Although the Pound is as good as equal to a euro now I have always got the impression that baths and taps were cheaper in France. Before I do the sums of the cost of a van and boat trip can anybody here confirm that the French use the same size pipes as us - like 15 and 22mm connectors?
Screw threads are the same, but copper pipe sizes are different.
Taps generally come complete with flexible tails terminated in a female
3/8 BSP union. If all else fails, this can be coupled to a 15 - 12 mm compression reducer with the nut and olive removed from the 12 mm end and any chamfer on the threaded section filed flat.Note that all French taps assume that both the hot and cold supplies are at mains pressure. Mixers all combine hot and cold in the body of the tap and tend not to work well with a combination of mains fed cold and gravity fed hot.
Baths are usually supplied without tap holes pre-drilled.
Hope this helps,
Roger.
I was in France last winter and made a trip Castorama to price up stuff like taps. I got the impression that there was little difference in price any more, but didnt buy for completely different reasons
Bathroom: Matching bath taps and basin taps dont seem to be available
Kitchen: I wanted a tap which does hot, cold and filtered and that option wasnt available. Now that may be because I was in Provence, where the water is lovely and pure as it comes straight off the Alps, and in Calais ymmv
What I did buy at Castorama was a very slim chisel of which the tip sheared off the first time I used it. Had I bought it in UK I would have taken it back. Another reason not to buy in France perhaps?
Anna
It's a few years since I last looked, but things like thermostatic shower mixers were very much cheaper there. If they no longer are, they must have multiplied in price dramatically over last few years.
I bought my taps mail order from a place in Belgium, and they cost me
50% of the UK prices. The exchange rate was better then (about 18 months ago), but even so, I think that you will still make savings. I don't know what brand you are after, but in the UK you seem to pay a premium for Grohe, Hansgrohe, and so on, but these don't seem to attract the same sort of markup in mainland Europe.The taps I bought were identical models to the UK model, so as far as fittings go, it won't make any difference where you buy them, and a plumbers merchant will stock somrthing suitable to make the connection. The taps came with tails which matched the thread of a compression reducer (15-12, or 15-10, something like that). The waste sizes were also a little different, but again, a suitable convertor can be bought.
Can't speak for bath prices. I just found a few good prices on the web, and then negotiated with a local plumber to match the prices I found.
dan.
I've had no probs in the past with showers, bog etc. as far as fitting. Yesterday in the Poitier Leroy Merlin, the salle de bain area was about the size of the 'Bathroom warehouse' back home in E Lancs. We were after a half length bath for a small room but the range seems to have changed over the last few years, and is becoming more 'up-market'.
In general, France is no longer cheap (at the moment) in our opinion
John
Thanks everybody. I think I'll stick to UK........
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