Bathroom Quote

S

SNOOP101

Registered User
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Hi,

I've got a quote for the following work to be done on my small bathroom in the D15 area, is it good value ?
Take out old bathroom
Skim and smooth the walls
Lay plywood on floor, and tile
Put lining paper up on 1/2 the walls, and tile the rest
Put in a vent
Fit a Jacuzzi bath, and the rest of the bathroom stuff (I'm supplying the bath, bog etc.)
Fit 3 dimmers lights in the ceiling

The quote I got was 4,200
 
Hi,

Welcome to AAM. A few points:

1. When spending such a large sum of money it is worth your while to get a few quotes and you should get a recommendation from this key post Bathrooms/Showers

2. You mention that the walls will be skimmed and then partly tiled. IMHO it is a far better idea to fully tile the walls as in the long run it is maintenance free except for cleaning. Bathrooms are notoriously troublesome when it comes to paint/wallpaper etc. You also mention putting lining paper on the walls. Is this preparing it for wallpaper?

3. Normally just a vent is not sufficient to cater with the steam. Are they fitting an extractor fan. I ask this specifically because a friend paid a similar amount to yourself and then found that even a vent was not supplied and they have subsequently had dreadful problems with mould etc.

4. Not totally familiar with jacuzzi baths but just wondering if they are noisy? We stayed in a hotel once where the bath appeared to have jets shooting the water out and the noise was unbelieveable!
 
Thanks Sueellen,

The lining paper is to be painted over. The previous owners had a very bizarre taste in home decor, so the walls are not in great condition. I'll paint the walls when the lining paper goes up.
Good idea re. checking that an extractor fan will be fitted, definitely needed.
The Jacuzzi bath will be a little noisy but I think it won't be much different to a power shower.
All in all, do you reckon it's a fair quote ?
 
Hi again,

I'm probably totally wrong here but I'm convinced that lining paper is not necessary/a good idea when the walls have been skimmed - defeating the purpose of the exercise.

In light of the fact that the friend I mentioned earlier paid something similar about 5 years ago the quote does not seem excessive although they did not supply anything themselves.

Still think you should get some other quotes especially in light of the fact that your present fitters were skimping on something so important as the extractor fan. Still convinced that the maintenance free option of fully tiled is the way to go too. :)
 
sueellen said:
Hi again,

I'm probably totally wrong here but I'm convinced that lining paper is not necessary/a good idea when the walls have been skimmed - defeating the purpose of the exercise.

In light of the fact that the friend I mentioned earlier paid something similar about 5 years ago the quote does not seem excessive although they did not supply anything themselves.

Still think you should get some other quotes especially in light of the fact that your present fitters were skimping on something so important as the extractor fan. Still convinced that the maintenance free option of fully tiled is the way to go too. :)
Click to expand...

Agreed fully tiled is the only way to go and if you are prepared to go fully tiled then there will be no need to reskim the walls you can just scrape off all the old loose grout, polybond the rest and retile the whole area, stripping the old tiles is easy get a good hammeraction drill with a chisel/bolster bit this will have them flying off the wall if you have partition walls then a much softer approach is required a small nail bar and hammer tapping in behind the tiles then gently lifting off the wall.
Above all be safe and use the right tools for the job following all safety instructions.

Good Luck ;)
 
Yep have to agree about fully tiled. We got ours done last year, 7,500 total, but that did include moving and knocking walls, etc. so we were happy enough to get it done at all! We were going to go with half tiled and paint but very glad we opted for full tiling. So much cleaner and better, just a wipe and its spotless. Well worth the extra:)
 
Hi Tom,

Was 7500 just for labour or was that including the suite etc?

M
 
I have done alot of what you are getting done in my own house, remove old suite, floor and wall tiles, extractor fan, lights etc, and I reckon getting different people to do the different bits and pieces could save you money. People usually pay a premium for having one contractor doing the whole job.

I know alot of tradesmen and my estimate of having all that work done independently would be around €2500, based on you supplying the bathroom suite, tiles, plaster, fan etc..
 
sounds like about a weeks work - if even, for any handyman
why do the walls need skimming if they are being tiled. if they are a bit rough, fill in any holes and then run a light sander over them
 
2,500 ?

Wow, that does sound cheap...reckon the one-stop shop guys build in a convenience charge into their quotes, the prob with getting seperate people is trying to coordinate them, plumber in the strip out everything, then the plasterer, then the tiler, then the plumber to fit everything, the the elec. guy to fit the jacizzi bath and the dimmer lights.
So maybe 4k isn't that bad after all ?
 
If you have a family and it's the only functioning bathroom in the house then it might be worth the xtra money getting in one contrator to do the lot. The premium tends to be because they have people immdeiatley available to them to get everthing done and in order.

But if you can survive without the bathroom functioning for while longer and you could do with savings, I would advise the other route.

Regarding plastering the walls, I have done a fair bit of tiling myself and it is a joy to tile over a re-skimmed wall. You can do without it but sometimes the preperation required to get an old surface ready is not worth the hassle, depends on how bad it is.
 
MM3, sorry should have explained that was the total including the suite, shower, tiles, etc. and labour. Labour though would have worked out about less than half of that I reckon - tiler in particular knew how to charge!! We had to have a plumber, carpenter, electrician, plasterer and tiler so I was forever writing cheques!! Have to say though it was a brilliant job, our pride and joy now. Always asking visitors do they need to use the loo!!!
 
"Always asking visitors do they need to use the loo!!!"

When can we all come over to spend a penny so? :D
 
If it's not your only bathroom I would do some of the work yourself - esp removing old tiles etc. this is a painful job and the tradesmen will charge loadsa money to do this .. it's not difficult just a pain.

If you have another bathroom (i.e. can afford ot have this bathroom out of action for a bit - remember it will take at least twice as long as you first think!) then I'd recommend this to save money if you are remotely handy

I had got a similar quote to you from a "full service" guy - slightly more in fact if i recall.. ended up paying less than 1/2 this doing some myself & getting tiling/plasterer/plumbing done directly.
 
Thanks for the advice, but unfortunately it is the only bathroom, so reckon I've no choice in the matter..am going to get a full breakdown of the quote to see how much they are charging for the stripping out of the old bathroom, and if it is a lot, I'll do it myself
 
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