In Detail
Materials, methods and the situations they suit
Bathrooms are the most failure-prone room in a property because they combine water, electricity and timber framing in a confined space. Below is how we approach the most common bathroom types — and the technical detail that separates a 25-year bathroom from a 5-year one.
Standard family bathroom — bath, shower over, basin, WC
Suite typically by Roca, Ideal Standard, Lecico or Burlington. Bath bedded on bath legs and battened to wall. Bath-screen sealed with neutral-cure silicone. Shower over bath supplied with thermostatic mixer (TMV2) for scald protection. Tiled to ceiling in shower zone, half-height elsewhere or fully tiled per client preference.
Walk-in showers and wet rooms
Wet rooms require a graded substrate (1:80 fall in all directions to the waste), a fully tanked floor and walls to at least 1.8m, and a wet-room drain compatible with the floor build-up. We tank to the manufacturer's data sheet, photograph each stage, and pressure-test before tiling. Tray-based walk-in showers — Lakes, Coram, Aqualux — installed on tray riser kits, with the tray bedded so it cannot flex.
En-suites in tight spaces
En-suites under stairs, in loft conversions and converted box rooms need careful set-out. We compute floor-to-ceiling heights in the shower zone (minimum 2m), check soil-stack run distances for the WC (max 6m per Part H), and design the suite around what physically fits — not what the showroom recommended.
Accessible and wet-room conversions
Bath-to-shower conversions for elderly or mobility-restricted clients — half-height shower seat, level-access tray or graded wet-room floor, grab rails fixed to noggins, slip-resistant flooring. We work with occupational therapists' recommendations where required.
Tile choice — porcelain, ceramic, natural stone
Large-format porcelain (600x1200 and above) needs S2-class adhesive, back-buttered, with a tile-levelling system. Natural stone (marble, travertine, slate) needs sealing before grouting and a sealer top-up annually. We advise on tile selection at the survey — some specs cost an extra day's labour and clients should know up front.