Bathroom Renovation

The cost depends on how much has to come out, not on the size of the room. Hacking to the slab with new waterproofing costs more than a surface refresh. Moving the toilet or the basin adds pipe work. After that it is the tiles, the sanitary ware and the shower glass you pick. Doing several bathrooms in one go usually costs less per bathroom than doing them one at a time. We put a price on it after a free site visit.

It depends on how far back the room comes and whether the layout moves. Hacking comes first, then the pipes, wiring and waterproofing with the water test, then screed, tiling, fixtures and glass. Some of that time is waiting for things to cure, and we do not rush it. In a landed house we usually stage the work bathroom by bathroom, so the family keeps a working bathroom on another floor. Your quote carries the schedule.

In most cases no, if you are redoing an existing bathroom like for like. Approval comes in when you cut into the structure, build a bathroom where there was none, or change the sanitary pipework. That needs a submission by a qualified person, and we prepare and manage it for you. Either way, the water and sanitary work itself must be done by a licensed plumber, and that is who we use.

It is cheaper on day one, and in most landed bathrooms it is the wrong call. Overlaying leaves the old waterproofing and the old slopes in place, raises the floor at the door, and hides whatever is already failing underneath. We only recommend it where the bathroom is dry, fairly new, and the floor already drains properly. We price both routes once we have seen the bathroom, so you can compare them.

Not always, so we find the source before anything is hacked. The stain tells you water is getting through, but not where from. It can be a failed pipe joint, a cracked floor trap, sealant that has given way at the shower, or a membrane that has broken down across the whole floor. A single joint is a repair. A failed membrane means the floor comes up, because patching over it just moves the leak.

Usually yes, as long as the new position can still drain to the existing soil stack. The waste pipe needs a downward run, and that run has to fit either in a raised floor or in the ceiling of the room below. In a terrace or semi-detached with tight floor heights, that is what decides the layout. We check the stack and the depth available during the assessment, then tell you plainly what the room can take.

We brush a cement-based membrane over the slab and up the walls, with a flexible one where the shape is awkward. The brand matters less than the order of work. Corners and pipe openings are reinforced first, and the membrane goes high up the wall behind the shower. Then we flood the floor and hold the water to prove it is tight. If it fails, we fix it then, while the floor is still open.

Yes, and the time to do it is during the renovation, not after. A shower floor level with the rest of the room removes the kerb people trip over. Grab bars need solid backing inside the wall, so they are planned before the tiling, not screwed on later. We also look at floor tiles that grip when wet, a seat in the shower, taps with levers, and a door that still opens if someone falls against it.

Most of the time it is because the air in the room is not actually moving. Common causes are an extractor fan that was never ducted to the outside, a fan too small for the room, a floor trap that has dried out in a bathroom nobody uses, or damp still held in the wall from an old leak. We check the fan, the traps and the walls when we come to look, and we fix the cause as part of the job, not just the smell.