SingleBogWorld

Having been sent a 3D design for the Ugliest Bathroom In The World by the man from Wickes (depressing) we went to LocalTown Kitchens And Bathrooms which is well thought of if you are willing to spend. The stuff in the showroom does look attractive at least.
I now have been given a shitton of catalogues so I can email *them* with a rough outline for them to price up … Yes of course we walked in looking like tramps so possibly didn’t convince him we could afford them!

How the hell do you pick a toilet? Even of a given style (wall hung) (what is the difference day to day between rimless and not?) There are, say eight!
Also why are toilet seats sixty quid and upwards.
Is there a secret place where plumbers review and say “flush mechanism breaks in 2y” “requires the strength of Geoff Capes to push flush button” “easy to block” “built v sturdy”?
Aargh

Boop

Ok this is why most bathroom (kitchen) businesses exist…

Trading on your lack of understanding.

Step 1. Find a local bathroom fitter/person

Step 2. Tell him/her you are skint but need to sort the bathroom.

Step 3. Await quote that should include the fittings (loo bath etc) and labour

If not happy with fittings upgrade. The labour won’t change unless you want some weird stuff.

Step 4. Find local Tiler, ask for a quote per m including adhesive and grout.

Step 4. Buy tiles

Oh forgot to say.. this will not mean a new bathroom in two weeks… more like six weeks

Just choose a style you like and make sure it will fit (if you have limited space). For example we did an en-suite and the space was quite limited as we wanted a large walk-in shower. This led us to getting a slimline cistern that fitted in the cavity then a back to wall toilet. Personally I wouldn’t get a wall-mounted toilet as I just see them as having more chance of breaking than a floor-mounted one with little (if any) aesthetic benefit.

And £60 for a seat – I’d do it (I did do it). A cheap toilet seat will make the whole refit feel cheap.

Is there a secret place where plumbers review and say “flush mechanism breaks in 2y” “requires the strength of Geoff Capes to push flush button” “easy to block” “built v sturdy”?

Yes please.

Particularly – I’d like to review mine which would be along the lines of ‘slimline, elegant, good flush volume but the geometry is such that no matter where you place your arse on the seat you always end up leaving some graffiti’

As this is a bike forum I’ve tried everywhere from hanging off the back of the saddle to full steepness nose up the arse, I’ve even tried like that backwards gymnastic cycling facing the cistern, and always a greek smudge.

My downstairs 1970’s avocado basic…… neptune’s kiss every time.

Chose a bath you will fit in or you won’t use it for anything more than a shower tray.  Most modern baths seem to be designed for people without shoulders.  The external width of a bath is no guarantee that it will be wide enough to lie in.

I quite like wall hung toilets but if you are tight for space you often find that a close coupled floor standing arrangement will take up significantly less space. As Johndoh says its things like the seats and whether the flush works properly which you will notice the most once its fitted.  Talk to your plumber fitter and tell them your priorities, plumbed have a better idea of what lasts than a show room salesperson.

@theotherjonv – genius

Must remember to add lack of graffiti to the requirements for my bathroom. Found a local company, well recommended , decent quote booked in for November

Particularly – I’d like to review mine which would be along the lines of ‘slimline, elegant, good flush volume but the geometry is such that no matter where you place your arse on the seat you always end up leaving some graffiti’

I think this is less a design issue, more a consequence of water saving requirements in new flush mechanisms. We’ve just had a new bog – pan almost identical but new cistern and mechanism – and my son clearly thinks he’s Picarsso, proudly displaying his new works for all to see. Grim.

my son clearly thinks he’s Picarsso

Thanks, that properly gave me the giggles.

Not Pissarro?

if you are leaving grafiti during a slash Bill you need to drink more water.

I’d have gone with Jackson Poollock though…

The only advice i can give on this is to avoid Wickes like the plague. Cheap tat, worse service.

I’d have gone with Jackson Poollock though…

I did consider Poocasso as well…

I always insist on trying the toilet out in the shops display room. I heartily recommend that you do too.

Leonarso Da Stinci

Not sure if you’re intending doing the work yourself? When I refurbed my bathroom a couple of years ago I went with a local plumber (who’d done a decent job replacing my boiler previously) that also did bathrooms & kitchens (sub-contracting a lot of the work but he managed it overall).

Anyways, he advised going with him to the local giant plumbing supplies place (an independent I think, not a national chain anyway) where he obviously had a good relationship with them and knew they’d give some sound advice etc. My only real requirements at this stage were a decent shower and wall-hung toilet (although the plumber had tried to dissuade me from that).

At the plumbing supplies space they had a decent showroom but also had quite a lot of ex-display stuff on offer, in the end I bought a bath, glass screen and sink/cabinet from their ex-display stuff and saved quite a lot. Taps I just picked some they had on display that were the sort of style I wanted.

Toilet I’d already pretty much decided I wanted a Grohe Euro wall-hung toilet (squarish but with rounded corners) and the sales guy at the supplies place said they didn’t have anything similar looking in stock. He convinced me a wall hung toilet would be rock solid – turned out this is my main regret. Not the sales guy’s fault but when it was being fitted the plumber discovered my internal walls were just 3 sheets of plasterboard bonded together rather than a stud wall. I was looking at getting the entire wall taken out and rebuilt as a stud wall but the plumber reckoned he could get his carpenter to bodge something and still have the toilet rock solid. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and it flexes a bit which has led to a wall tile to crack behind it and I now wedge a plastic step thing under it as I don’t trust it. I wish I’d just gone for the floor-mount version now :( Oh and despite paying extra for the internal coating on the toilet I still leave more ‘graffiti’ than I even did on my old standard toilet so that’s a bit annoying.

Shower the plumbing supplies place price matched a place on Amazon (Grohe Smart Control) which was 50% off rrp. They couldn’t get close to the mirror cabinet price I could get from Amazon so just got it from their instead (has been fine).

The other handy thing about the plumbing supplies place is everything got delivered to them (apart from the cabinet) and they kept it all in their warehouse until the plumber was ready for it and then delivered it one go.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and it flexes a bit which has led to a wall tile to crack behind it and I now wedge a plastic step thing under it as I don’t trust it. I wish I’d just gone for the floor-mount version now

Yup – it was exactly that concern that made me decide on a floor mounted loo. I also got a wall-hung drawer unit but added some feet to it as it’s mounted on a stud wall too.

If you have a small room, wall mounted WCs and sinks make the floor less cluttered and laying the floor a lot easier.

In my last house I installed a wall-hung WC with hidden cistern – came with a steel mounting frame that you screwed to the wall and floor so really solid. The problem was the soil stack in the corner and getting it turn 90 degrees.

Avoid the big sheds and national chains of plumbers merchants – they’re either intent on selling over-priced tat or looking after the interests of tradesmen and totally opaque pricing.

My downstairs 1970’s avocado basic…… neptune’s kiss every time.

Deploying a sheet of toilet paper before releasing the bomb load will help with that.

Botty-smelly

At 90+kg, I got a loo that rests on the floor.

We did get a rimless design (looked ok in the brochure), the front end is really shallow (so you can make contact with it when sitting I find) and the rim catches dust that doesn’t get washed away. It’s the main thing I’d change if we were to redo it all again, but we won’t as it cost a fortune, looks lovely but needs cleaning and maintaining like any bathroom. Also, flushing the loo with a bucket for 3 weeks was a pain in the bum!

Also, flushing the loo with a bucket for 3 weeks was a pain in the bum!

You were pouring it in the wrong place.