Replacement bathroom suite

[Dave]

Hi,

I need to replace my bathroom suite, and generally redo the entire bathroom. I have tiles falling off the walls etc:) The entire bathroom is tiled from floor to ceiling currently but I'm not overly keen on this. I have a few questions so hopefully someone can answer:)

1. I plan to replace like for like, and in the same positions. Bathroom is small so there are no options for rearrangement anyway. What sort of plumbing kit am I going to need? I'm reasonably happy with fitting taps etc but not too sure if I have to replace parts of the pipes etc.

1. I'm concerned that some of the floorboards under the bath may need to be replaced. Is this an easy job? If so can someone point me int he direction of some more information?

2. I intend to remove all the tiles, with a few to replaceing them where necessary. Is it advisable to tile the wall behind the basin/toilet? I'm leaning towards tiling the room halfway up the wall but i'm unsure if its necessary to have it tiled behind the toilet.

1. Suffice to say I've not done a bathroom before but I'm fairly happy with most of the jobs involved. What sort of timescale would I be looking at here? I'm guessing it may go something like:

- Remove current suite & radiator

- remove tiles from wall and behing radiator

- replace floorboards where required

- fit bath & tile around bath

- fit basin

- tile around basin & behind toilet

- fit toilet

- fill bath with water and seal around wall

- complete rest of tiling

- cover floor with tiles/laminate/etc

Any and all advice greatly received!

Thanks

[BillV]

Pushfit plumbing and flexy tap connectors would be your friend here.

Take a sample to the local builders yard to match for something similar. Cut the existing boards flush with the joists and fits battens on the joists to support replacement bits.

If you're hoping to have nice smooth paintwork where there were tiles before then it quite a lot of effort to get the surface acceptable. May even have to have the walls skimmed depending on condition after removing tiles.

These are my estimates for a novice ..

1/2 day. Be sure to have plumbing bits to cap off pipes ..

By hand could take a day or so. With sds drill and attachment 2hours max. NB sds not advisable on stud walls..

2-3 hours.

2 days

1/2 day

2 days

2 hours if direct replacement. However the 3 I've recently fitted need plumbing rerouting..

1 hour max .. mostly to get the masking tape just right

What area? could take up to a week...

tiles could take a couple of elapsed days depending on whether you use quickset adhesive (which is tricky for a novice) Laminate ought to take less than a day

None of the above includes scouring the sheds etc to actually get the materials, which in my experience takes just as long. Next door had pros to do their bathroom. It took 2 guys 4 days and they made a good job but the fitting charge alone was >£2k. It took me the best part of 3+weeks elapsed time to completely redo mine.

[Dave]

Thanks, 3-4 weeks roughly fits in with what I was anticipating. Main concern is getting the toilet and basin installed so the room can be used ASAP. Are there any good books you recommend to have by your side while its all underway?

I'm planning on the toilet being a direct replacement, are there great differences in the plumbing requirements of different makes/models?

Thanks

David

[BillV]

I was not under pressure as there alt arrangements in my house. The Collins DIY book is a good reference.

Toilet pan outlets are 190mm at the centre of the spigot. Nothing else seems to be standard apart from the seat height. My problem and possibly yours is that if you tile the floor as I did or fit laminate, the floor will be raised 10mm or so and you may have to adjust the soil pipe. The offsett connectors they sell may work for you. I had enough play in soil pipe once it had been released from the old tiles. The other plumbing issue is that in 2 of my recent toilet refits had the water inlet on the other side, so that involved an hour or so of fiddling around with copper fitting. None of my recent refits had an external overflow, which simplifies that aspect. I wouldn't reccommend laminate in a family bathroom.

Its very difficult if this is your only toilet/bathroom. I recently tiled behind such a toilet and even using Mapei Keraquick adhesive it was some

12hours before we could put the toilet back. Alright for us blokes as there was a bath :-) but we had to send the women away for the day. The new toilet had previously been "temp" fitted with 12mm plywood to simulate wall and floor tiles.

[Christian McArdle]

(Copper) Decent pipe cutter Proper gas torch (i.e. Propane Bernzomatic, not tiny Taymar) Lead free solder Lead free compatible flux Wire wool Heat resistant tile (cheap quarry tile will do)

(Plastic) Decent pipe cutter (not hacksaw...)

(Both)

2 Adjustable spanners 1 Basin wrench, depending on access

I'm sure there's more...

Pull out the floorboards and replace with a cut to shape piece of 18mm (min) WBP plywood. Don't even think about chipboard or MDF.

I prefer full height myself. It is pure personal preference, unless someone has VERY bad aim. Go full height near any showers, though. Also, seal the grout with Lithofin KF StainStop. This helps stop it going nasty.

Starting as a novice, it took me 2 weekends to do the plumbing, including installing a new shower pump on some outlets and constructing a bespoke vanity unit for the semi-inset basin and toilet cistern. It took a further 2 weekends to do the tiling.

Changing the toilet was surprisingly easy (and clean!). The anticipated piles of shit slopping onto the floor simply weren't there. Everything was shiny white, with a little limescale at the tidelines.

Christian.