Bathroom Refit

[mdj1]

Hi All,

My first post here, in what seems a great forum.

I'm currently refitting our bathroom, which i'm sure you will agree was a bit dated. I will post pics here and also other info and would love constructed critisism and offers of info.

Budget £800

Project: To completely refurbish bathroom.

New Hardward:-

Tiles to Floor
Tiles to 2/3rds Wall
Bath
Basin
Toilet
Shower
Shower Pump
Chrome Towel Radiator
New connectors and valves to all fittings (there are none)
Light Fitting
Chrome / Glass Furniture

I'm sure there's more!

Before Destruction!

Part Way Through

I've now taken out the majority of the tiles, stripped the wallpaper, sanded all the walls and woodwork. I intend to PVA the tiled walls before putting any tiles up and replace some rotten wood from around the bath.

Q: I was thinking of taking the skirting board off and putting 3 or 4 inches of floor tile in its place to finish off the floor, what are peoples thoughts on this?

 

[Bahco]

Q: I was thinking of taking the skirting board off and putting 3 or 4 inches of floor tile in its place to finish off the floor, what are peoples thoughts on this?

Looks better without the skirting board IMHO.

Good luck and glad you have got rid of the advocado suite.

 

[mdj1]

Good luck and glad you have got rid of the advocado suite.

So are we!

I think your right about the skirting.

Nothing being done today, work to do. Back on it tomorrow so will post more pics tomorrow evening.

 

[Steve]

Another house with a lack of floorboards under the bath! I thought it was just us! Plumbers! Tsk!

 

[wanabechippie]

Whoever thought olive green was a good idea for bath suits should be taken out and soundly beaten, IMHO!

What colour scheme are you going for with paint/tiles?

 

[mdj1]

The walls are a off white with a very slight marble effect through them, the floor is a charcoal grey. White suite with chrome effect fittings.

 

[Bon]

Makes me come out in a cold sweat when I see that as it reminds me of ours when I did it earlier this year!!

I'm sure it'll look when it's finished. Just one thing though, I noticed you mentioned pva'ing before tiling. After reading around on here, that's a no-no as it can cause the tiles to fall off (have a search, it won't take you long to find a "down with pva before tiling" thread).

You need to tank the areas of tiles that will get wet (i.e. around the shower). You can get a BAL tanking kit containing everything you need from Topps Tiles which is a liquid substance you paint on. You then put your tile adhesive straight onto this and tile as per. The result is protection for your walls and tiles that won't fall off when they get wet.

 

[mdj1]

Hi Bon, Thanks for that, i will not be PVA'ing the walls then, just in case.

OK, i have a couple of questions with regards to the shower pump.

I have fitted the shower pump on a small custom made shelf at the front of the bath (you can see the void where this now is in the old photos above).

1st question, do i have to fit a surrey flange to the tank or is this only needed if I have problems with supply etc. It is vary rare that anyone else in the house is using the hot water when one of us in in the shower (there are only two of us living here)

2nd question. Fitting the pump under the bath, which is suggested by many manufacturers, also means fitting a socket to power the pump. Am i correct in stating that I can fit a socket as long as its not accessible without the use of tools? This socket will then be connected to a fused spur in the airing cupboard.

 

[JohnD]

what makes you think you need a socket? You could run the cable to an FCU with a flex connector.

The enclosure must be screwed into place to prevent access without the use of tools.

 

[mdj1]

could do i suppose, just remove the plug, but what im really trying to acertain is this is acceptable.

 

[Buzzbob]

What memories......

Having a bath in an avocado suite-with the bath beginning to splinter and de-laminate, plastic splinters in your butt.

Good luck on the re-vamp.

B

 

[Bon]

Are you pumping hot and cold to a mixer shower?

If so why not put the pump at the base of the hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard? That removes the problem with the electrics and should only require a little more copper tube etc..

With regards to the Surrey/York/Essex flange I got one for my cylinder but one of the site lads at work (I work for an M & E contractor) advised against it as undoing the existing connection to the top of the cylinder could damage it. As I'm looking to get a new cylinder soon I decided to save the York flange for that.

In addition, the pump MF's instructions said to tee off from the hot supply well below the tee for the expansion/vent pipe. Did that and it works fine

 

[compact]

Can't wait to see some more photos and any advice and leasons learnt.

I am about to do something similar just trying to sort out the timing.

 

[gcol]

Search the tiling section for tiling info and advice about pva.
I'd look at bringing your boxed-in section further into the room so that it's level with the edge of the window reveal.

 

[mdj1]

Grrrrr, bloody bathroom suite designers, why cant they get it all right!

OK, progress report. WITH PICS

Have now installed the new bath, shower pump, valves to toilet and sink and replaced rotten shelf.

The biggest issue today was the toilet. The waste from the old toilet comes up through the floor. Now i would presume that im right in saying that all external walls have a floor joist running along them, to attach the other joists to, the existing waste pipe is as close to the wall as possible (against the joist) BUT when you place the toilet bowl against the waste with connector and then place the cistern on top theres a bloody gap between the cistern and the wall!! Why don't the designers of these things think of this. Does annoy me. SO now ive got to build a box of sorts for the cistern to sit against. grrrrrr

Just realised, you can see the floor and wall tiles in the last pic.