Replacing Bathroom suite & decoration - in what order?

[gobollino]

Hi

Was wondering if anyone could offer advice as to the correct order to re-do a bathroom.

We want to rip our old suite out (not literally), and replace with a new suite in the same positions, although change the end where the bath taps are (and add a shower mixer). The whole room also needs tiling/painting. We are complete novices at plumbing, but willing to learn, and should be bright enough not to flood the whole house hopefully! We have been quoted over £600 just to take the old suite out, and think it can't be that difficult to do ourselves.

My questions are: 1)should we avoid attempting the removal of the suite given that we are novices? (we will be getting professionals in to do the plumbing-in of the new suite)

2) should we leave the tiling until the new suite has been fitted, or does it need doing before? - we want a wall mounted shower mixer to be fixed onto a stud wall (which will need tiling too)

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[JPC]

the order should be..
remove old suite.
prep new pipework for all new suite - ie you might want to pipework to be put under the floor boards etc, put pipework in place for the shower.
get suite fitted, tile bathroom, fit shower

thats a very simplistic version.

 

[brumylad]

should we avoid attempting the removal of the suite given that we are novices?

read a diy book plumbing section first. The answer is can you isolate the water supply on both the hot and cold taps. Sometimes this can be an ordeal in itself (old valves not working etc). If your prepared to use a bucket to flush you can remove the toilet cistern, I would avoid touching the toilet pan unless you have a second toilet.

shower mixer to be fixed onto a stud wall

Plaster board will swell if it gets wet behind the shower, sealant and water-proof tile grout don't always stand the test of time. There are more modern plastic board and cemment board alternatives available (but they are relatively expensive).