Bathroom Suppliers. Suggestions please!

[Bm101]

I'm currently at the early stages of a loft extension on my house.

(Gulp. :| )

We're going to need to refit the main bathroom because it's moving and we're also fitting a wee en-suite in the new space on the second floor. (I'm going to type 'Second Floor' again because I'm still getting my head round it. :shock: )

Went to the Bath Store to get some ideas. Several minor heart attacks later.... (£340 quid for a towell rail wtf?) here I am asking if anyone can recommend any decent suppliers. TBF, the stuff they sell is very nice and a couple of bits like the toilets I have been hard pushed to beat because they are cut hard on a current sale price to 50%. Other bit's like the shower seem waaaaaay over the odds.
Obviously I don't want to put in a load of tosh gear that falls apart in 8 months but price (as always subjective) is obviously a factor. We are being stretched to the limit by everything at the moment.

Can anyone recommend some decent suppliers? I've looked at Soak.com and Bathrooms.com among others who seem to have some nice gear. Could be I source various bits from different places to save a few quid. That's fine but anyone with suggestions, past experience would be most welcome.

I'll probably end up tiling it all myself, used Topps in the past but they are beaten on price by WallsandFloors.co.uk Any other suggestions?

Black Friday, love it or loath it is looming it's head so that might be of help too.

Cheers Guys.

Regards as always
Chris

 

[Beau]

Got our showers from Plumbworld. The Architeckt range was good value and 6 years on nothing to complain about.

Baths, WCs and sinks proved as cheap to haggle with local supplier. Haggling turned a "not a chance" price into "take my card " price

This was some years ago though. All Ideal Standard. In hindsight dont think Ideal Standard is anything special though but plumber brother in law said stick to the big brands so I did.

 

[Bm101]

Thanks Beau. At our last place my mate gave me his Howdens account to use for the kitchen. List prices for fitter and another catalogue price for customer were an eyeopener I won't forget soon. Point taken on haggling. Cheers.

 

[AndyT]

Depends how much of a "designer" look you want (= do you mind it looking out of fashion in a few years time) but for plain, bog standard stuff, Screwfix or Toolstation are well worth a look.

 

[Setch]

I got my toilet, sink unit & shower riser/valve/bathfiller from soak, and wasn't particular impressed. Cheaper than most big brands, but you get what you pay for - the toilet casting was distorted, including the spigot for the waste to attach to, so it needed additional silicone to seal worth damn, and the design made it a PITA to fit. The basin was listed as porcelain, but was actually acrylic - a brief phone call resulted in a 50% discount. Everything's ford and looks good and works fine, but I don't think it's rush to use them again.

 

[Dibs-h]

I looked at different suppliers to get an idea of the "look" I wanted and then looked into manufacturers.

Ended up going with Hansgrohe showers and a Kaldewei bath, as it was pressed steel as opposed to acrylic. Found a guy on guy eBay that was selling them as 2nds for half price out of an industrial park in West Bromwich. Shower tray was a preformed plastic former for a wet room floor.

Similarly for tiles - went round everywhere looking to get an idea what I liked. Once I settled on a look and make, rang round to get them at the best price.

Dibs

 

[Andrewf]

If you want a glass shower screen, try one of the big glazing outfits. They will cut toughen glass to any size, at a good price compared to the bathroom places.

 

[marcros]

I thought that the bath store stuff was very good quality. I have no idea whether the other brands are as good. I would be interested to hear

 

[powertools]

I noticed that you are in Hertfordshire . I am in Bedfordshire and have just completed a new build house in the garden of our previous house and have been through the same process as you with regards to bathroom room and tile suppliers.
After wasting a lot of time with the usual suppliers we found Bathroom Vouge in Shefford near Hitchin and i can not praise them enough.
For tiles we found a place in Kempston that were far better than the usual suppliers.

 

[RogerS]

Don't buy from qs supplies.
As others have said...it depends on your style. There is bog standard boring. There is very 'stylish' and very 'marmite' stuff BUT there is some very good stuff in the middle....having nearly finished a complete house renovation...(Ok I fibbed but don't tell SWMBO...still a long way off)

 

[Bm101]

Thanks fellas, that's just the sort of answers I was after really. Much appreciate you taking the time.
I'll steer clear of Soak and QS, look into Bathroom Vouge and the Hansgrohe and Kaldewai.
In one of those happy little coincidences, I was picking my lad up from school today, thought 'Sod it you never know' and pulled a sharp right into the little batch of units near my house. Found a great little tile and bathroom direct place that I didn't know was there. Nice staff, family firm. Packed to the rafters with tiles and saw a couple of nice ones though I will have to run it past Quality Taste Control when she gets home. Asked for a couple of prices and he gave me a rough guide but said come back in when you are decided and we'll settle up and have a deal. He was already cheaper than similar I have seen in Topps and online. My type of shop. Right touch.

Bought the toilets last night. Taps we liked were down to £41 from £149 (bath) and £27 from £99 (sink) today... Hmmmm..... :| Don't think I'm going to beat those for price and build quality.
Bloomin House!
Thanks again guys.

 

[Lons]

You have to be a little careful as well, some of the fancy, often Italian sounding names sold by specialist bathroom companies are often owned by and produced on the same production lines as the general products by companies like Ideal Standard.
Prices are much higher, often double for similar quality so do your homework and look to see where the products are actually made. Kind of gives the game away when it's Hull. :lol:

 

[AndyT]

I've mentioned this before, but if you need some waterproof tile backer board you might be tempted to buy the really heavy cement boards they sell in DIY sheds. I nearly did buy some but fortunately found out about Marmox boards in time. Completely waterproof but also very lightweight - a much better bet especially if you end up lifting and fitting them on your own or with a small child helping!

 

[Bm101]

Thanks Lons, good advice.
Andy I saw you mention the Marmox gear in an older thread when I was reading up before posting this thread and have already started looking into it. Thanks for mentioning it again though. Appreciated!

 

[mbartlett99]

I noticed that you are in Hertfordshire . I am in Bedfordshire and have just completed a new build house in the garden of our previous house and have been through the same process as you with regards to bathroom room and tile suppliers.
After wasting a lot of time with the usual suppliers we found Bathroom Vouge in Shefford near Hitchin and i can not praise them enough.
For tiles we found a place in Kempston that were far better than the usual suppliers.

I'm in between Hitchin & Shefford and in need of tiles - who'd you use?

 

[Lons]

Thanks Lons, good advice.
Andy I saw you mention the Marmox gear in an older thread when I was reading up before posting this thread and have already started looking into it. Thanks for mentioning it again though. Appreciated!

+1 for Andys' suggestion.

One of the products I used a number of years ago was branded Sottini. Customer chose them and paid a heafty price from a designer bathroom shop and when there was a problem I needed to sort urgently I had to collect from Hull which is how I knew at that time it was made on the same production lines. Might have changed since of course.

Bob

 

[RogerS]

Be prepared for fitting instructions that bare only a passing nod to reality. Most make IKEA's look like the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

Oh, and missing bits.

And check that you fit the tilebacker board the right way round DAMHIKT.

And don't believe the coverage figures given by the tile cement manufacturers or suppliers. They'd make you over-order by a factor of 3.

And don't forget...when is 40mm not 40mm ? When you come to waste pipes and their fittings. Same goes for 32mm, come to that. Or trying to connect new white waste pipes to old grey waste pipes.

Buy Plumbers Gold.

In the process of plumbing 14 cold water outlets and five hot water outlets, two en-suites, one large bathroom and a downstairs bog I can safely say that I HATE fitting bathrooms.

 

[stuartpaul]

We've fairly recently refitted two bathrooms and whilst the on line stuff is enticing price wise I really wasn't prepared to buy something I couldn't see or feel the quality of.

We ended up using a couple of small local specialist bathroom places. Yes, they sell the mega expensive (made in Hull?!) kit but they also had some very good 'bog standard' bathroom bits at very affordable prices (or well discounted).

The only downside is you need to find the time to go round and see what they have. Might work for you especially if you have lots of business you can put their way.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We did our last one with 10" x 8" (iirc) rippled white tiles from Wickes, on offer at about £6 per metre, then spent some money on marble tiles (the ones with the multi coloured 10mm or 12mm squares. I cut these into strips for borders and 100mm squares for insets. The job was done on a budget as we were selling, but I'd do it again - the result was stunning, and of course being predominantly white virtually timeless.

 

[powertools]

I noticed that you are in Hertfordshire . I am in Bedfordshire and have just completed a new build house in the garden of our previous house and have been through the same process as you with regards to bathroom room and tile suppliers.
After wasting a lot of time with the usual suppliers we found Bathroom Vouge in Shefford near Hitchin and i can not praise them enough.
For tiles we found a place in Kempston that were far better than the usual suppliers.

I'm in between Hitchin & Shefford and in need of tiles - who'd you use?

Elstow Ceramic Tiles. Massive range, well laid out showroom, very helpful and knowledgeable staff and good prices.