

extractor fan - look on Quietmark website for quiet one and have an override switch so you can turn it off for a relaxing bath

have lights on dimmer for relaxing bath/nighttime. Or have some smaller lights (eg beside mirror) on a separate circuit so you can turn just those on

Lights either side of mirror are way more flattering than above mirror

If space is tight a sliding door can really help

If you like warmed towels or your towels struggle to dry then dual fuel towel rail so you can turn on with electric when heating’s not on

Oh and contrary to a few pp - we have electric ufh but have never used it - but the bathroom is above kitchen so floor stays warm. Depends what’s below

did bathrooms last year. Firstly things I did wrong

1. marble is beautiful. but putting a stone in the bathroom that doesn't like water is only OK if you never plan to use the bathroom. frankly I would have saved a ton of money and stress by getting standard ceramic tiles.

1. villeroy and boch shower trays - just no. uneven surface with water collecting in corners. paid a ridiculous sum and feel mugged off.

1. ensure water pump/pressure is correct for the shower you have. had to change my mains water pump because it wasn't matched up correctly

1. don't get fancy arezzo towel rail. looks great but basically a rip off and because of the design air keeps getting trapped.

basically dont be superficial like. functionality over aesthetics every time.

Things I did right:

1. a toto toilet. I didn't want a bidet system but the standard toto toilets have something called a tornado flush which does not spray at all and it's a great toilet. I got a grohe cistern to go with it. either way absolutely get a rimless system whichever brand you go for.

1. Full upto the ceiling mirror above the sink (tiled backsplash and then mirror). makes the bathroom feel much larger.

1. tile all the way up the walls to the ceiling

1. love my merlin shower enclosure, other similar brands also available. make sure to get the correct thickness glass. have a Google about it before choosing.

1. get a very powerful extractor fan.

1. ensure they only use plasterboard suitable for bathrooms and then put on waterproofing sheets before tiling.

1. protect your carpets! get stick on carpet protectors and then put tarp down.

1. get new drainage put in while they are in there.

Good luck!

sorry can't help you with price as I got whole house done.... and it was all lumped into one! if you are buying good quality materials all round, I would say you can't do it for less than 10k all included. but that's a massive guesstimate.

Consider the positioning of the tiles, if done badly it can make the bathroom look cheap. We didn’t but our bathroom fitter/tiler was excellent and 5 years on I still appreciate what he did. We’ve got matte hexagonal tiles on the floor and he cut them in half to make a skirting, which really elevated the overall look of the bathroom. One wall isn’t tiled, so just has that. Then with the large wall tiles he positioned the first one behind the bath taps which are central on the side, and all the others followed on and it just looks really smart and intentional. In a tiny bathroom I think it helped to make it look expensive (not that it was cheap - £9k!)

We paid a bit extra for a reinforced bath and I'd never have anything else now. Totally solid, no flex at all as you step in.

We also got a rimless comfort height toilet (Rak Resort) which is brilliant. Fantastic flush, more comfortable for us with the increased height, and just so much easier to clean.

And I also recommend a niche in the shower area if you can. Great to have a place to keep stuff neatly out of the way and no need for caddies.

Underfloor heating. Radiators ruin the aesthetics of every room.