Our mission:- To pull out an existing bathroom completely, replace all ceramic tiles with new, check and replace rotten flooring, fit a new suite. Please read this project all the way through before starting.
You will get an idea of what you need. Not all bathrooms are the same and we have been as general as we can. The customer purchased this suite and wanted it installed to the highest quality. Below you can see what we started with.
As you can see we have removed some tiles from around the bath. We were replacing all of our tiles anyway, but if you plan to keep yours, you will almost certainly have to remove the bottom course to get the bath out. This bath was boxed in at the tap end so the boxing had to be removed. It is rarely of use to save this boxing whole as it will probably not fit back when your new bath is in position. Save the timber if it is in reasonable condition, you may be able to adapt it to fit.
When you remove the bath panel take a good note of how it was fixed in place. It will help you when you fix the new one. All surrounds were removed and the bath panel, take everything out of the bathroom when you have removed it, including tile pieces. You will have a lot of tools strewn about during this job, and bathrooms are small. Keep the job tidy. Fill the kettle up. During the next two or three hours you are going to need a cup of tea! Its time to remove the bath, use a basin spanner below.
The picture below on the left is of a special pipe cutter we use, called a pipe slice. As you can see it is round and clips on the pipe, the blade is inside. You turn the slice and it cuts through as the blade is on a spring. The main advantage of the slice is that you need very little room to work.
Do not cut any pipes yet unless you have to. If it is the only way you can get the bath out, eg rusted nuts etc, then cut them as close to the tap as possible. All pipes in bathrooms have to be earthed. For more information on this see our earth bonding project. Now disconnect the waste from the bottom of the bath. The trap will be full of water so tip it down the loo or into the basin…. You may have brackets holding the bath to the wall. You will probably have found these when removing the tiles.
Unscrew them. The feet of the bath will or should be screwed to the floor so undo them as well. The bath is now ready to be lifted out and taken away.
If you are saving any fittings from the bath e. They damage easily and taking the bath downstairs is easier with them off anyway. They have a wonderful knack of catching the wallpaper, curtains, handrail etc! Now we will turn our attention to the basin, leaving the loo in place as long as possible unless you have another downstairs! The system is the same. Undo the tap connectors or cut the pipes as close to the taps as possible. Remove the waste fittings just leaving the inch and a quarter pipe, and unscrew any fixings from the basin to the wall.
If you have a pedestal then this should be screwed to the floor also. Remove the basin etc, saving the taps if you need to. Now the loo. Flush it first! There will still be water in the cistern. Remove any water left in the cistern using a sponge or some rags and wring them out into a bucket. Incidentally, a bucket, in our firm is referred to as a FAK…. Plumbers First Aid Kit! Undo the water inlet connection at the side or bottom of the cistern. Undo the overflow connection.
Unscrew the fixings at the back of the cistern and the W. If they are rusty, as they often are, use a drill to take the head off and lift the loo out. If your unit has a pipe between the cistern and the wc, you have a low level unit and the two halves can be removed seperately.
If your cistern sits on top of the wc. Then the unit is close-coupled and can be removed as one. Making up the suite: If you have some help, that help can apply a bit of masking tape to the ends of the pipes and remove the rest of the ceramic tiles. Before we install isolation valves to all the pipes more about them in a moment we need to know where to cut the pipes down to.
We are going to use some special push-fit tap connectors to make life easier on this job, so we now "make up" our suite, which means putting all the bits we can on, ready for installation.
When unpacking your new suite from its boxes please make absolutely sure it is in pristine condition. It will be too late afterwards. Most new suites come with instructions for make up, ie. More about plumbers mait later. When your units are made up they should look like this…….. If your bath has fixing brackets that screw to the timber along the side that goes against the wall, now is the time to fix them.
For the bath, you will need an inch and a half, shallow bath waste trap and for the basin, if behind a pedestal like ours, an inch and a quarter basin waste. You will see that we have connected the waste to the basin already. That is because it will be behind a pedestal and very difficult to manoeuvre later. The tap connectors you can see are simply a marvellous invention. You will not often see a plumber using them as they are expensive compared to copper tap connectors.
But for the purposes of this project they are wonderful. They have a nut on one end which, with a washer inside, screws on to your tap, and the other end simply pushes over the copper inlet pipe. Incidentally, these tap connectors can be bought with in-line isolation valves to make life even easier, we have done it this way in case you wish to install isolation valves on other pipe runs in the future. Make sure you use some jointing compound on all threads.
Boss white is the most common, used either on its own or in conjunction with some PTFE tape, which is simply wound around the thread making a completely watertight joint. The joint compound is applied with your fingers and pushed into the threads. Making up the cistern is a process of following the manufactures leaflet which will be with the bits inside. You can always refer to your old cistern if you are confused.
Make up the close coupled unit as well and stand it up against a wall out of the way for now. If your new cistern has a side entry inlet for the water, a flexible tap connector will not be suitable. You will need to use copper. See our section on joining copper pipes. Now we will install isolation valves to each water supply. These enable you to turn of the supplies individually and are invaluable if you have any kind of leak or want to replace taps etc. They look like this.
Firstly look for the arrow on them which tells you the flow direction. Cut a piece of copper pipe 2 and a half inches long and fit it into the out going side of the valve, apply your joint compound and ptfe and tighten.
Copper tap connectors. These fittings come fully fitted with the nut on the pipe. Just insert a fibre washer and tighten to the tap. Isolation Valves. Absolutely vital and now a requirement from building regulations, in new bathrooms to isolate each appliance and make life very easy indeed.
Do not over-tighten these compression fittings and always remember to use two spanners when working on them in all situations. Do not forget to insert the olive small brass wedding ring over the pipe so it fits between the nut and the body of the valve. It is this which compresses between the nut and the pipe giving you a water tight joint.
Isolation valves are supplied with olives inside so check when you buy them. They come in brass for unseen locations, and silver for that extra touch of class!
Follow our step-by-step guide to planning a bathroom that makes a splash for all the right reasons. It was once an afterthought — often contained to a shed in the garden. But now, after the kitchen, the bathroom is probably the most important room in the house in terms of resale value. As we seek to make the most of precious downtime, its status has been raised. No longer driven by purely practical needs, many of us are renovating our bathrooms with relaxation and pampering in mind.
Whatever your reason, installing a new bathroom is a serious undertaking and can be deceptively tricky. It requires quite an array of fittings and technical skill, often in a very compact space.
For this reason, carefully planning from the start will prevent costly mistakes and changes down the line. And if you are planning a makeover, our bathroom ideas will provide more food for thought. Start by thinking about who will be using the room, as this will have a big bearing on the scheme you finally choose. Is it to be an en-suite shower room for two? Or a family bathroom that will require a bath and plenty of storage for toys?
A spa-style sanctuary will require a long list of specifications and fittings that could include a bath, separate shower, double basins, and heaps of storage, while a guest bathroom may just require a shower and loo. Next, ask yourself what sort of space you hope to achieve. Are you seeking a haven to escape to, or are you more of an invigorate-and-energise kind of person? This will affect the fixtures, fittings and colour scheme you choose.
A scale plan of your space is a good place to start. Measure carefully as accurate dimensions are key and include features that are likely to affect the design, including windows, chimney breasts and doors. Cut out to-scale shapes of everything — loo, basin, bath and shower enclosure, for instance — and rearrange them until you find a layout that works best. Incorporate plenty of space between the elements and consider how the room will work with more than one person in there at the same time.
Visit local bathroom showrooms and websites — bathroom designers are great sources of information and advice. For more practicalities, such as water pressure, soil stacks other planning issues, a builder or plumber should be able to help. While it might seem daunting, getting your bathroom layout right from the start will make the difference between an adequate design and one that ticks all your boxes.
If it works well for you, keep it. Replacing fittings, flooring and tiles or repainting walls is a quick way to get a refresh. Rehanging doors or fitting sliding ones is an excellent way to gain space, for instance. For more information go to www. My Account. Order line. Bathroom Installation Service. We can take care of everything from plumbing and tiling to electrical work.
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