Bathroom Refurbishments
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A full and complete bathroom refurbishment can be quite an expensive undertaking as there is often much more to the work than meets the eye, and when done properly the work required to completely refurbish a bathroom to a high standard can be substantial and considerably more involved than many people may realise.
How long it takes to do the work will generally be governed by how big your bathroom is, how much wall preparation is involved and how much tiling you require.
Most full bathroom refurbishments that include complete retiling take around 10 full working days to complete, with the bathroom being gutted of the old suite on day one. And whilst I do everything in my power to cause the least possible disruption to my clients, working around them and fitting in with their routines where possible, it is inevitable that the refurbishment will cause at least some minor inconvenience to the household.
If you only have one bathroom then this can be an issue and is something that has to be considered carefully, and if possible perhaps other bathing arrangements made during this period. If other bathing arrangements can't be made then a wash down with a soapy flannel at the kitchen sink might be the only option. I only bring this up because people do not always appreciate that the old suite will no longer be in use from the very first day.
However, as far as the toilet goes, if you only have the one toilet at your home then this would be left in situ and fully useable until the new toilet is ready to go in its place. So you would never be without a useable toilet for more than the time it takes to remove the old one and fit the new one - usually a couple of hours.
The same goes for your mains water supply. It is inevitable that the mains water will need to be turned off from time to time during the course of the refurbishment, but you would never be left without water for more than a couple of hours at a time, and you would certainly never be left without water overnight.
When doing a full bathroom refurbishment much of the work involved for the first few days will be removing the old suite, removing any existing tiles and preparing the walls and floor, and like in many situations, the effort put into preparation pays dividends in the long run. Sometimes this preparation can take longer than expected if removing old tiles brings the plaster off with them also, or, as in some of my experiences, there is no plaster at all on the walls behind the bath! As often happens, removing the old suite can reveal all manner of unforeseen issues which can add considerably to the work load. While any unforeseen problems may add to my workload and add to my time on the job, this will never fall upon my client by way of additional costs as I always honour my written quotation.
How long it takes to do the work will generally be governed by how big your bathroom is, how much wall preparation is involved and how much tiling you require.
Most full bathroom refurbishments that include complete retiling take around 10 full working days to complete, with the bathroom being gutted of the old suite on day one. And whilst I do everything in my power to cause the least possible disruption to my clients, working around them and fitting in with their routines where possible, it is inevitable that the refurbishment will cause at least some minor inconvenience to the household.
If you only have one bathroom then this can be an issue and is something that has to be considered carefully, and if possible perhaps other bathing arrangements made during this period. If other bathing arrangements can't be made then a wash down with a soapy flannel at the kitchen sink might be the only option. I only bring this up because people do not always appreciate that the old suite will no longer be in use from the very first day.
However, as far as the toilet goes, if you only have the one toilet at your home then this would be left in situ and fully useable until the new toilet is ready to go in its place. So you would never be without a useable toilet for more than the time it takes to remove the old one and fit the new one - usually a couple of hours.
The same goes for your mains water supply. It is inevitable that the mains water will need to be turned off from time to time during the course of the refurbishment, but you would never be left without water for more than a couple of hours at a time, and you would certainly never be left without water overnight.
When doing a full bathroom refurbishment much of the work involved for the first few days will be removing the old suite, removing any existing tiles and preparing the walls and floor, and like in many situations, the effort put into preparation pays dividends in the long run. Sometimes this preparation can take longer than expected if removing old tiles brings the plaster off with them also, or, as in some of my experiences, there is no plaster at all on the walls behind the bath! As often happens, removing the old suite can reveal all manner of unforeseen issues which can add considerably to the work load. While any unforeseen problems may add to my workload and add to my time on the job, this will never fall upon my client by way of additional costs as I always honour my written quotation.
You never know exactly what surprises await you or just how much work you will be faced with once the bath is removed. But it does usually involve a lot of patching up and preparation, particularly if a shower cubicle is to be replacing the old bath tub.
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BELOW: January 2017. Full upstairs bathroom refurbishment, including new wall tiles, new floor tiles, ceiling cladding and all new fixtures. The bathroom was gutted and completely refurbished. Many thanks to Steve and Lesley for letting me take the photos. A real pleasure to do the work for them.
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Below: A newly tiled toilet room with PVC ceiling cladding to cover the old, flaking painted ceiling.
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Below: A recently fully refurbished bathroom. The original bathroom was completely gutted. The bathroom was retiled and a new, larger (wider) shower-bath was installed to allow for a removable shower seat. An Electric shower was fitted along with a folding shower screen (making access to the bath easier). Conveniently placed grab rails were fitted over the bath. A compact corner wash basin and cabinet was fitted, and a chrome towel rail installed between the wash basin and the bath. To complete the refurbishment, decorative PVC ceiling cladding was fitted along with new ceiling low voltage down lighting.
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The possibilities are endless...
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***** VERY IMPORTANT POINT *****
Unlike the older lever handle siphon flush systems utilised in many older toilet cisterns, modern push-button flush systems rely on rubber or synthetic seals to retain the water in the cistern after flushing. In-cistern toilet cleaning blocks contain bleach and other chemicals that attack or degrade modern flush system seals and should not be used. If you have the old lever handle siphon flush system then the in-cistern blocks are fine, but do not use in-cistern cleaning blocks if you have a modern push-button flush or you will soon find that your toilet flush seals are leaking. Instead use toilet pan rim blocks.