Bathroom Fitter in Birmingham

The first visit is about how the room is used and what it can physically support. We look at the existing layout, where the soil pipe leaves the house, how water reaches the room, and the condition of the floor and walls. Questions worth thinking about beforehand:

• Who uses the room, and whether a bath is still needed or a larger shower would suit better
• Whether anyone needs level access now or may do in future
• How the hot water is supplied: combi, cylinder or gravity tanks
• What storage you want, and where towels and toiletries will actually go
• Whether the window or an extractor fan will handle the steam

The hot water question matters more than people expect. A gravity-fed system with a tank in the loft gives low pressure at the shower head, and a combi limits how much hot water can run at once. We explain what your current system can deliver before you choose a shower.

The toilet is the fixed point in most bathrooms, because it connects to the soil stack with a large pipe that needs a steady fall. Moving it across the room is possible, but it can mean lifting floors, boxing in pipework or fitting a macerator pump, so the layout is usually planned around it.

We draw the layout on a floor plan with measurements, marking where each fitting will sit, the clearances in front of the toilet and basin, how the door swings, and where pipes and wastes will run. That is enough to check that a shower enclosure fits without blocking the door and that a vanity unit does not hide an access panel you will need later.

Choosing fittings follows from the plan. A wall-hung toilet needs a frame and a stud or solid wall that can carry it. A thermostatic shower valve needs balanced pressures or the right type of valve for your system. We will say what suits the pipework before anything is ordered.

You can choose and buy your own sanitaryware and tiles, or we can source them to your choice. Either way, a few practical checks save trouble on fitting day:

• Tap and valve types to suit your water pressure; many modern taps and showers need mains pressure to perform
• Waste sizes, as some basins and baths use non-standard wastes or traps
• Tile size and weight, since large-format porcelain needs a flat, strong substrate and plenty of adhesive
• Enough spare tiles for cuts and breakages, from the same batch so the shade matches

Birmingham's soft mains water is kind to glass screens and chrome, leaving less limescale than in harder water areas of the Black Country. Softer water does not remove the need for good ventilation, though. Grout and silicone stay cleaner in a room where steam is extracted quickly, so fan position and size are worth deciding at this stage.

A full bathroom installation follows a fixed order, and doing things out of sequence is where problems start.

Strip-out and first fix

The old suite, tiles and often the plaster come off. Supply pipes are rerouted, isolation valves fitted to each outlet, and wastes laid to the correct fall. Hidden pipework is pressure tested before anything covers it. Floors are checked, with loose boards screwed down and a ply overlay added on timber floors under tiles.

Boarding, tanking and second fix

Walls in wet areas are lined with cement or waterproof board and tanked, with sealing tape at joints and corners. Tiling goes on next, followed by the bath, shower, basin and toilet, then taps, valves and trims. The last jobs are sealing, testing every connection with the water on, and a clean down.

Where the new shower needs better pressure than the home can supply, look at an unvented hot water cylinder as part of the plan.

Plumbing and tiling are the heart of the job. Every joint that will be hidden is tested, and every fitting gets its own isolation valve, so a future washer change does not mean turning off the whole house. Access panels are left for the bath trap and any concealed cistern.

Electrical work is a separate matter. In England, most electrical work in a bathroom, such as adding or moving lights, fitting an extractor fan, a shaver socket or an electric shower circuit within the zones around the bath or shower, is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations. It must be carried out by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme, who can self-certify it, or be inspected and approved through building control.

We plan the job so the electrician's first fix happens before boarding and their final connections happen after tiling. You should receive their certificate and the building regulations notification when the electrical work is complete.

A wet room swaps the shower tray for a floor that falls towards a drain, with the whole floor and the lower walls fully waterproofed. They suit smaller rooms and people who need level access, but they are less forgiving than a standard bathroom.

• The floor must be formed to a gradient, using a pre-sloped former on timber joists or a screed on concrete
• A tanking membrane runs across the floor and up the walls, with extra protection in the shower area
• The drain is either a round gully or a linear drain against a wall, sized for the shower's flow
• A glass screen keeps spray away from the toilet and basin

In upstairs rooms of older terraced houses, timber joists may need to be notched or strengthened to fit the drain, which is checked at the survey. Converting a bathroom to a shower room without full tanking, using a low-profile tray instead, is often the simpler option where floors are awkward.