Bathroom regrets
Discussion
MrJuice said:
Depends if it's wet or electric
My bathrooms are small so I opted against UFH on suspended floors and will make do with mats and a towel rail for heat.
On downstairs bathrooms we have solid floors with wet UFH which was easy enough to do but then we were doing the whole ground floor. So a bit more pipe and a bit more screed was not a problem.
Did you dig up the floors to insulate beneath them or were they already insulated? We have solid ground floor concrete floors and the builders have proposed channeling the screed/concrete to put the underloor heating pipes in, seemingly unaware that heat travels downwards in a solid and i've no intention of attempting to heat the entire slab.My bathrooms are small so I opted against UFH on suspended floors and will make do with mats and a towel rail for heat.
On downstairs bathrooms we have solid floors with wet UFH which was easy enough to do but then we were doing the whole ground floor. So a bit more pipe and a bit more screed was not a problem.
MrJuice said:
Yep
Exactly that
My void was maybe 400-500mm and it was less in places.
We put mot type 1 I think. Then dpm. Then concrete. Then 100mm insulation. Then pipes and screed.
Some people suggested more than 100mm insulation but that didn't happen for us
Ah void = suspended?Exactly that
My void was maybe 400-500mm and it was less in places.
We put mot type 1 I think. Then dpm. Then concrete. Then 100mm insulation. Then pipes and screed.
Some people suggested more than 100mm insulation but that didn't happen for us
All my ground floor are solid concrete and I'm being told it's an enormous and risky job to dig out old floors down to the depth required to put modern spec floors in.
bmwmike said:
Ah void = suspended?
All my ground floor are solid concrete and I'm being told it's an enormous and risky job to dig out old floors down to the depth required to put modern spec floors in.
No idea about thatAll my ground floor are solid concrete and I'm being told it's an enormous and risky job to dig out old floors down to the depth required to put modern spec floors in.
Did they say what the risk was?
You might want to start a new thread and ask about that. Or try buildhub. Especially if your decision hinges on this
No risk but you need to check the depths of your existing foundations as on older houses they were often only 300mm deep or less.
To replace a floor the minimum dig is 100mm concrete slab. The uFH can go in this. No need for a screed.
100mm insulation plus dpm.
100mm hardcore.
So potentially you can undermine the foundations.
It is a very expensive task, Time, Labour and materials wise.
To replace a floor the minimum dig is 100mm concrete slab. The uFH can go in this. No need for a screed.
100mm insulation plus dpm.
100mm hardcore.
So potentially you can undermine the foundations.
It is a very expensive task, Time, Labour and materials wise.
We are looking to get our Bathroom replaced in the next 6-12 months and struggling to see how we are going to be without a shower for 2 weeks!
Moving from Electric to mixer so need a pump fitted but they need to get hot feed to where shower is so all needs to be ripped out anyway and three quotes so far have said 'about 2 weeks' without a shower. We have a 4 year old and we both work from home most of the time, without a second bathroom I just don't see how we are going to be able to cope for 2 weeks without moving out and renting an AirBnB etc during the works.
Moving from Electric to mixer so need a pump fitted but they need to get hot feed to where shower is so all needs to be ripped out anyway and three quotes so far have said 'about 2 weeks' without a shower. We have a 4 year old and we both work from home most of the time, without a second bathroom I just don't see how we are going to be able to cope for 2 weeks without moving out and renting an AirBnB etc during the works.
Wagonwheel555 said:
We are looking to get our Bathroom replaced in the next 6-12 months and struggling to see how we are going to be without a shower for 2 weeks!
Moving from Electric to mixer so need a pump fitted but they need to get hot feed to where shower is so all needs to be ripped out anyway and three quotes so far have said 'about 2 weeks' without a shower. We have a 4 year old and we both work from home most of the time, without a second bathroom I just don't see how we are going to be able to cope for 2 weeks without moving out and renting an AirBnB etc during the works.
There was a bloke, maybe on here, who rigged up an outside shower. Best done in the summer months. Moving from Electric to mixer so need a pump fitted but they need to get hot feed to where shower is so all needs to be ripped out anyway and three quotes so far have said 'about 2 weeks' without a shower. We have a 4 year old and we both work from home most of the time, without a second bathroom I just don't see how we are going to be able to cope for 2 weeks without moving out and renting an AirBnB etc during the works.
Alternatively time it with your annual hols, need a trustworthy fitter though. The only time I've been without a bathroom, I managed showering at the gym.
Best get it booked soon we've been quoted 6 month lead times.
If installing a spa bath with an air blower , put the blower through the wall in the room next door. I put mine in the utility room and it transforms it from a noisy novelty to a luxurious experience. The water pumps are generally quiet enough to have under the bath but not the air blowers.
I like a lot of baths.
I like a lot of baths.
At the time - herringbone marble tiles! We found them an absolute pig to install and try and get perfect. Would have probably gone for large format bottom and sheeted mosaic for upper half of wall in the shower looking back.
I will eventually be putting an en-suite in, massive regret of not doing this first before ripping the bathroom out, did all the work myself, ended up without a shower/bath facilities for 3 months, this didn’t go down well given the little one was 6 months old at the time.
Also wasted a lot of money of trying to find the perfect pottery pan connector, not worth it, relies on putty to seal, just go mcalpine plastic instead.
Read through and took on board a lot from this thread before starting.
Heated mirror and “summer” towel rail probably the stand out glad I did it, wet UFH does take a long time to get going however.
Also if going diy and have a lot of cuts, get yourself a wet sliding tile saw.
Before and not quite finished after (window detail almost finished);
I will eventually be putting an en-suite in, massive regret of not doing this first before ripping the bathroom out, did all the work myself, ended up without a shower/bath facilities for 3 months, this didn’t go down well given the little one was 6 months old at the time.
Also wasted a lot of money of trying to find the perfect pottery pan connector, not worth it, relies on putty to seal, just go mcalpine plastic instead.
Read through and took on board a lot from this thread before starting.
Heated mirror and “summer” towel rail probably the stand out glad I did it, wet UFH does take a long time to get going however.
Also if going diy and have a lot of cuts, get yourself a wet sliding tile saw.
Before and not quite finished after (window detail almost finished);
Edited by Danns on Tuesday 21st November 07:49
stevemcs said:
Steel bath, we have one. Should have gone with plastic as it makes the room cold, oh and under floor heating should have had that too.
We had electric UFH during one refurb many years ago: kitchen and shower room.What a mistake: it cost a fortune (even back then!)
That is the problem with retro-fit, when you cannot ensure the slab below is well insulated.
Most recent refurb we righted that wrong. The shower room has bath mats down to save cold feet…
I do appreciate views may vary, but for a sunroom extension more recently, we were able to put wet UFH in, linked to the main boiler. That works a treat: night & day for running costs
I fitted electric underfloor heating under the tiles in the upstairs bathroom, it's brilliant, simple and quite effective. Cost about £120 from memory. Came with a timer control that will take a week to program but it's actually pretty simple. Far nicer than my freezing cold Victorian downstairs gentleman's boudoir lol
LandieMark said:
I really regret not having an electric element installed in the towel rail for the summer when the heating isn't on.
I'm struggling to see why so many people rate these?In the winter, a heated towel rail is a no-brainer, but in the summer, things dry pretty quickly naturally.
3xAAA said:
I'm struggling to see why so many people rate these?
In the winter, a heated towel rail is a no-brainer, but in the summer, things dry pretty quickly naturally.
I can see the value in it for an two months of the year, mid-September and April, when it's warm enough the heating isn't, but damp enough towels don't dry. At which point a preprig hour of injecting 300w behind a well covered rad would be beneficial. In the winter, a heated towel rail is a no-brainer, but in the summer, things dry pretty quickly naturally.
That said, although we have a loop of ring main nearby, we don't currently have one and survive just fine.
Certainly I wouldn't have an electric only towel rail, it would be a duel-fuel which mainly rad of the CH loop.
3xAAA said:
LandieMark said:
I really regret not having an electric element installed in the towel rail for the summer when the heating isn't on.
I'm struggling to see why so many people rate these?In the winter, a heated towel rail is a no-brainer, but in the summer, things dry pretty quickly naturally.
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