Bathroom installation
Installation is a crucial part of bathroom replacement process. While it is possible to use minimal or no design at all, purchase budget suite and tiles, bathroom installation and other building works around it should be taken seriously and in detail. Refitting a bathroom at the times may be expensive and may be taking long times hard earned savings. Beautiful new bathroom is a dream for many. Whilst it is a good investment, it may be the other way around if bathroom is fitted poorly. All kinds of problems may happen behind those beautiful tiles which can lead into more problems down the stairs or past some time. Grouting cracks may appear on freshly laid tiles and cause more problems. Lets cover better practices to properly install a bathroom.
Where things can go wrong? Right, plumbing!
Can be an old water pipe or existing drain line cracked. A plastic water pipe connection burst apart. Many scenarios, happens often and sometimes right after fitting a new bathroom. This is why it is a good practice to refresh all the plumbing once walls and floors are open. Replacement quality is also important.
Use plastic water pipes?
Although push-fit type plastic pipes and fittings are easy and quick to install by just pushing them together, the cons are more. Even though they are plastic and may be more resistant to chlorine, fittings have weak spots: they are relying on rubber rings to keep them watertight. What will happen to rubber in time with all that chlorine in Thames Water slowly weakening it? After all plastic push-fit manufacturers do give long warranties, but will those rubber rings live a bit more that that limited time? Only time will tell. Or you just avoid it.
Copper pipe is better?
On the
other hand, trusty traditional copper pipe is harder to cut/bend, slower to install as it needs to be cleaned then soldered and then cleaned again. Final result is much better, safer and long lasting. No rubber to disintegrate. All for that shiny new copper.
Drainage under the floor and in walls is simply best to be replaced. Plastic drain pipes tend to get blocked, may have incorrect fall gradient. In time plastics gets brittle and may crack. Just refresh it.
Sub floor and wall preparation
With over 8 million older homes in UK it is very common to have uneven/not leveled floors and out of plumb walls. If not properly prepared prior to wall/floor covering you may end up with poorly installed tiles, for example. Bathroom fittings and furniture may not be installed straight or level. Even though it may be saving cost and install bathroom quicker, it is best to avoid future problems and take care of it at early stage of installation.
Floor joists
Floor joists are like bone structure for the flooring. With sheeting or boards installed they form sub flooring. If sub flooring is uneven, then the rest of the bathroom installation may end up uneven and not straight. Best way to rectify this is to plane off high spots on joists if relatively small adjustment needed. Adding additional new floor joists to existing framing may be the way to go if flooring fall is too great. We use laser level technology tools to make it perfect.
Self-leveling compound
Sometimes floor gradient is not too bad and if no way to plane it off for one of the reasons, it is possible to level it using self-leveling compound. Once mixed, it pours very liquidy and dries to a solid, even surface in few hours. Its quick and effective for minor adjustment prior to floor covering. Recommended to use with electrical under floor heating systems.
Floor sheeting
Back in the day it used to be all floor boards across the floor of all the rooms. Now its all sheeting materials. If you have existing floorboards, then it is best to replace them to sheeting if floor to be tiled. There are also options to floor sheeting: chipboard, OSB, different grades of plywood, cement boards, hybrid rigid insulation boards like Wedi.
Chipboard
Chipboard cost less, smaller sheet size, easier to cut and installation does not require edges on joists. So its much easier to install. While it is common to see chipboard used in bathrooms, especially loft conversion ones, it has its downsides. The biggest one is not very good with moisture even though it may be sold as moisture resistant green board. With amount of moisture it tends to swell up, lose integrity to the point that tile installation and grouting may be affected. OSB does the same. So just avoid both in your bathroom installation, if possible.
Hardwood plywood
Structural external grade hardwood plywood on the other hand is much better. It is more moisture resistant and performs great in comparison. It is harder to cut, carry and install, but result well worth it.
Cement board
Cement boards are great. They are water, warping, rot, mould and shrinking resistant. It is a good option for a top layer on top of plywood prior to tiling the flooring if height allows it. We like to use it for bath panel walls.
Wedi board
Wedi is a hybrid rigid insulative polystyrene foam board that has fiberglass reinforcement and cement mortar waterproof facing. With conjunction with 610 waterproof sealant they create one of the best bathroom waterproofing systems. Its great with under floor heating as well due to insulative quality.
Sand and cement mix wall rendering
Sometimes wall covering goes and everything with it back to bare bricks. Sand and cement rendering is a good option if waterproofing quality is required and there is not much space for sheeting installation. We also prefer this method if walls are out of plumb and need to be straightened with minimal amount of space taken. It is very time consuming, but really makes difference comparing to plasterboard dry-lining of walls.
Dot and dab plasterboard dry-lining
Dot and dab dry-lining is basically gluing plasterboard sheets on the wall. It is very quick and cost effective way to prep walls. Downside is that it takes a bit more space off the walls than sand and cement render. Also it does not waterproofs the walls.
Waterproof tanking is a good option to prep the walls prior to tiling. Especially in conjunction with plasterboard installation.
Ditra mat
Ditra mat installation is very important step prior to floor tiling. It is a flexible plastic waterproof membrane that “uncouples” tiling from the sub floor. It allows tile to be more independent. Since sub floor tends to move, expand and contract a bit differently than tile floor, it is essential to have it installed to prevent cracks on tile, adhesive or grouting failure. Unless cement or wedi boards installed.
We offer complete installation services from quick refreshes to fully redoing it all back from bricks and blocks. Every bathroom installation is unique. There are many different methods, technologies and products available today to make it a better bathroom. Our preference is to use best available to make it a long lasting result.