New bathroom must dos and don’ts- ideas please!

[AnotherDeadSparrow]

We are about to convert a small bedroom into a shower room with toilet, sink and shower. There’s no plumbing etc there so it’s a blank canvas. Would primarily be for a teen girl but also any guests.

Any things you wish you had or hadn’t done in your bathroom?

Teen would like a decent rain shower (they all fight over our en-suite), and for it not to be too cold. We are thinking of maybe LVT for the floor as warmer underfoot, and plumber has suggested shower panels rather than tiles.

I’m rubbish at interior design and Pinterest etc so thought I’d ask mumsnet instead! Thanks in advance 😊

No, I don’t remember it taking a long time to install or being that disruptive. It is much easier to keep a new bathroom clean with soft water.

We had our water softener installed around 6 months ago and it wasn’t disruptive at all. We had it done before our new bathrooms and the bathrooms still look like new!

Another one recommending the mixer shower - it’s such a faff with a rainwater shower if you just want to hop in and out without washing hair.

Do not get a really textured floor - our vendors had put in tiles that have that ‘rustic’ texture and they just feel dirty even when they are not.

make sure your extractor fan is really good so you can avoid humidity buildup

if you’re getting a rainfall shower, ensure that you also have a height adjustable / angled shower so that you can still shower without getting your hair wet - a removable head also makes it easier to clean

Yup. I mainly got the rainwater one for my 6 foot son. I always use the microphone one as it's easier to manage when washing your hair.

I'm getting a water softener fitted under the kitchen sink, so no disruption to my bathroom.

Re storage, one thing I found difficult to find, was space that was big enough for larger bottles ie toilet cleaner size. I have a wall hung drawer unit around the sink in the main bathroom and it’s not deep enough for the toilet duck. Which now lives in the en-suite where I have cupboards which have adjustable shelves, and it’s a pain moving it for cleaning. But I don’t want it on show in the bathroom.

I love my shower niches, they’ve been a great success. And my water softener which was installed when I had both bathrooms done. I’m in a very hard water area, and limescale is a thing of the past now. It does take up quite a lot of space in the cupboard under the sink in the kitchen though

I disagree with PP, you absolutely need extractor fan even with a window, or at least when you have teenagers that take forever showering, we had an extremely powerful extractor fan fitted which has resolved our damp issues, before we had water running down bathroom walls, condensation issues in other parts of the house, opening bathroom window did not stop this but the extractor does. Bathrooms without adequate extraction could get pulled up by house surveys if you go to sell, not having won’t be a deal breaker on an older house but could still be an issue, they are a requirement on all new builds.

I already commented, but you asked about a softener.

We had several companies come to quote. My wording may not be correct! From memory there were 2 main types. One which re-ionised/refreshed every day a X time, even if you didn't use any water, and the other which only did this when X amount of water was used.

We went with the 2nd option, because we have multiple bathrooms, but majority of the time, just 1 is used. I didn't want to pay for water/electric to re-ionise the softener system when not actually needed. If you have a large household, maybe not such an issue.

1 company sold specifically shaped salt bricks. Not brick shaped, but their own weird brick shape! I didn't want to be tied into buying their own salt!

You can buy softener systems that go inside a kitchen cupboard and can be small, but think about the hopper size where the salt goes. If you have a larger family, get a massive hopper. Its just DH and myself, but we didn't fancy refilling salt every few days if we had guests staying. Even for the 2 of us, refilling weekly would have been a PITA! Our hopper is apparently used in hotels, but we can put in bricks or loose salt pellets bought from anywhere and only re-fill it twice a year.

I have a teenager and a window. He takes more showers, but I take longer.
We don't have any sort of damp problem. Sure, the bathroom gets a bit steamy, but it clears within minutes with the window open.
My house is a mid terrace, built in the 80s.

If you decide on a wet room style shower still have a screen so the whole room doesn't get wet.
Don't have a long thin shower drain as they block very easily and are a pain to clear.
A shaver point/ toothbrush charge in the window recess works well.
We have an electric shower in the bathroom and one off the combi boiler in the shower room. When the boiler played up this was a godsend until we could get the boiler fixed - however I chose a mirror fronted shower and some of the mirroring has worn off.
We have three separate pull cords in the bathroom as we didn't want the extractor to come on every time you turned the bathroom light on. The light switch is on the right as you enter. The shower and extractor are behind the door so you can't turn them on by accident.
Position your toilet roll holder so you can reach it but don't constantly knock the toilet roll off. Choose one that isn't fixed to allow for the larger rolls that are now being sold.
Think carefully about the design of your toilet. We have a back to wall one with very smooth lines to make cleaning easier rather than an ornate one. Wall hung ones are only any good if someone heavy won't be using it as they can cause tiles to crack.
The dual fuel radiators sound like a good idea.

Single door on a shower. The double doors only open a tiny way, but the natural instinct is to open the like saloon doors so they end up being slammed open and shut (especially with teenagers I'd imagine!). Plus I think over time they inevitably end up not shutting properly so water will get out. Whereas a single door overlaps.

I got a cupboard under the sink for storage. But the edges of the sink are really flat and water seems to spill off easily. And because the cupboard goes right down to the floor I think it has caused some water damage on the bottom.

You aren't having a bath, but for others- don't get square taps! Really bloody painful to bump into!

Do not get square shaped sink or shower fittings, water & muck stays on the flat side & in the corners, so it's a pain cleaning.

If you go for tiles in the shower, make sure the fitters install tile backer board. It's got concrete to ensure it's non permeable to water, even moisturise resistant plasterboard will be affected by water if there's a leak.

We had electric underfloor heating & tiles at our last house but installed sheet vinyl here with no ufh, will be using the sheet vinyl in the next house as it's so much cheaper (could spend more on fixtures!) easy to install & clean & less likely to get damaged if something heavy is dropped.

Wall hung toilets need an excellent concealed frame, like gerbit. Our RAK frames creak :(

We have a kinetico self cleaning block salt water softener. It gets installed where the mains comes into the house, cost about £1700 excluding fitting, our plumber charged a days wages for fitting vs £100s if we'd used the supplier. If you can get one it will make everything soooo much easier: washing clothes & dishes, less soap/shampoo & softer on your skin!

@rosemarble ours is 1930’s detached, which had a damp issue, which has cleared since the extractor, I have 2 teenagers, 1 girl, her showers were leaving the walls dripping, it wasn’t an issue when they were young, popping them in the bath. If a bathroom refit is being done, to me it makes sense to fit an extractor.

Rain water heads come in different sizes. Get as large as possible for size of shower area. If you have panels can you get an area that recesses? Where you can put shampoos, conditioners etc. Think about storage for these in shower. Someone mentioned additional handheld shower.. That's a must too.

A heated mirror so it doesn't steam up.

A ledge opposite the shower makes shaving legs much easier!

Underfloor heating. Just put it in our new bathroom and a true game changer!

Make sure your heated towel rail is one that you can just turn on and off separately as and when you need it. Ours is just linked in to the main heating system which means to use it we have to turn on the heating which is a massive pain in the summer. Sometimes I would love to put the towel rail on just for a bit to dry a towel.

We are getting it fully tanked as we are getting a wet room installed and taking some tips from your thread OP!

We are having the shower area set into a big massive cupboard we would rather use as a washing area in the house (good excuse to have a massive declutter).

With the main bathroom 5 years ago we chose wet wall panels and don't regret it all these years later. Low maintenance option. Tiles I am not so keen on for the wet room...

Mirrored cabinet rather than a plain mirror, as well as a drawer under sink cabinet. Teens seem to come with lots of bottles of stuff and much easier if can be put away instead of sitting around the sink

i can really recommend this website. They’re one of the only companies we dealt with that didn’t have issues with damaged items on delivery! Much better than anything we saw in stores.

https://www.drench.co.uk/?ppc=true&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=825902289&gbraid=0AAAAADLmi5uTzmA-Akmx5yOeFLx9U90xB&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzur-nrD1jQMVUZVQBh2ieBOtEAAYASAAEgJaY_D_BwE

Agree with pp - mirror with demister pad behind it is a must. Make sure you choose mirror carefully if you’re going for a backlit one - choose one with a warm white light rather than cold if you or your dd prefer that. I find it much nicer and friendlier in bathroom with warm light. Also be careful if the lights are built into the mirror - even LEDs give up sometimes then your mirror is duff. Consider a separate small set of lights perhaps?

Also a toothbrush charger point in a cabinet.

I like being able to easily isolate the fan so it doesn’t always go off if you’re just popping to the loo in the night.

It is important, but also required in a new installation to meet regulations.

plus they work.

Our mirror has warm which DS likes and cold which I like, and 4 levels of brightness.

So I would do this:

tank the room
low profile shower tray
decent shower such as Aqualisa
water softener if possible
stainless steel large shower niche
comfort height loo
decent quality taps
storage - lots for stuff and towels
heated towel rail
think about mirrors and lighting
you MUST have an extractor and bathroom compliant lighting