Installing a bathroom myself.

brightside229

brightside229

brightside229

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Hi all i took a plunge last saturday and ordered a new bathroom sink, toillet bath and shower, its arriving this thursday.

I am planning on doing it all myself ripping the old one out, taking the old tiles off the walls and putting 6mm plywood down on the floor to lay tiles on the floor instead of carpet.

Now heres the thing, i have pretty much no DIY experience at all other then putting a fence up in the garden and building a wall and laying a patio.

Im keeping myself up at night worrying that im not going to be able to cope and make a mess of it, the question is, is it really that hard to fit a bathroom yourself? looked at guides on youtube and they make it look so easy! I have a plumber friend that is coming to sort out the plumbing to make sure it all lines up before i put the floor down.

Should i just get a profesional to do it all for me and spend another £500+ or attempt it all myself? Money is very tight!

P.s The bathroom is very very small, so its not like its a huge room to be doing, bath sink and toilet only just fit in with a walk way between the bath and wall
 
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Its not that hard. I did mine with help from plumber mate. Looks harder than it is. You should be fine.
 
very excited to try and do it, just a worry i will bodge it and be without a bathroom for a long time, only got saturday 5am - 12am, and sunday 5am-12am to do the majority of the work, and then cant get to do it until after 7pm mon-friday
 
brightside229 said:
I am planning on doing it all myself ripping the old one out, taking the old tiles off the walls and putting 6mm plywood down on the floor to lay tiles on the floor instead of carpet.
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That is 6mm laid over existing floor to provide decent surface for floor tiles.

It isn't hard to do a bathroom, plan it in stages & take you time.

If it's a small room I usually fit bath first, depending on the layout.
 
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Nightglow said:
That is 6mm laid over existing floor to provide decent surface for floor tiles.

It isn't hard to do a bathroom, plan it in stages & take you time.
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Yep it has floor boards down at the moment, googled it and said i need to lay 6mm plywood down on top, i have seen some in b&q called external 6mm plywood, looked to be the only one they had, is this the right stuff?
 
brightside229 said:
Yep it has floor boards down at the moment, googled it and said i need to lay 6mm plywood down on top, i have seen some in b&q called external 6mm plywood, looked to be the only one they had, is this the right stuff?
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Generally a tiler would recommend cement boards, along the lines of Hardiebacker, rather than ply. Thats what I laid when I turned a bedroom into a a bathroom, either that or Marmox if you want waterproof and insulation.

Fitting a bathroom is not that hard, you just need to be methodical. I did everything in mine myself, including plumbing, tiling, making good walls, etc. It was probably easier as I could take my time, with no pressure to get the bathroom back up and running. End result is quite satisfying.

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McMav said:
First job. Get the pan back in action. It really is the most important part :D
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Depends, if bath is being fitted in a recess, nothing worse than struggling to lift a bath over a bog, even more so if it's a steel one.

Hardiebacker thanks Orifice, the name had eluded me earlier.:o

EDIT: And make sure bath has a firm floor to sit on.
 
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Orifice said:
Generally a tiler would recommend cement boards, along the lines of Hardiebacker, rather than ply. Thats what I laid when I turned a bedroom into a a bathroom, either that or Marmox if you want waterproof and insulation.

Fitting a bathroom is not that hard, you just need to be methodical. I did everything in mine myself, including plumbing, tiling, making good walls, etc. It was probably easier as I could take my time, with no pressure to get the bathroom back up and running. End result is quite satisfying.
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That bathroom looks excellent, very professional Finnish! Do you have much experience doing DIY before undertaking this?
 
Nightglow said:
Depends, if bath is being fitted in a recess, nothing worse than struggling to lift a bath over a bog, even more so if it's a steel one.

Hardiebacker thanks Orifice, the name had eluded me earlier.:o
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Think i am going to get the new bath installed first, as that does not need to be removed again to tile the floor like the toilet and sink, and then get the plumbing sorted on the sink and and toilet and trial fit them in place, and then get the floor tiled, fit back the sink and toilet and then following weekend start on tiling the walls removing the sink and toilet again.
 
Will you be able to get to the workings/innards of the bath if you do it that way around?
 
Gilly said:
Will you be able to get to the workings/innards of the bath if you do it that way around?
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Yes, im only putting ply down around 2-3 inch's under the bath and tiling up to their, so under the bath it will be just floorboards so shouldn't be a problem getting to the plumbing under the bath
 
Are you fitting a panel later then?

My mate had to rip his bathroom apart that he'd done himself so a plumber could fix a problem with his pipe that his tap had caused as they'd tiled the bath in.
 
Gilly said:
Are you fitting a panel later then?

My mate had to rip his bathroom apart that he'd done himself so a plumber could fix a problem with his pipe that his tap had caused as they'd tiled the bath in.
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Im planning on sitting the panel edges onto the tiles themselves so the panel should slide off and on over the tiles, as far as i am aware the bath will sit on adjustable legs so it does not matter if one side is raised higher then the other on the floor as the legs can just be made higher on the other side.

Unless im completely wrong and this is not possible, i am a complete noob lol
 
I haven't done it either, but as long as you take it into consideration :)

He'd not even thought of it.
 
brightside229 said:
Im planning on sitting the panel edges onto the tiles themselves so the panel should slide off and on over the tiles, as far as i am aware the bath will sit on adjustable legs so it does not matter if one side is raised higher then the other on the floor as the legs can just be made higher on the other side.

Unless im completely wrong and this is not possible, i am a complete noob lol
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Nothing wrong with that, just get your levels right.
 
I've been planning mine for a few weeks and it'll get underway next week. Here's a bit of a braindump of considerations and research I've done (I'm presuming you're not fitting a shower from what you've said, which saves you from a fair chunk of work that I'm going to have to do!).

- Strip tiles to see how they come off. If you're lucky, you can tile straight back onto the substrate, if not, then you'll need to put a decent substrate up to tile onto.
- If floorboards are sound, overlay with minimum of 6mm WBP ply. If not sound, rip up and use at least 15mm ply, max of 600mm centres between fixings.
- Ensure you use flexible tile products for floor
- If you're moving pipework yourself, check your house insurance policy - if you ever fall foul of a leak, some policies won't touch you if it's not been done by someone "competent". (Vague I know).
- Use proper bathroom paint for anything you paint, it's more expensive but worth it in the long run.
- If you're running pipework that will get sealed in, consider how to run it so you could get at it from below (ceiling), or another wall if needs be. Not ideal, but better than ripping apart the bathroom if you ever have a problem.
- Get the drain angle right on your wastes.
- Take your time on finishing touches like tile edging and silicone. They can make a mediocre job look half decent, or a good job look mediocre.
 
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