A bathroom or en-suite is often one the smallest rooms in the house. But carrying out a refurbishment involves almost every trade from plumbers to tilers, and painters to plasterers. There are so many people to manage that the key to getting it right is organisation. Here are our tips for staying organised for every aspect of a bathroom makeover project.
Be prepared
Like any small project bathroom renovations can have a tendency to drag out. So to ensure the contractor and his crew are out of your hair as swiftly as possible make sure you have purchased everything before your builder starts. This means all materials can be delivered as soon as they are needed on site. This will avoid unnecessary delays.
Decide on the details in advance
Think about the details that you would like to include and discuss all of them before work starts. For example, if you want a recess in your shower to hold shampoo and shower gels, be clear about this from the outset as it will be difficult and costly to install after the tiler has started.
Plan your heating
Heating is another important thing to consider when renovating your bathroom. If you are tight on space, locating radiators can be an issue. Electric underfloor heating mats are a great solution, they can be easily installed under tiles and are much less expensive than underfloor heating. They are, however, costly to run so set them on a timer to come on intermittently.
Tiles
Another common pitfall with bathroom refurbishments is not ordering enough tiles. This can cause delays, particularly if tiles are not stock items and have to be ordered in. Calculate the floor and wall areas separately and allow a minimum of 10% extra to allow for wastage. When getting a quote for tiles make sure that the supplier includes grout adhesive and tile trims as this can be an unwelcome extra cost once you have committed to a particular tile.
Accessories
Buy all your bathroom accessories, such as towel rails and toilet roll holders so that the builder can fit them for you. They will have all of the tools to drill through tiles, for example, avoiding the risk of you having a go yourself and cracking tiles.
Shower and bath screens
When choosing shower doors there are a number of options – off-the-shelf or the bespoke frame-less glass screens and doors that are made to order and need to be measured once all of the tiling is finished. You will need to factor this into your time scale because there will be a lead time from measuring before the door is ready to be installed.
Lighting
Another important thing to think about is power for lighting around mirrors and shaver sockets. A great idea if you are fitting a mirrored cabinet is to get the contractor to install the socket inside the cabinet so that your toothbrush or shaver can be stored inside while charging keeping surfaces free.
Grout joints
The devil is in the detail and in a bathroom the finish of the tiling is critical. Keeping grout joints as tight as possible is a must. Not only will this look much better but it will mean that the floor is much easier to keep clean because grout discolours over time especially on floors. When choosing your grout it is best to match the tile colour as closely as possible. Never go for a dark grey unless you are using a dark grey tile. This colour is often sold for floors but can look very stark especially where a light colour tile has been used. If you are concerned with staining choose a silver grey instead.
Trims
For corners and edges use a tile trim, the square-edged chrome trims look very well. And if you are using stone the tiles will be much thicker than porcelain or ceramic, so the best way to finish edges here is by having the tiles bevelled. This can be done either on- or off-site. You will need to discuss all of this with your tiler in advance as it will have an impact on the price but the difference in the finish is worth every penny.
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