Replacement of Bathroom Suite - DIY'able for a novice?

Sleepy

We're sale agreed on an old house that has a bathroom with a pink bath and hand-basin and a white toilet! :eek: The floor is just painted boards with 5mm gaps so that'll need tiling too.

I'm wondering whether it's realistic to attempt to replace the existing bathroom suite and taps, seal and tile the floor and above the bath and fit a shower door with no experience whatsoever with any of that.

I'm generally reasonably handy with things once I have a diagram or some guides to follow and I wouldn't be looking to re-position anything, just update what's there and give the room a facelift. Looking at pricings on-line, it seems like it'd cost about 2/2.5k to hire someone to do the lot versus the potential to get the whole thing done for less than a grand if I'm careful buying materials / not afraid to use second hand stuff from Adverts etc.

There's an electric shower in the downstairs shower-room so I'd just be looking to fit a mixer tap / rainfall shower head set rather than another electric unit. It also means that which we'll still have the use of a bathroom while I tackle the job so I wouldn't be under any undue time pressure to complete the job (besides an unhappy Mrs Sleepy if it went beyond a month or two!).

Is it a case of "plan everything in advance, read the instructions twice, watch Youtube videos / google what you don't know and take it slowly?" or am I being hopelessly optimistic that I can save myself a grand or so while earning brownie points with the other half here?

Sleeper12

Sleepy wrote:

I'm wondering whether it's realistic to attempt to replace the existing bathroom suite and taps, seal and tile the floor and above the bath and fit a shower door with no experience whatsoever with any of that.

It takes a plumber and tiller at least 5 full days to do a job like this. They know what they are doing, have the experience and the right tools. So IMO it's a pretty big mountain you plan to climb.
Do you have any tradesman friends to get advice from or possibly lend a hand if things go wrong?

If you go ahead with the job yourself you can look for advice here but its often conflicting information and arguments can go on for days before you get the answers you need.

Merrion

Fairly realistic, yes, but it will take twice as long as you think ;-).

Did this myself in an upstairs bathroom - only thing I didn't do is tile the floor: I used treated board and put down cork tiles over that - warmer and doesn't crack if/when the floor flexes.

Get down to B&Q and pick up their step by step guides.

Sleepy

Sleeper12 - I get that it's a big job and that it'll take me a month or two of weekends and evenings but every mountain is climbed step-by-step... I've no friends in the trade but I'm hoping the internet could help.

Merrion - I've been watching some of the B&Q guides on youtube (particularly the tiling ones) and they're part of what made me think it might be do-able! Cork tiles are an interesting idea - I presume you treat them with some form of sealant after fitting?

Cheshire Cat .

Good luck , tiling is easy , cutting them though is a pain .

Merrion

Sleepy wrote: »

Cork tiles are an interesting idea - I presume you treat them with some form of sealant after fitting?

There is a clear sealant. It stinks while drying and you will not be able to get the paint brush clean so budget to throw one or two away :-) and it takes at least 2 coats (cork tiles are thirsty)