home improvemtents- ensuite

[james160987]

im looking at buying a house but the master has no ensuite, its quite a big bedroom, wondered how much it would be to add a ensuite, fake wall, etc, any ideas as it will be from scatch?

[kitkat]

Dirtydog is a plumber and he said it depends on what you want in your ensuite and the position of your soil stack. He will probably be along later to give you a better answer but he is busy trying to get baby to sleep

[Kilted Ginger]

Depends a lot on the layout of the house etc. ie whether the ensuite will be anywhere near water supply and waste pipes.
The plumbing will be the big bit (or it would be to me as i'm no plumber) are you planning to do all / most of it yourself or get a man who can in?
Stud walls, doors, tiling, shower bases etc are all pretty straight forward, you can spend £200 on a shower base or £2000, depends on what you want.

A friends recently asked me top plan one for him, glass brick walls and mood lighting, very modern and definately not cheap, and it will be a marmite room.

[Speedy Claire]

Handy tip....

Save money by just buying a nice chamber pot from a local antique shop and storing it under your bed :D

[Demonz]

5k as an avg price I would guess for the avid do it yourselfer. Depends on many factors as already stated.

[Spiderman]

Yeh £5k is a good ballpark figure to work with. Saying that i used to sell shower heads that fit into the celieng that start, yes start at £8k and go up to £11.5K and thats just a shower head, not the glass or plumbing bits or any of that!!! So you really can spend anything you want. If it s a shower in ther spend more money on good tanking and waterproofing as thats important in the long run, shower hoses and heads etc you can change over time...bad waterproofing and leaks will drive you nuts and cost a lot in the long term.

HTH

[dirtydog]

Basically it comes down to how much you want to spend on it as KG has a said you can pay anything from £200 to £2000 for a shower tray and cubicle
Same goes for all the fittings really.
What sort of shower you're wanting? Either power shower, electric shower, mixer shower etc etc
If your soil stack isn't nearby you wil either need to get an extra one put in or get a macerator (£400+) to go with the toilet.

There are loads of variable and that's just with the plumbing

If you want drop me a PM and I'll get some prices for stuff for you

[dirtydog]

If it s a shower in ther spend more money on good tanking and waterproofing as thats important in the long run


A very good point that's often overlooked, I get a fair bit of work from damage caused by this sort of leaking

Don't tell everyone that though will you, it keeps me in business you know ;-)


Spidey, £8k for a shower head?? :confused: That's bloody madness :smt075:smt075

[speedplay]

I did mine for just under £1000.
Open trade accounts and you will get discounts on all materials.
I found that the main costs involved in mine was the tiling.

[dizzyblonde]

I did mine for just under £1000.
Open trade accounts and you will get discounts on all materials.
I found that the main costs involved in mine was the tiling.

So was mine( and I had one bathroom and a seperate toilet with sink), but then i got my dad and bro to rip out the old bathroom and plumb in the new one, then I tiled it. It is really not that hard to tile at all. It patience thats needed not much skill.
I got all my stuff from bathstore in the sale, but my taps cost more than the other components of the suite itself. I think my bath was 99 quid, and my sink was less than that!! They weren't cheap at full price though, and its a lovely suite. But my taps for bath and two sinks were about 400 quid!!

Two years on and i still haven't got round to putting on a bath panel, but I did get Im Indoors to finally drill and fit the shower screen to the wall:-?
This is the only downfall of doing it yourself, you kind of do it in your own time:o

[Kilted Ginger]

I'd pay 8k for a sower head if it included a small phillopino girl to scrub my back ;)
or a couple of eddie murphys wipers (coming to america)

[SV-net]

£5K are you serious, thats if you are building a grand designs style en-suite. A decent job can be done from scratch to completion for £2K if you are capable of doing the work and dont have to get tradesmen in to do the job. £5k tehe he he

[Specialone]

The ones i have done have been in the region of £3k -£3.5k for reasonable stuff, all plastered and tiled but excluding tiles themselves.
But as someone said, cost of fittings can be high, shower cubicles can be £1500+ especially if you want something a bit different or its a odd shape.
(8k for a shower head... you can buy a bike for that lol)
Soil stack can be a pain, if upstairs i would avoid saniflo's as they can be loud on wooden floors.
If the shower tray is fitted properly, tanking is not necessary.
I have seen loads of poorly fitted trays that come out without any tools whatsoever and leak like a siv(?)

[Spiderman]

A very good point that's often overlooked, I get a fair bit of work from damage caused by this sort of leaking

Don't tell everyone that though will you, it keeps me in business you know ;-)


Spidey, £8k for a shower head?? :confused: That's bloody madness :smt075:smt075

I know, this is the bad boy http://www.trendir.com/archives/dornbracht-rainsky-e-showerhead.jpg
or if youre interested in its techinical side (you wont believe the flow at 4 bar reccomended pressure) go to www.dornbracht.com and search for the Rainsky range. Nuts, utterly nuts, lol.

[james160987]

it wouldnt be anything fancy, power shower would be nice, in farness b&q shwer base etc will be fine, and the cheapest sink and toilet i can find, id be getting someone in to most of it, and friends with various skills for others, , i know a electrain but not a plumber etc

[Kilted Ginger]

theres one or two plumbers joiners etc on here, where are you based, as well keeping it in the family

[dizzyblonde]

it wouldnt be anything fancy, power shower would be nice, in farness b&q shwer base etc will be fine, and the cheapest sink and toilet i can find,


better quality than B&Q but cheap prices for those items that seem to be in a permanent sale.

http://www.bathstore.com/

I can't complain at my suite

[Specialone]

better quality than B&Q but cheap prices for those items that seem to be in a permanent sale.

http://www.bathstore.com/

I can't complain at my suite

+1, i use their stuff regulary and its mostly better than B&Q.
Screwfix stuff not bad either.
Also try www.taps4less.com (http://www.taps4less.com)

[timwilky]

one piece of advice from when I did mine. I used concrete panels for the shower walls and to line the floor (probably overkill). Water is horrid stuff, I have seen far too many showers fail on seals, walls rotting etc. to require a full rebuild, lining with rot proof material means it will be a once and forever job.

[Specialone]

one piece of advice from when I did mine. I used concrete panels for the shower walls and to line the floor (probably overkill). Water is horrid stuff, I have seen far too many showers fail on seals, walls rotting etc. to require a full rebuild, lining with rot proof material means it will be a once and forever job.

I use water resistant plasterboard (green board) and clear silicone every joint on the board prior to tiling then water will struggle to penetrate.

[SoulKiss]

Why bother?

Unless you have a lot of people in the house I cant see the need.

Put the 5 grand onto your mortgage payments and pay the house off that bit quicker.

Or is it just that "everyone else has an en-suite"?

[Spiderman]

Adds value to a degree and adds to the sell-ability when the time comes too so a home improvment along the lines of a big coservatory.

[bris]

Dont buy a plastic shower tray, spend an extra few quid and make sure you get a stone one. Have a look on ebay for the parts, some great stuff on there much cheaper that bathstore.com etc.

[dirtydog]

it wouldnt be anything fancy, power shower would be nice, in farness b&q shwer base etc will be fine, and the cheapest sink and toilet i can find, id be getting someone in to most of it, and friends with various skills for others, , i know a electrain but not a plumber etc

I've not looked at B&Q shower enclosures for a while but from what I remember they weren't that cheap!
The standard ones I fit cost about £260 and that's a acrylic capped resin stone tray with upstands (helps a bit with the waterproofing) and a silver framed enclosure. A cheapy toilet, basin and pedestal costs me about £80. A power shower will set you back anything from £100 to £600

Also don't forget about the other bits and pieces like taps, again you get what you pay for.

theres one or two plumbers joiners etc on here, where are you based, as well keeping it in the family

better quality than B&Q but cheap prices for those items that seem to be in a permanent sale.

http://www.bathstore.com/

I can't complain at my suite

Have fitted a few bits from bathstore and they're not too bad

I use water resistant plasterboard (green board) and clear silicone every joint on the board prior to tiling then water will struggle to penetrate.

That's my weapon of choice as well, although my brother (a plasterer) prefers the cement/concrete sheets


Have a look on ebay for the parts, some great stuff on there much cheaper that bathstore.com etc.

Also a lot of rubbish stuff on there too and if you don't know what you're looking for you may get caught out.

[speedplay]

although my brother (a plasterer) prefers the cement/concrete sheets


That stuffs running at about £80 a sheet at the moment.
Masterboard is bloody expensive stuff.
Normal plasterboard is fine, if your really that worried about moisture getting to it, wash it over with a pva mix and allow to dry before you tile it.

[Spiderman]

We specified Weidi board at work but its not that cheap.

For taps try www.crosswater.co.uk they have some stunning taps that come with a 10yr guarantee!!, we used to sell lots of their stuff. Some of it is horrendously expensive but some ranges are fairly reasonable.

[dirtydog]

I was on a job a few months ago where the customer had bought all the taps and shower valves from crosswater, bath taps were £400 a set!! I think I worked it out that he had spent over £3k on taps, shower valves, shower heads, bottle traps and wastes for 2 bathrooms and a WC!!!!

[Spiderman]

I was on a job a few months ago where the customer had bought all the taps and shower valves from crosswater, bath taps were £400 a set!! I think I worked it out that he had spent over £3k on taps, shower valves, shower heads, bottle traps and wastes for 2 bathrooms and a WC!!!!

Pah i wouldn't have let them get away with less than £5ks worth of goods for both rooms. :lol: £6k if i could have sold them crosswaters sanitayrware for the wc too but thats pricey for what it is.

Some of the Crosswater catalogue sells itself, its pure blingy bathroom porn at its best. You can request a catalogue from their webisite if you aint thumbed one yet. Trade deals are good too if you can setup an account with them ;)

[dirtydog]

Pah i wouldn't have let them get away with less than £5ks worth of goods for both rooms. :lol: £6k if i could have sold them crosswaters sanitayrware for the wc too but thats pricey for what it is.

Some of the Crosswater catalogue sells itself, its pure blingy bathroom porn at its best. You can request a catalogue from their webisite if you aint thumbed one yet. Trade deals are good too if you can setup an account with them ;)


lol. Can't remember where he got the toilets from but they were £300 each as well and took 2 of us to carry the bloody things upstairs. even then they were'nt that good as you couldn't get them to sit flush against the wall

Oh yeah lots of bathroom blingyness, I quite like the black taps they do.

[Spiderman]

Oh yeh, matt black is the new chrome, Sexy as hell. mmmmmm.

[dirtydog]

Kitkat says we're sad buggers for getting excited about taps lol.


I fitted a new set of basin taps the other day for a job i was on, they cost £9 for the pair definitely not high quality!

[tigersaw]

Oh yeh, matt black is the new chrome, Sexy as hell. mmmmmm.

Oh noes, here comes the 80's

[Spiderman]

Kitkat says we're sad buggers for getting excited about taps lol.


I fitted a new set of basin taps the other day for a job i was on, they cost £9 for the pair definitely not high quality!

Shes probably right tho, lol.

£9 a pair :shock: et they were well sexy, not. :lol:

[dirtydog]

Shes probably right tho, lol.

£9 a pair :shock: et they were well sexy, not. :lol:


No I cannot possibly agree with kitkat ;)

Sexy taps? They were definitely not in that category

[Spiderman]

Get yourslf a copy of the Crosswater catalogue from their website and get it adressed to Kitkat.
Then when you come home one day watch her say "OMG DD, have you ever seen taps like these?"


And then remind her how sad it is to get al excited over taps ;)

[dirtydog]

Get yourslf a copy of the Crosswater catalogue from their website and get it adressed to Kitkat.
Then when you come home one day watch her say "OMG DD, have you ever seen taps like these?"


And then remind her how sad it is to get al excited over taps ;)

Lol, i doubt that I would ever get that response from KK looking through a tap/plumbing catalogue

[Tara]

Lol, i doubt that I would ever get that response from KK looking through a tap/plumbing catalogue
i think your right

[Spiderman]

Well you know her better than i do of course but they have glass shower heads with LEDs in them, would that not even raise an eyebrow from her?

[SV-net]

I have a crosswater diverter in the bathroom and it was not cheap, the flipping thing is constantly getting stuck at a fixed temperature (luckily a comfortable one). And its a bugger to clean the valve out.

FYI the tape in Bathstore are the Crosswater ones...

[Spiderman]

I have a crosswater diverter in the bathroom and it was not cheap, the flipping thing is constantly getting stuck at a fixed temperature (luckily a comfortable one). And its a bugger to clean the valve out.

FYI the tape in Bathstore are the Crosswater ones...

Its a thermostatic divertor i take it then? happens a lot with Crosswater's thermo valaves. Give em a call, be extra nice and they should send you a free one in the post. Its easy enough to replace as you probably know by now.