Building a bathroom

[coldcase14]

Can anyone offer any advice on starting a bathroom?

The entire lot [toilet, sink and bath] are being ripped out so that the floor can be replaced as it is chipboard and going soft in some places (this is probably because the lino was never sealed properly).

Once the floor is down I plan to start fitting a new sink, toilet and bath. Should they be done in any specific order? I guessing bath first makes a lot of sense...

Also, I want to put down some secondhand laminate flooring in the bathroom that came out of our old kitchen - I have no idea how to fit laminate! Any suggestions?

Any advice very much appreciated from novice DIYer

[POD {Ò¿Ó}]

The phone rang while was doing the ironing, resulting in the 3rd degree burn to the ear, visible for all in uk.d-i-y to guffaw over.

I'd mark out where the bath will go and do it last, rather than put the biggest thing in first and have no room to move about in to fit the two smaller items. Besides, how long can you last without the toilet??

[Mr Jingles]

Hello :) First of All Plan an Think ahead , I will give you this site to look at ...

a few tips of my own

The floor is it to be tiled ,lino,carpet ? whichever I would recommend you rip up the chipboard flooring straigh away ,have a look at the joists if they are dry an look ok ,a couple o coats of timber Wood Preservative is a must ,

you should do then is lay 18mm Exterior WBP Plywood sheeting (it waterproof ), screw the ceramic 40mm screws along the runs of th joists...

if you have any problems post here an I will try to help

Mr Jingle

-- Mr Jingles

[mungoh]

Before the new floor goes down make sure any services are altered if necessary so that you don't curse your luck after the last nail goes in.

I'd advise considering some sort of access hatch - easy to install when putting in the new floor but it can be a swine when you are working blind and need to get under the floor for some purpose.

Take photographs of the pipe layout under the floor before it goes down, and take measurements too. If you don't then the great god "Murphy" will smite you for your presumption! :-)

Kitchen laminate being laid in a bathroom - the advice is that with the increased water in the loo then only certain laminates can be used there, so any perceived saving in cost might not pan out in the future (pardon the pun).

HTH

Mungo

P.S. When renovating our bathroom I installed the lino before replacing the loo pan, so there's no "cutting the lino" round a pan. Saves having to worry unduly about sealing the oval cutout from the lino round the pan. I'm (of course) presuming a change to "lino" from "laminate".

[TonyK]

1) Keep wastes and feed in the same location, don't try to move anything around unless you really need/want to. 2) Use flexi tap connectors to allow for slight changes in position on feeds to sink/loo/bath 3) Do not use laminate in a bathroom (warp, peel, lift etc etc)

4) When removing old fittings keep pipes as long as possible and fit isolator valves to everything, ie. 2x15mm for sink, 2x22mm for bath and

1x15mm for loo.

5) Tape a poly bags over the waste pipes

6) Rough fir everyting first and check for silly mistakes like loo seats catching on towel rails etc

7) Fit the toilet first.

[Andrew McKay]

If the chipboard is going soft then there is a chance that the underlying rafters that support the floor have been subject to damp. Pay close inspection once the floor is up.

If the rafters are soft (try digging at them with a screwdriver) then you will need to remove any flakey material. You will probably get away with adding some supporting timber screwed/glued along the sides of the timber, though worst case would mean replacing the timbers (I doubt it will have got that bad however).

Instead of chipboard I highly recommend you consider using marine ply instead. Chipboard is never water resistant, but marine ply is.

Whatever is most practical for the installation.

NO!

Do NOT put laminate down. Only the very expensive stuff is good for a wet area. Laminate looks shoddy and will detract from the value of your home. The gaps between each board will soon fill with debris and the installation will look awful.

Once you've got your floor sorted out then I highly recommend using some sort of rubber/plastic flooring. You can either buy large sheets of vinolay (the modern form of lino), or buy packs of tiles. The tiles are easier to deal with IMHO, but take care to follow instructions.

Andrew

[coldcase14]

Thanks to all for your advice.

I won't be able to commence this project for a few weeks yet so am trying to glean as much information as I can first. I fitted my kitchen last year and that went reasonable well but I did thoroughly research how to do it first before starting.

The laminate I was going to lay says PERGO on the back and was previously used in the kitchen, where it seem to cause no problem. However, it was never properly sealed around the edges leaving the 'expansion gap' i think its called, exposed. Presumably this is why damp got underneath the polythene or whatever it is you are supposed to lay.

I think it will probably be ok for the bathroom [unless anyone strongly thinks otherwise] as it seems like good quality stuff. I plan a trip to the local DIY store to check if they still sell it and find the specifications of what it is intended for

[The Natural Philosopher]

A bathroom is small enough you can get away without much in the way of exapnsion.

leave 3mm gap, fill it with silicone, and cover with skirting?