Home Improvement Guide
A new bathroom
A new bathroom and Added value
If you plan to sell your property in a few years time and move
up the housing ladder, then a new bathroom could help increase
the appeal of your home. Graham Hobson, chief valuer at Yorkshire
Building Society says: “A nice bathroom will always make
a place more saleable and appealing,” says Hobson. “It’s
hard to put a value on a bathroom, but you won’t lose
anything by putting it in and it will be reflected in the value
of your of your home.”
If you do plan to move on, it’s waste money buying
an expensive bathroom suite. Simple styles and classic white
suites will always retain their value and you can make them
look up-do-date with stylish accessories, which you can take
with you when you move.
Fashionable colours and styles will date quickly and will
detract from the value of your property. So bear this in mind
when designing your bathroom.
A new bathroom and Buying a bathroom
The bathroom fixtures, whether you go for a standard suite,
or pick and mix separates, will form only a relatively small
part of the total bill. As well as the fittings, you need
to take account of wall tiles, flooring, lighting, accessories
and installation when working out your budget.
A new bathroom and Simple bathroom suites are reasonably
cheap and are available from DIY stores.
If you want a designer-look bathroom without paying designer
prices, you can mix and match components. MFI do a basic acrylic
bath and a basic toilet. Rather than go for a standard white
basin you can opt for its glass bowl basin and fit it into
a stand. Similarly, the Fuori basin from the Bathstore.com
can be fitted onto a stand or built into a unit. If you really
want to blow the budget and install a true designer bathroom
you could try CP Hart. Its Starck Set 1, costs around £5,000,
but for that you get a Philippe Starck designed basin, toilet,
steel bath, mixer shower, chrome toilet roll holder, brush
set and towel hook. Items are available separately too.
Standard bathroom suites usually come with taps included.
If you need to buy taps you can pay anything from £12
a pair for basin taps to several hundred pounds. Expect to
pay upwards of £150 for a stylish mixer tap to go on
a bath or basin. The Enjoy mixer tap from the Bathstore.com
costs £199, for example. Individual taps tend to be
cheaper.
Standard baths are 1700mm long, but if space is an issue
you can get a small bath. B&Q’s and MFI both do
short baths. Check out the Bathstore.com as many of its basins
come in two sizes – small and standard.
A new bathroom and Choosing a shower
Most modern bathrooms have a shower. Not only do they save
on time, they also save on water and money. Your first choice
is between a mixer shower and an electric shower.
Mixer showers are usually the cheapest to install and they
run of conventional water tanks and combi boilers. They take
water directly from the water supply and mix it via a valve.
If you don’t have good water pressure, you may find
the shower is a bit feeble. You will also have to make sure
you have a hot water supply. For extra pressure you can fit
a shower pump to your mixer shower.
Electric showers are not as attractive to look at, but they
can save you money as you won’t have to keep your hot
water heated to use the shower. Electric showers heat the
mains cold water supply as and when you use it via an electric
element.
A new bathroom and Labour costs
Labour costs could form the largest part of your bathroom
bill. Get several quotes from builders before you decide which
one to use. If you are buying a bathroom from B&Q or MFI
they will install it for you for a charge. MFI relies on you
to provide measurements for your bathroom, but the installer
will call round to do a pre-fit survey to ensure that all
measurements are correct and to check that the order is right.
One of the major benefits of using an installation service
is that they will remove and dispose of your old bathroom.
Jobs such as tiling, flooring or plumbing will not be included
in the price, but you can pay extra if you want everything
finished at the same time. Visit the MFI and B&Q websites
for details.
Keen diyers can get information on installing bathrooms from
the B&Q website. It also has helpful buying guide to aid
in your choice of fittings.
A new bathroom and What to think about
Draw a floor plan of your bathroom, marking the location of
doors and windows.
Mark special features such as alcoves
Measure room length and width, height of ceiling, and height
and width of windows and doors and put these on the plan
Use this plan to help you design your new bathroom
Think about whether you want a shower and what type you want
Think about ventilation.
You may need to get an extractor fan fitted if you don’t
have a window
Work out the sort of lighting you want and whether or not you
need to install a shaver socket
Think about heating.
Do you want a radiator or a heated towel rail?
You will need some storage.
A simple bathroom cabinet may be ideal, but if you need to store
towels, you will need to accommodate a larger unit, or build
a shelf
You need to choose wall tiles and flooring. There are plenty
of specialist tiles shops such as Fired Earth and the Reject
Tile Shop, but their tiles can be expensive. Try your local
DIY store if you are on a budget. Most stores stock contemporary
ranges for reasonable prices, including glass or mosaic The
BBC website has a handy calculator to help you work out how
much flooring and how many tiles you need and it will calculate
the cost too
A new bathroom and Choose a simple bathroom style that will
appeal to future buyers
Items |
Cost |
| Bath |
£99 |
| Basin |
£199 |
| Basin stand |
£199 |
| Toilet |
£150 |
| Shower |
£100 |
| Tiling |
£300 |
| Flooring |
£150 |
| Materials |
£200 |
| Lighting |
£50 |
| Accessories |
£150 |
Sub total |
£1,497 |
Labour costs |
£1,500 |
Total |
£3,097 |
A new bathroom Contacts
www.thebathroomaccessoryshop.com
www.firedearth.co.uk
www.tiles.org.uk
www.bathstore.com
www.diy.com (B&Q)
www.cphart.co.uk
www.mfi.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/homes/diy/calculators
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