Bathroom reno and I'm totally clueless - help!

[Garlicnaan]

We need to renovate our bathroom, but I've never renovated anything before beyond painting walls and having carpets fitted... And I have no idea where to start! I'm hoping someone here can help.

Do I need to find and buy all the parts etc or do I work with the fitters and their suppliers?

In what order should I do things?

Can I keep my existing loo and sink if we're changing the floor and all the tiles?

Are there cheap ways I can increase water pressure?

What should I spend on, and where can I save? Are there parts of labour that are expensive eg lots of small tiles vs large ones I imagine are quite time consuming?

Any recommendations on how much of the wall etc to tile?

Anything else I need to consider when it comes to bathrooms?

Would also really welcome any recommendations for suppliers or tile manufacturers - thank you!

Depends on budget - if you have a bit more to spend, a company will come out and spec it for you and project manage it all (e.g. Wickes). Otherwise you can source the fittings yourself and organise the trades and save a bit but that probably takes a bit longer. First point of call is probably to get a plumber who does bathroom fitting round and ask them your questions, make some notes and get a ballpark quote!

Agree with PP. The best place to start is to get a recommendation of a good local plumber.

Have a look on-line for style of bathroom and tiles or shower wall that you like, and show him the pictures of the style you prefer. Then get him to quote for the job.. He'll source products for you from the plumber's merchants.

I recently had a renovation done and I kept the loo and flooring, but replaced bath, shower, basin and taps. Mine was to deal with specific problems though. You can change or keep whatever you like.

I got recommendations for an independent bathroom fitter who had a trade discount with a local supplier. They did a design based on the dimensions and existing services. They had loads of different makes. I chose the fittings I liked and got advice from the fitter whether anything needed changing. Re water pressure-is your boiler combi? Our old shower was dreadful and we discussed ways to increase pressure-but we bought a Mira Excel shower and that sorted out the trickly shower problem on its own.

When I did my bathroom I chose all the fittings myself. It was a complete refurb. The plumber then fitted it.

It's the plumbing and electrics that cost the most. So I kept everything were it was so I didn't have to move plumbing or electrics.

You can keep whatever you like but it may make things a little more awkward. With mine it was a complete strip which was faster but also uncovered additional work to be done like plastering.

We just used one company and they did everything. Past experience in a previous house was that if we bought some items ourselves and had different tradespeople in then if there was a problem further down the line it's difficult to work out who was at fault.

A few years ago we had a problem with a shower tray but because we'd used a bathroom fitting company for absolutely everything they had to come out and replace it free of charge.

We used easybathrooms who did a 3D design for us, our plumber suggested them. If you don't have a plumber in mind, pop to easybathrooms and they usually have business cards for local plumbers/bathroom fitters.

Great thank you. We're trying to do it on a tight budget, please can I ask you to give me your approximate total you spent? Bathroom has a bath, separate shower unit, loo, heated towel rail and sink. We also need new windows but have budgeted for those separately. I'm guessing we should get those fitted first.

I'm also in the same position so watching with interest!

Under no circumstances get Wickes to install your bathroom. I did, and eventually had to pay an independent plumber to sort out all the issues.

Definitely do the windows first, we had a similar renovation. Windows were done first, plasterwork and plumbing. Then everything fitted plus tiling. It was around £13k, but that included a new boiler and the windows so maybe around 9kish for the bathroom

Mine was 7 years ago and it was £6k all in for a roll top bath (ridiculous purchase and never again. I had 2 baths in it), separate rainforest shower, basin, loo, wall and floor tiles. I paid extra for plastering, lights and skip. But I kept costs as low as possible by shopping around for the bits.

The wall tiles were fab but I will never have porcelain floor tiles again. I used a local very good plumber but it took him 2 weeks!