BATHROOM FITTING

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Fitting or replacing a bathroom is not a job for the feint hearted and can test the patience of even the most seasoned DIY'er.

There are important decisions to be made when considering fitting or replacing a bathroom. The materials used will often be expensive and so you should consider carefully whether you wish to undertake the project yourself or if you should pass the job onto a bathroom installation expert, plumber or tiler. If you only have the one bathroom in the property then replacing it can cause major problems, especially if you have a family and the toilet is out of use. For this reason it is important to get the toilet fitted as soon as possible. By looking below you may feel that this is a bit daunting, but I'm no expert, I am just a keen diy'er and I have replaced a small bathroom in about three days including tiling and fitting the shower.

Here is a brief outline of what is required when considering replacing or fitting a new bathroom-

• Measure the room and ensure that the new bathroom will fit.
• Measure up and purchase the necessary tiles, adhesives and grout.
• Decide which plumbing fittings you are going to use
• Calculate the amount of pipe and fittings that you will require to complete the project, you may also need some stop ends in order to blank off the water pipes temporarily.
• Consider whether or not you require under floor heating
• If the floor is being tiled, does it need reinforcing first?
• Is the ceiling being replaced or decorated, if it is then it is best if this is done first, before removing the old bathroom.
• Is the lighting adequate or will it be replaced.
• If using metal pipes do they need bonding? If the circuits in the bathroom are not RCD protected then they probably do!
• Is there an extractor fan fitted and does it require replacing?

Because fitting or replacing a bathroom is a very large job I have posted links to the relevant pages that you require in order to complete the project. The links can be found below and are in Red-

Step 1

Decide which type of pipe and fittings you are going to use and then get the required amount and some to spare. I would use plastic pipe for definite as it is easy to use and does not require bonding, unlike copper pipe. Push fit fittings are easy to use, but some people do not like them and so you can of course use compression fittings with plastic pipe, or you may even want to use chrome pipe.

Step 2

Sort out the ceiling and lighting, it is best if this is done before any of the bathroom furniture is removed as it takes some of the pressure away from fitting the bathroom. You can also sort out the lighting and the extractor fan.

	Cladding a ceiling

	Artexing a ceiling

	Fitting down lighters

	Replacing a light fitting

	Fitting an extractor fan

Step 3

Isolate the water supply to the bathroom and then remove the bathroom furniture, hopefully all pipes will have isolation valves on them already, if not they should be fitted before the bathroom furniture is refitted, use the valves that require turning with a screwdriver as the ones with handles are often played with by children. Once the bathroom furniture is removed and the water is capped off you can remove any tiles in the room.

	Fitting isolation valves You can also use push fit isolation valves, but compression are much better as the push fit ones often have a plastic slot, which gets worn.

	Toilet removal Toilet fitting ( Do not refit the toilet until you have tiled the floor )

	Basin removal and refitting ( do not refit the basin until you have tiled the walls)

	Tile removal

Step 4

After removing the tiles you can fit the under floor heating if it is being fitted, this may now have to be fitted by a qualified electrician in a bathroom or kitchen and so please check the latest part p document before doing this yourself. You can then proceed to tank any areas that are likely to get wet, such as shower areas.

	Fitting under floor heating

	Building a shower cubicle ( Tanking )

Step 5

Tile the walls and the floor and then when the tiles are set and the tiles have been grouted you can fit the new bathroom furniture as described in the project pages above. Seal any gaps with silicone sealant as described below.

	Floor tiling ( how to cut the tiles and fix particular types can be found in the tiling section )

	Wall tiling ( how to cut the tiles and fix particular types can be found in the tiling section )

	How to silicone