What is your next DIY project going to be, mine now I have knocked two new interior doors through from the original bedroom in our stables, is the en-suite for the bedroom
The cobbles have to be lifted, a limescreed base put down, damp course, new floor beams, walls and roof framed, insulation put in, walls and ceiling plasterboarded, shower cubicle, macerator toilet, sinks & units put in, pipework & wastes put in, Chauffe-eau in and connected up to new electrics, the floor and walls tiled.
I forgot to mention itās to be ready for the end of June
Depending on the reply from our kitchen fitter, it will either be decorating the kitchen to make it the first renovated room in the house, or fitting a new shower if they took out the old one.
What kind of shower, fitted or cabin.
Worth checking out new French shower regs, weāve just installed a walk-in one thatās far less lethal to enter and leave than the previous old style cabine type.
Presently itās one of those horrible quadrant cabanes with useless jets. Iāll fit a tray with an internal upstand and panels on 2 or 3 sides plus glass door. It will be self-contained and properly waterproof without tiles (really not a fan of tiles). Iāll bring the bits from the UK because I know what to get and where to get it here.
We have just installed a new shower room with a walk-in douche Ć lāItalienne. Made it slightly wider than the norm, and it is a joy. Also a joy to clean!
I donāt think I ever want to live with an enclosed shower againā¦.all that cleaning! And we have seriously hydrofuged the tiles so they are practically self cleaning too.
Likewise, an old friend of mine in Cape Town died from falling while getting out of the shower and our old one was certainly scary to exit. The other cool, or not so cool / cold feature is that the new one is big enough to step back from under the shower head after turning on the water and waiting for it to become exactly 38Ā°C . Massive improvement!
A bit like the one Iām fitting
Yes, although the centre panel with the taps & jets has a seat and intrudes a long way into the cubicle, making an otherwise large 90cm enclosure feel cramped and difficult. Itās fitted into the corner of a room thatās 1.4M wide, uselessly wasting space in the corner.
Yours looks nice enough - just not my choice (rainfall head especially) as, I assume, mine wouldnāt be yours.
You could get a larger douche dāitalienne into that part of your bathroom without taking space from anything else and if the tray was rectangular, it would be a more enjoyable āshowering experienceā (sorry for that). My other point is that the French authorities are pushing the latter sort of shower because itās much easier to exit safely and as one ages (as one does) that sort of feature becomes a more important consideration
The base is likely to be like this:Shower Tray With Upstand | Victorian Plumbing
It needs a little height for drainage unless Iām going to start punching holes into the sous-sol - it would be much easier to connect it up to the existing waste.
Worth a glance at Hudson Reed Theyāre in the UK and France - huge selection, very high quality and the have discount vouchers that can save you hundreds of Ā£/ā¬ . Iāve used their plumbing in three bathrooms since 2005 and all have aged well, while remaining looking good.
If youāre considering a walk-in rectangular shower enclosure, one alternative to all glass or plastic (latter not so good - doesnāt age well) is for the enclosure to be tiled plasterboard and just have a glass door - single panel or folding.
We used some of their stuff in our renovation project and I really regretted it- the quality was appalling. Taps that would not turn off and shower enclosures that were only 75% of the height that all other ones are and very poor quality. I think they used to be a high quality brand bur unfortunately no longer.
We have resin panels in the present arrangement in the UK, and thatās what Iād use again. >10 years old and still good, although cutting if required may be something of a challenge. Iād prefer to keep the cost <<Ā£1000 all in, and if I can source carefully, possibly <Ā£700.
Thanks for the observation.
TBH apart from the tray, most stuff will likely come from Screwfix, Travis-Perkins or Wickes, possibly with a little Amazon thrown in as a last resort. Having bought several sets of taps, mixers etc etc it seems almost everything is produced in China now to a similar quality, but sometimes with a little fancy ādesignworkā & label and a 10X price tag. Buying taps & mixers from Screwfix is good, because of the trade purchasing there & the realistic reviews.
I used Hudson Reed for our latest bathroom last December and ordered the model of taps that Iād first chosen in 2005 in the UK and used for twelve years; I found the quality hadnāt changed. Heavy chrome on brass, clean design and very precise. Weāve just done our second bathroom - douche italienne, with glass door and high quality shower, sink taps and loo with concealed cistern for under ā¬1000
What more can I sayā¦?
Hope you have a cleaner! Nightmare to keep all those edges clean when doing contortions in tiny space!
[quote=āDrMarkH, post:16, topic:43149ā]
for under ā¬1000
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Seriously under ā¬1k?
I have never had any problems with them, I use vinegar spray on it because of limescale and it has always kept it clean.
What about grab rails etcā¦ I hate showers where there is nothing sturdy with which to steady myselfā¦ handy as well to hang a towel on (I have to clear soap/water from my eyes before panic sets in and I forget to breathe ā¦ ) and room for a chair or stool is also useful as and when.
In a previous lifetime, OH designed our bathrooms with our elderly relatives in mindā¦ and now his designs work superbly for usā¦
Iāve had Hudson Reed radiators installed downstairs.
Also Hudson Reed basins and WCs in all of our bathrooms / toilets.
Very happy with the quality.