[Closed] Uh oh another bathroom thread..this could get nasty 😉

Is a walk in shower definitely not happening, even with a shorter deeper bath?

If you squeeze one in I'd recommend it.

I prefer extractor fans with humidity sensors rather than the ones that go on with the light.  I also find the little inline ones not very powerful.  Can you find enough space for a remote fan?  In the ceiling?

Edit - i also prefer a bigger bath - mines 1800 x 800.

Just my 2 cents, but I’ve been looking into getting our downstairs bathroom done, size is 1450 x 2800. No way is a bath going in there, decent sized walk in shower, toilet, basin with decent storage and mirror storage wall unit with inbuilt front light.

Overall cost is 4.5k - surrey so also expensive. I’ve already done the lights, first fix and have an extractor fan built in though. On the fan, get the quietest you can that works off condensation / humidity levels - they’re not cheap. Builders always specify the £4 fans that make a racket.

9k sounds quite top end, I may be wrong though.

i also prefer a bigger bath

He isn't building it for you though TJ 😀

Edit – i also prefer a bigger bath – mines 1800 x 800.

After he's fitted the bath to the

Room 1610mmx2455mm.

Does he put the toilet in the hall or the kitchen?

Just to say that I spec'd the best fan I could find at a previous house as I hate the noise and inefficiency, but it was still loud and rubbish at clearing the room.

Fit a window, at least it won't need electric. 😄

Yes bath has to be 1600mm due to the room size/layout and bath is a must for me as a manual labourer for 20 years for soaking achy muscles. Current bathroom is a weird corner bath with a seat cut out where you hold the shower attachment over your head whilst sitting down. Had that setup for 6 years so a decent shower over the bath will be luxury in comparison.

Ok humidity sensing extractor sounds good. Any brands/models that will clear that size room well? Only 2 people in the household so max 2 showers a day and we also have PIV unit upstairs.

Yes i think 9k may be top end but i did specify i wanted a really good finish and i thought burying all the pipes in the walls is a big job plus fully tiled room, making a hole in the wall and a new ceiling and lights plus new waste for the bath as the run off is poor and it doesn't drain well sounds like pretty big job. Also not easy even finding people to quote in Brighton. It's a tradepersons market just now and the company seems super reliable in terms of communication anyway.

If you are getting the whole thing skimmed no need to tile the whole thing. Tiles can be expensive, just tile round the bath and behind the sink.

Envirovent Silent 100t. Quite simply amazing bits of kit for the price. If you need a fan get one.

if its going to be fully tiled don't skim the walls, any tiles other than ceramics will probably be to heavy for a skimmed wall.

i would say about 10k is average cost of bathrooms i'm involed with(i'm a tiler)

if i had to pay for labour and full price for other trades thats a little less than mine would have cost.

tiles i got a bit cheaper as i use the shop a lot(and the very expensive even after discount towel rail my wife liked). for all the other stuff i found what i liked on the internet and then went local to a builders merchant that does bathrooms(jt atkinson) and they vertually priced matched the cheapest internet prices, saves delivey hasle and any other problems are easier to sort. its worth making sure you get a nice solid bath, mines a cleargreen, a lot of the cheaper ones are really flimsy and thin.

9k! That seems a bit spendy. We took out and moved a stud wall to put in a larger bath, relocated all our pipework, fitted a high spec bath, overhead rainfall shower and handheld hobbie for washing your bits plus an overflow bath filler all controlled by a single thermostatic valve, a sink, loo, column radiator with towel rail, bathroom cabinet with light, skimmed the ceilings / walls, and tiled half height plus full height around the bath and had change from 3.5k.

Have a look at Ergonomic Designs. If you shop smart and know what you need you can save a fortune on very nice kit.

https://www.ergonomicdesigns.co.uk/

I fit bathrooms...spec is everything thing...last year I massively under priced a bathroom
The job
Remove a single wall to join toilet to bathroom
Move toilet to different position and put a shower in its place.
Move sink to different position and put free standing bath.
Bath had to be placed on a raised platform to allow waste run.
Anyway I lost about £4k fitting this...but the customer was one of the good ones and added extras so I could make most of it back in the end I was only about £1k down I labour costs...but to me it wasn't about the money because it was a challenging bathroom to fit...and I won
The customer was very happy and I got a lot of work off the back of it.

But my av price for labour is £3k for bathrooms....that covers my just labour for everything except electrics and heating..London/Surrey area

Another thing I just thought of - "tank" the bath so you re not just relying on the tiles for waterproofing

@scruffythefirst it's 14m2 of tiling and we'll go with larger tiles so the actual tile cost isn't going to be that big and we want to do this well. The whole bath/shower area would need to be full height anyway so for a clean look and easy maintenance I want this smallish room fully tiled. It will look much less fussy than having different tile heights on different walls and i hate how dust sits on the edges of half height tiling and dog/cat hair always manages to stick to damp bathroom walls so it's just easier to clean tiled walls and they'll never need repainting.

Fair enough, in which case do you need it skimming?

So the quote is to skim the ceiling but he has also allowed for skimming the walls if required as he doesn't know the state of the walls underneath the old tiles and will be burying a fair bit of pipework that currently runs around the room and also up the wall into the ceiling where we had an upstairs loo put in. So i assumed the skimming is just to make good where needed to tile onto but i know nothing about this sort of thing. Interested in what @bigfoot said about tiles being too heavy. Should I ask my builder about this? Good tip on going to builders merchants with Internet price. Will look into that but does the bath i linked to look decent or flimsy just as a guide?

@sas78 thanks for the recommendation. We have an Envirovent piv system that works really well and has been faultless for 7 years so will definitely look into that.

@rockandrollmark wow that sounds amazing value! It's really hard to find trades people in Brighton and it's second only to London for prices with many months wait for decent people so I have come to terms with the cost.

I just really want to make sure we do it right so it's quality and lasts to make the high labour costs worthwhile.

I appreciate people's help on this. Will have a look at your link today.

@cheekyget you sound like one of the good guys and 3k for an average bathroom sounds amazingly good value for the SE! You must be seriously booked up?! Our quote does include everything except the tiles and bathroom bits so all sundries, towel rad, pipes, electrician etc and i know we do pay more having a building company to it all rather than getting the individual trades in ourselves but it's so hard getting people in it just seemed the easiest way.

@tjagain sorry to be dense but what do you mean by tanking the bath? I'm guessing that's unlikely to be included as standard then? Is it spendy? It's ground floor bathroom by the way if that makes a difference.

Current bathroom

Can you see this? What would have been the external window now only opens an inch as the boiler is the other side in the extension (utility area) so a hole is going in the wall to the side passage of the house for the vent.

Tanking the bath - its adding a waterproof layer under the tiles so if the grout cracks the wall is still waterproof.  especially important with plasterboard walls.  Also the bath should be properly supported on all 4 sides with a timber frame - many fitters do not do this and the bath can move thus breaking the waterproof seal.  IIRC tanking is now a requirement under building regs but rarely done

Its an expensive thing having a bathroom done - make sure it will last

this is what I used - two layers all round the bath, 2 part seal between the bath and wall, tiled over then the final silicone seal
https://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/tanking-kits

https://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/info/tanking-a-tiled-bathroom-is-now-mandatory

by tanking he means applying a tanking paste to waterproof the wall behind the tiles, tiles and grout aren't completley waterproof especially if you ever have an issue with the grout that you don't spot for a while. it's only needed in wet arears.
it's better to board the walls with a waterproof tilebacker board like marmox etc. which i ussually try and do but if that's not possible it gets tanked, a tanking kit isn't that expensive.

regaurding tile weight, i can't remember exact figures but sound plaster will support just over 20kg/sqm, plasterboard about 30kg/sqm and tilebacker board is somewhere higher than that. those weights inculde adhesive and grout. most porcilian tiles i use are about 25kg/sqm just for the tile so can't go on plaster, natural stone generally needs tilebacker board.

are all the walls solid? any stud walls i would just strip the boards of as well when removing the tiles and reboard, it's a better job for not much more work. on the solid walls more often than not i end up taking them back to bare block, by the time the tiles are removed, pipes etc. chased in they're often not in a good state plus there then can be the weight issue.

my own main bathroom at home total materials cost was about 5k which included new floorboards, new lowered ceiling, boarding of all 4 walls, new casing and door, tiles and all electrical and plumbing stuff. that was for good quality middle of the road stuff seaching for the best prices

Can you see the photo? The 2 walls on the right side are external so definitely solid. I think the others are too but not sure. There's £220 of tile backer in the quote if that sheds any light?

like tjagain says above but not sure which way he did it but it's best to tank the wall first, fit the bath and seal that to the wall, tile then seal again.

this is what i use
https://www.protilertools.co.uk/product/tilemaster-tanking-kit-waterproofing-tub?gclid=CjwKCAiAvOeQBhBkEiwAxutUVF82wWMxUtY1VGi4SnQ2ITCPa6OcU3AZ5NyZUJfBBlXjpRWwUFNGYBoCCYQQAvD_BwE

1 coat and fast drying, i used a differant one last week the customer had got and it was a pain as it needed 2 coats and was very slow drying.

yes thats what I did.  Walls tanked. bath seal in place, bath fitted on a full wooden frame, tiled, final seal round the bath

yes, can see photo, like you say the 2 external walls will be solid, others could be as well, you can tell by tapping them and see if they sound solid or hollow. is the floor getting tiled, backerboard could be for that but wouldn't think that would be £220 so maybe they've allowed some for walls.

and as tjagain says definatly put a wooden batton solidly fixed supporting the bath edge, it;s still worth doing on a solid reinforced bath like the cleargreen i fitted

https://www.ukbathroomstore.co.uk/baths/cleargreen/cleargreen-verde-double-ended-5mm-reinforced-bath-whirlpool-options-choose-size-b1754-b1964-r8-r9-r10

image on there shows the differance between that and a cheaper bath although thats not the best site for prices.

Shop around for baths- we found one with steeper ends compared to the slope you often get. You can get a better area for soaking in that way.

Alternatively, just go for proper shower in there and hot tub to soak in!

We have what is pretty spectacular bathroom. Built by the last owners. Has lovely Italian Catalano sink and toilet and a huge bath, with a walk I shower. The downsides; bath is enormous, can easily take two. We barely use it. Total waste of space. The shower however is in constant use. Under NO circumstance should you conceal the cistern inside a wall with no access. It hasn’t failed (yet) but removal of tiling to get to it will be a huge headache. Build a false wall I’d you just.

In the other en-suite they’d done the same. That cistern developed a leak and this saturated the wall slowly oVer two years. It was a massive job to repair and the house insurance paid (phew)!

I'd say price is about right, here's the breakdown for ours which I would say is on a similar scale (but was start of covid as opposed to post-covid prices);

Plumber and Decorator were Dads from school, don't think I really got mates rates but were hopefully not ripping us off! The plumber arranged for all the trades (bar decorator), but we paid them separately. We got furniture (bath, walk in shower, loo, sink, cabinet) from Sanctuary Bathrooms online and was high-ish end for most stuff. There was a fair amount of rejigging of layout/pipework.

EDIT; Just re-read and realised your £9k doesn't not include the furniture - so I'd say it's rather over the top.

If you're worried about fan noise fit a 150mm LV one (can go into the wet zone).It will move more air and need to run for a shorter time period. Fit one with a run-on timer as humidistats can activate in hot humid weather conditions if badly adjusted.

We were only getting a new shower enclosure. This is where it starts! The shower we liked was bigger, makti qt or so. Quite a nice thing TBF.
The wall tiles had to come off. If the walls are getting done, should get the floor done, no point doing half a job...

Ceiling down
Floor up, joists reinforced to fix previous butchering.
Back to brick, reboarded with elements board.
Porcelanosa had a 40% sale on (maybe they always do?)
New loo
Just shy of 10k. We don't have a bath.

That'll be it for 20 years.

@Sandwich not worried about fan noise. It's a downstairs bathroom and there is an upstairs toilet so won't be going off at night. I now realise after a bit of looking what we need is a motion activated fan so that it will come on when people (visiting guests) use the toilet during the day but might not put the light on. The extractor is needed for smells as well as moisture.

@timmys hard to compare pre covid with now though and where are you based this makes a huge difference. No electrics in your quote? As I've said I'm not really concerned about the price that is all agreed. I just want to make sure we get a quality finish for the outlay.

Right will look into baths a bit more. It won't be huge due to the space and don't want to waste water. Only 5 ft 6 so will be able to a have a relaxing soak after a hard day's gardening.

Right will look into baths a bit more. It won't be huge due to the space and don't want to waste water. Only 5 ft 6 so will be able to a have a relaxing soak after a hard day's gardening.

How about this extractor?

https://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/envirovent-sil100pir-silent-extractor-fan--pir-3195-p.asp

@timmys hard to compare pre covid with now though and where are you based this makes a huge difference. No electrics in your quote?

Fair point on pre versus post covid. Work on mine was due to start the week of the first lockdown but was then postponed until August.

Location - near Cambridge, so anything property-ish is about as high as you can find outside of London.

Electrics - wasn’t masses to do but the plumber did it so is included in his cost, as was anything else not detailed separately (eg. skip hire).

I would like to recommend Storm Walls for your shower and bath area (and other areas too if you like them). In short they are in effect great big tiles! We used laminate ply ones but loads of materials and styles available. We fist saw them in a posh hotel that we stayed at and having previously had a difficult to trace bathroom leak from the shower liked the idea and look. Google Mermaid Panels for the ones we used and Toolstation have them reasonably priced too (I am sure other types brands and deals are available but it is what we used and where we got them from). They are a bit different but similar price wise to tiles and installation was a cheap addon rather that following a quote from a tile fitter less cost overall - but not by a life changing amount in the scheme of things!

We’ve just recently done the same, having renovated our forever home.
So one bit of advice DON’T PAY UNTIL THEY’VE FINISHED! This may have been worse through lockdown but we learned the hard way, held off money to the plumber u til the job was done, but for example for the kitchen the wood worktop was fitted and we paid, he said he’d come back and seal it…..never came back, never picked up the phone or answered voicemails! Luckily not a big job but still annoying!

Also do not assume they’ll do what you think they will, we found out mainly as ours was a full layout change we had to literally tell them everything and give detailed plans so there was no way anything could be misunderstood!

Here’s the before and after!

https://ibb.co/n1jmShK

https://ibb.co/XCqKT9w

That's stunning!

I think knowing that we're paying top end and that there are several ways of doing things will give me confidence to talk things through with the builder and ask for details of what he's planning.

We’re very pleased with it now, I think overall it cost about £4K to do. But for example we don’t have a vanity unit just a small dresser that we had the plumber fit a sink into and plumb in with the pipes hidden so that saved a chunk of money.

Another useful tip : check all parts when they arrive! When we came to have the toilet fitted the company had sent the wrong toilet seat and it was out of its return time, so had to buy the right one.

Only expenses really were bath, shower, toilet (again 2nd toilet seat lid) tiles, sink, plumbing and tiler. Plumber came to about £2k I think and tiler was around £400. We did all the painting ourselves as well as all the finishing like mitreing and fitting the floor trims which aren’t in that pic.

I will say we were very surprised though… bought a shower tray, over £100 I think from Victoria plum and it was absolute garbage. Plastic and flexy! That one there is a stone resin one, which is the second as the first stone resin one was faulty… so each time that bottom row of tiles had to be removed!

The bath was a bargain as should’ve been over £1000 and we got it for £300 in the sale so definitely pays to shop around.

Will keep an eye on this thread too!

Had my bathroom done around 3 years ago - was £11.5k in the end (Bristol area) but I'm happy with it (apart from one thing, which is the wall hung toilet).

I went with a plumber to do the work (who'd previously done a good job replacing a boiler) and one thing I liked was he sub-contracted various bits to people he'd worked with a lot before so it was a specialist grouter, specialist tiler, specialist painter etc. all doing their bits rather than the plumber cobbling it all together. There were definitely cheaper options though :p

Best decision was when he offered to go with me to the local plumbing supplies showroom he uses, I end up with a few ex-showroom bargains but mostly it gave me peace of mind everything was correct and decent quality. I did request a specific Grohe shower (£1k) and toilet (£350) but the other bits I just selected on the day walking through the showroom.

The tiling cost a fortune but looks great (I spent a fair few hours visiting show rooms to select what I wanted, the plumber tried to steer me to a place he had an account + discount with but only ended up getting one type of tile there as they didn't have what I wanted for the floor tiles + some walls).

Highlights:

Switching from a weak through-wall extractor to a decent in-line ceiling one - makes a big difference. It doesn't quite keep up with the steam on a cold morning but it's gone in the few minutes it takes to dry off and comb my hair so I don't think I'd have got any use from a humidity sensing one.

The only place I had for a towel radiator that wasn't right next to the toilet was behind the bathroom door but that wasn't ideal so I decided to try under-wall heating instead (basically under-floor heating mounted in the wall :p ), worked out really well - although normally it only heats the wall to about 23c behind a towel it gets to more like 40c so dries them pretty fast. I used stick on towel hooks to avoid the risk of drilling into the heating coils...

Tanking - following advice on here I insisted on tanking behind the wall sections likely to get sprayed when showering, only added about £50 I think but gave me peace of mind (despite the plumber and tiler saying it wasn't necessary and that they usually only tank enclosed shower units)

Issues:

Worst decision was the wall hung toilet, even though the plumber recommended I get a normal floor mount one I wanted to be fancy :p Unfortunately I hadn't realised my house was as shonkily built as it was - what I thought were stud walls were actually just 3 sheets of plasterboard bonded to each other so he had to get a carpenter in to build a frame to mount the toilet to (along with the hidden cistern). All looked great in the end but it soon started flexing a bit and a tile cracked on the wall it's mounted into, I ended up bodging wedging something under the toilet in the end - not what you want after spending a load of money...

Cistern drip - I haven't got to the bottom of it but there's often a drip within the enclosed cistern (so it sounds much louder), whenever I've stuck an inspection camera in though I can't see any evidence of it. The only issue it causes is I need to keep the bathroom door closed at night as a result (otherwise I can hear it from my bedroom), which means the bathroom doesn't get passively heated (see underfloor heating below)

Under-floor heating - it's OK in that it takes the cold out of the tiles (so I just have it on for a couple of hours starting at 4am) but it needs to be on constantly to actually properly heat the room (and was costing about £80 a month electricity) but I soon got used to the room being a bit chilly first thing and just have it on to warm the tiles

and a tile cracked on the wall it’s mounted into

seen that happen before, i always make sure the joiner has solidly fixed timber below thw waste outlet where the toilet will push against the wall.

seen that happen before, i always make sure the joiner has solidly fixed timber below thw waste outlet where the toilet will push against the wall.

Shouldn’t really need that if a good built in frame/cistern. I always use Geberit ones, not the cheapest by a long shot but solidly built and have a steel bar across the bottom of the pan. Any failures I see are usually down to installation failures. I always double board the wall over the top of the frame to stiffen everything up.

Problem was although it had the proper Grohe metal frame there was nothing to secure that frame to (apart from the floor). I don't actually know what wooden frame was built as by the time I got home from work it was all boxed in but I was assured it was rock solid - turned out not too be 🙁 It only flexes slightly but obviously tiles don't like that - I think it's stabilised (as in won't flex further than it has already) but have still left a wedge underneath it just in case

Fuzzy wuzzy I've fallen foul of fancy toilets in the past! Built in cistern that had been tiled with no access point so when it broke it was a nightmare and ended up with a whole new standard toilet.

I have 2 pieces of relevant advice:

1. We had a humidistat extractor fan that was rubbish - I had to adjust it depending on the weather and season - however it was a cold and poorly insulated bathroom at the back of a tenement flat so did not behave the same as the rest of the house.

2. We had to have a shower over bath in that flat so spec'd a fantastic bath - a Carron one like this

It was fantastic and you really appreciate the squared-out are for standing in when showering. Only downside is that it's a slightly bigger volume to fill for a bath.
The supplier you linked to has many similar models
https://www.ergonomicdesigns.co.uk/shower-baths/rectangular-shower-baths.html

Update. The "top end" bathroom fitting is dragging on rather. Been here 3 weeks. Whole house filled with dust. Came back oneday to find they had laid the floor and it was shocking. Irregular spacing and tiles not level. Redone that. Not totally perfect but not far off. Floor is now an inch higher than the adjacent room.

Now they've mostly tiled the walls I've noticed a few small chips at the edges of some tiles and not all the tiles are completely flat to each other. Apparently it's a difficult job because the walls aren't flat. They ripped the walls back to bare breeze blocks then stuck big black panels about a centermeter or so thick on. These weren't perfectly flat to each other (should they be?) then they are tiling on to that. In places the tiles are out much further than the original tiles such as proud of the original door frame. They said they will fit beeding?

Also the bath was put in 1st then the black panels then the tiles so the gap behind the bath tap to the tiles is only a few mms and there is not much space left on the edge of the bath where it meets the wall. Is that normal practice? How on earth they will seal behind i don't know!

I suppose I'm wondering what level of perfection re tiling i can expect if my walls are wonky and whether to just ignore the minor defects or do we get them to redo or ask for money off as they are already running late and I'm pretty sick of having them in the house now 😞

Double post

Pretty much everything about that sounds poor, especially if you are paying "top end".

If they’ve reboarded into the block work then there’s no excuse for bad tiling. I certainly wouldn’t accept any chips, lipping is just poor work.

The floor sounds like they overtiled again, unless you have underfloor heating?

The board should be down behind the bath edges also, so you can get a good silicone seal before tiling.

I’m afraid it doesn’t read like “a top quality job”. Having said that 2-3 weeks is normal for a bathroom if plenty of work and changes are involved.

I think it's already been said but that price for a 1.5x2.5m room with no tiles or furniture seems exceptionally spendy to me, given a) I've fitted bathrooms before and b) I'm used to St Andrews prices. And then the snagging list you appear to be accumulating...?

I think you probably know by now that this is not £9k of 'top quality' workmanship. The decision now is do you try to get them to make good or kick them off the job and get someone else in to finish properly, and bear in mind the 'sunk cost fallacy' when you make that decision.

What was on the walls and floor before? My floor was carpet before (ick) and switching to underfloor heating + quality tiles raised the floor a few mm but they just trimmed the bottom of the door and used a slightly ramped thing (that goes under the door, forgot the name). An inch higher is a crazy amount and does sound like they've just tiled on top of what was there already (although even that wouldn't add an inch unless you using crazy thick tiles).

I actually ended up a bit disappointed with my floor tiling (the walls were done perfectly) in that after a few weeks a couple of them started to move slightly and grout started to come out. Not sure if it was because it wasn't properly laid or if the backing wasn't done properly or maybe if the underfloor heating wasn't done right but it's more a mild annoyance than anything.

I wouldn't have accepted chipped tiles though and sticking out from the door frame would have been a bit jarring but I guess beading (done well) might make it less obvious.

Mine took 3-4 weeks from start to finish (had a slight delay in middle do to the hanging toilet issue), they laid out all floor protection etc. and made an effort to contain the dust although I did pop home from lunch one day to find the tiler trimming tiles in the bathroom (which didn't have the door on at the time). He apologised and moved to doing it outside and they hoovered the house a bit but I still had to do a decent amount of dusting after. I wouldn't have been happy if they'd have thought making a big mess was just part of the job and something to accept.

@FuzzyWuzzy

what I thought were stud walls were actually just 3 sheets of plasterboard bonded to each other

Not really that shonky, just used at lot less than timber and plasterboard.
I've only seen it used once in all my years in construction!

If they’ve reboarded into the block work then there’s no excuse for bad tiling.

Yeah, it's their job to achieve a level surface for tiling, are your breeze blocks really that wonky or is there another reason?

I would also be unhappy with the way they've boarded onto the bath.

The extra inch on your floor - sounds ridiculous, and will get old after you've stubbed your toe for the umpteenth time. Have they laid thick ply just on top of the boards or something?

They took up the original floor tiles which were perfectly flat. Put down some sort of yellow matting then there's a big wedge of grey cement type stuff then our half cm thick tiles we chose. Definitely boarded around the bath. The original wall tiles were lovely and flat so tbh i think they are full of shit. We've only paid 4k so far and that included about 1.5k for some outdoor work they've done (pointing etc)

Sounds like a proper rubbish job I'm afraid.
Re the floor, it's amazing how quickly a height difference can build up, but to be honest I'd never tile a bathroom floor now as they can be cold (unless heated ££) and can move leading to grout cracking, etc.
We re-did our [2.5 x 4m] en-suite a few years ago and went with LVT which is warm underfoot, looks great and very hardwearing. As it just needs to be laid on 10mm ply (or is it 12mm?) it only adds about 15mm to the height of the floorboards.

but to be honest I’d never tile a bathroom floor now

I'd go further and say I'm never tiling anything ever again. Vinyl for floors, shower wall panels for the walls. Better finish, easier to fit, easier to keep clean, easier to remove if you decide to remodel.

@myti Builders company name doesn't begin with a P by any chance?

Yes it does! Pbc.

We’ve only paid 4k so far and that included about 1.5k for some outdoor work they’ve done

Its a tough decision but I don't think I'd be letting them carry on. From your description there isn't a single thing they have done that I'd be happy with. If you get someone else in they'll likely charge you to remove what you've paid these guys to do which is even more galling.

Ah, not the same as ours then (Peacocks).
We had similar, and more issues, with a full renovation.

The ‘yellow’ matting is Dural Durabase. Are your floors chipboard? If floorboards it’s not really suitable IMO unless the boards are all in vgc and screwed down well. It adds no stiffness and is there as a decoupling layer. It’s actually a very good product used correctly. I’m not sure how you’ve ended up with an inch step over carpet though, dural is 4mm, tiles are 10mm and adhesive approx 5mm, which is obviously nearly 20mm but approx same thickness as carpet.

It's a ground floor bathroom. No floor boards. The room adjacent is the hall and is parquet floor not carpet. Tbh the floor height i could live with the imperfect tiling and the tiny gap behind the bath taps worries me and hearing that the tile backer should definitely go in 1st. Is tike backer always quite thick? This is a good centermeter thick which has brought the walls out further than i expected once the tiling is on.

Having our small bathroom done was a learning experience. Our good calls were nice tiles, £800 bath and using non slip Lino - looks good these days, warm and easily changed. Went for a mixture of units and taps, largely IKEA type stuff.

Quote wise for a complete refit, tile and plaster ranged from £2500-£6500 plus tiles and units. We went for the cheap quote which despite the extensive grief in the end prob got 95% of the finish.

We have recently done a main bathroom and an on suite. We went for some quite expensive stuff, but have found Matki to be brilliant. https://www.lussostone.com/stone-resin-baths-c1 - brilliant baths, cheaper than elsewhere but the most comfortable bath I have ever been in, and top quality.

Tiles - https://www.cravendunnill.co.uk/ one of the original UK tile companies. We regretted getting the textured tile in the en-suite as difficult to seal around, and just doesnt look great in a small ish room

We used a company called Farr & Harris to supply everything. Has actually worked out well, although we could have sourced stuff cheaper, it saved loads of faff and did resolve issues without any fuss.

Bogs - go for depth. We went small to maximise bathroom space. Unfortunately this actually means that when you have a dump it tends to land on the pan rather than go down the hole. A serious issue we regret !

We put recesses in the wall - didnt cost any more really, but do make it look nicer, and nice 'mood' lighting

We're in the middle of a bathroom job that's hit a few snags.

London flat in Victorian mansion block; top floor (4th) with bad water pressure; small bathroom; adjoining guest loo; rotten subfloor remade over concrete; a bit of studwork; shower over bath... wall hung loo (what could go wrong?).

The water pressure stuff needed sorting so we now have a break tank with pressure pump in the roof and an indirect Megaflo. Plumber had about a 50% success rate with making up 22mm compression joints leak free so we've already had leaks from the roof. I've gone around and fixed the leaks myself and the primary circuit has held pressure for a couple of weeks now.

The wall hung loo bit is a saga, of course. Before tiling I was concerned the debris shield for the flush plate was loose, skew and generally sloppy. Look closer. The plastic tabs had been snapped off as they had taken it off to do the plaster skim. Look closer. Loads of debris in the cistern including broken plastic tabs. Look closer. In clearing out the debris find the cistern is cracked at the flush pipe fitting because it has been monkeyed about at some point.

Great. So call them back to cut out the beautiful freshly skimmed, freshly built boxwork to get the loo frame out. They claiming "must have come from the manufacturer like that". IDGAS. Look closer. They'd fitted the loo frame onto bare plasterboard over the studwork. the plasterboard has already failed in crush so the frame was going to be loose in the wall. They'd missed out fitting the bowl mounting studs back onto the wall so they'd have been relying on the frame for all the strength/stiffness rather than the frame and wall combined. The basin drain had been run tight behind the flush pipe so it was pushing the flush pipe forward and likely the cause of the force that snapped/cracked the cistern when leant on during the fitting. They're calling the plumber back in to fix this but I'm not full of trust in my plumber for the mechanical details.

Last area of concern. They've done new plaster skim on all the walls (solid wall and partitions). Wet area has paint on tanking over the plaster skim. Wet area tiles are porcelain 9mm bricks coming in at 19.9kg/sqm before adhesive and grout. So the wall loading is going to be significantly over 20kg/sqm. Architect says he's done loads like that.

What would Singletrack do?

Urgh nightmare peaslaker! Well we've raised issues and some things have been redone a bit better. Tbh it's been 3 weeks of dust, disruption, noise and no bathroom apart from the ensuite toilet and sink so we're letting them finish as best they can and then will be discussing a discount for the poor finish on the tiling. We still owe them 8k!