Home Improvement Advice for Bathrooms
Bath, Basins & Toilet Do it Yourself Tips for Bathrooms
Bath, Basins & Toilet
Acrylic baths are well shaped to the body and for this reason are comfortable. They help the water hold its temperature and are easy to clean, with your usual bathroom cleaner. They do however tend to move a little bit with constant use and this can be a problem with sealing the edge of the bath to the wall, this is usually done with mastic so that it is waterproof.
Enamelled steel baths are hard wearing and can be shaped for comfort and have handrails. Some older baths are cast iron, they can be expensive but are great looking, with very authentic features and great detail. Some may have badly worn surfaces.
Cast iron baths may need to have the floor they sit on reinforced, they are heavy even more so when full of water.
Wash Hand Basin
An ideal sink will have flat areas by the sides of the taps and high sloped sides to help with drainage. The underneath of the sink can be boxed in to hide pipe work and some sinks come with a pedestal to hide the pipe work.
Toilets
Always check that there is an overflow to your toilet, this is essential. Toilets can be bought to match the wash hand basin and bath. There are slim plastic systems available to fit into a smaller area, such as a second bathroom or cloakroom bathroom. There are toilets available that are quiet to operate and use less water.
Well fitted baths, basins and WC?s should have a 'service' isolating valve, so that if one has a leak or problem the whole water supply does not need to be cut off. It is mandatory to have one of these valves under the toilet.
Whether you have a high level tank or a low level tank is purely decided by your own tastes. On a high level tank, the tank is fitted to the wall close to the ceiling, the adjoining pipework can be made to match your bathroom fittings. If you choose a low level tank the tank is fitted behind and just above the toilet seat, the adjoining pipework is not so noticeable but can be made to match your existing fittings. The close coupled tank is where the toilet and tank are all one unit and no adjoining pipework is visable.