Bathrooms
We see having a new bathroom as a luxury and it should be treated as such.
How much do they cost?
I’ve seen a lot of adverts on Social Media for full bathrooms for £3,000. What we will say is - we won’t do them for this price. This is done by using cheap and quick practices. For example, instead of removing tiles, a wall panel is placed on top. These bathrooms are usually completed in a few days - there’s a reason it only takes a few days.
What we prefer to do is fully strip down a bathroom, replace existing pipework (to make sure it meets our standards and you have no issues in the future), replace your floor, replaster, waterproof wet areas, and provide custom tiling, fixtures and decoration. Can we do that for £3,000? Unfortunately not. Our bathrooms start from £5,000 to £6,000. We only use the best, high quality products and materials, which will save you money in the long run.
Everyone has a different budget, expectation and taste. You can spend an endless amount of money on a bathroom. We are here to go through your options that fit within your budget and to get exactly what you’re looking for!
How to spot a cowboy Bathroom Fitter…
If the sole aim of a person is to make as much money as possible, here’s what they might do:
Use inferior, cheap products - Adhesives, grouts, silicones, tiles, taps… Everything can be purchased cheap and be of poor quality. Most of it will look good to start with, but once taps start to leak, grout goes mouldy, silicone goes black, tiles crack and even your bath flexes when you get in it, it might be a sign they used cheap products.
Not replacing existing pipework - Now this isn’t necessary, but if you get a leak or a blocked pipe shortly after you’ve spent thousands on a new bathroom, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be happy! Therefore, we replace all the pipework in the bathroom to make sure we don’t get those issues and that they meet our standards.
Waterproofing - Wet areas in a bathroom have to be tanked. It’s the British Standards. However, some still think its acceptable to tile a shower, not waterproof it and assume the tiles will be good enough. It will save time and money for the installer, just not for the customer.
The list could go on and on. Do we do the above? No. My name’s on every job, every bathroom, so we will only do thorough, top-quality jobs!
Budget vs Expensive vs Designer Bathroom
As we’ve said, good quality bathrooms can come at pretty much any price. There’s a wide range of prices we can look at.
With bathrooms, you get what you pay for. Cheap taps are usually worse than pricier ones. With cheap taps, there is a higher chance of leaks occurring, or not being as durable in the long-term in comparison to more expensive taps. Higher priced tiles will be denser, thicker, calibrated to tighter margins, meaning they have less chance of breaking and look better when installed compared to cheap tiles. The bathroom suites themselves is where you will see the biggest difference in looks and quality when comparing prices.
On a budget? Don’t worry, as long as the bathrooms are installed properly, a budget bathroom can last a very long time and look just as good!
Lets talk lighting…
One thing that can get overlooked in a bathroom the most is the lighting. I suppose it’s easier to just install some spot lights and call it a day. Lighting can change the whole look of a bathroom, making even a basic bathroom look bespoke.
I think there should be 2-3 lighting systems in every new bathroom, unless you do just want spotlights of course!
Firstly, you need your morning/main lights. These are probably going to be your spot lights. Nice bright white lights that wake you up in the morning, help you to get ready when you look in the mirror and can be used on those darker days.
Secondly, you should consider having some lower powered accent lighting. Instead of white light, opt for a warmer light. Something you have have on whilst having a relaxing bath or winding down getting ready for bed. Having a bath in warm accent lighting and some candles will beat having white spot lights beaming down on you. Using warm light instead of white light before bed will also help with your sleep.
Lastly, it would be good to consider lighting either around your mirror or on your walls. This helps with getting ready in the mirror as lighting from above, especially with spot lights, can create dark spots on your face. (Anyone trying to apply makeup knows the benefits of these lights!)
Just some options to think about when you’re designing your new bathroom!
Niches, benches and shelves
The benefit of having custom tiling is that (within reason) you can have anything you want! You get get really creative.
One thing to think about is what you want in your shower area. Want a bench to sit on after a hard day at work? To relax and let the hot water rain on you? We can do that for you. Want a ledge to step on to help when you’re shaving? We can do that. Want a shower niche or built in shelf to store your shower products on? We can do that too!
Not only can these be really practical, but they can also be really good features of the room.
What you can have depends on the size and shape of your bathroom, but if you contact us we can go through your options to see how we can make your bathroom as bespoke to your needs as possible.
Contact us
Interested in having some work done? Pop your details on the Contact Form and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!