Complete DIY bathroom renovation

The Hansgrohe shower unit concerned me as there were so many parts and no hard copy of the instructions! However I need not have worried, there was a QR code on the box and once I scanned this there was an excellent animation on youtube that provided very helpful instructions. The example below is very similar to the one I used, but not exactly the same.



A few tips for the "plumbers" from Durkan Residential that plumbed my house from a complete amateur that seems to have "out plumped" you:

1) Tighten all compression fittings fully with proper fitting spanners. These cost less than €25 for a descent set.
2) How about having a fall on waste pipes? This will help sinks drain! The long horizontal runs you installed in my home did not work very well.
3) When possible hide pipes within stud walls and under floors, it looks so much better.
4) Why not use a measuring tape and spirit level?
5) Install isolation valves on all taps.
6) Fix toilets securely!
7) Coordinate your work with the other trades. It is best to fit basin pedestals on top of the floor tiles.

Glass wall installed, this was a 2 man job! Very easy to break as you can imagine:



Shower area almost completed!

Next bug task is the sink unit, it will go here:

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Step 2, quartz (top and side), sink and tap fitted.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Those porcelain mosaics for the shower floor sure are expensive, they looks to be the same as what I went with. Great workmanship throughout.

Not that expensive. 1 m sq. was €100 at project.ie
They have a very impressive setup, everything is in stock so no waiting for an order. Also they sell all of the tools, provide great advice and you can negotiate on price.

They were not that hard to do. The blue tiles on the walls were far more difficult to work with. This was mainly because not of the the tiles were the same dimensions and many of them had a slight curve. Also I never imagined that cutting around the wall insert would be so time consuming.

What type/make of grout did you use on floor and walls and did you give any consideration to epoxy grout especially when going with white colour.

Flexible grout, can’t remember the make but I got it in project.ie

I don’t think the white grout was epoxy but it is anti-mould. So far more than 6 months on only very slight discoloration at low level in the shower.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Project Tile didn't have the Ardex EG8 epoxy in stock but were able to order it at an eye watering €143 per 4kg tub.

From memory I paid €30ish for enough to do all of the white grout with plenty left over.

I spoke to a number of suppliers and tilers and no one uses it here as it's apparently a lot more difficult to work with and cost/wastage is a major concern.

The grout I used like the adhesive is the flexible type and is very easy to use.

listermint wrote: »

Aye but How'd you add in the extra 4k?

I'm not sure to be honest, I’m starting to think it is inaccurate, but I talked to a few builders who say it sounds about right. I never totted the cost up properly and the work was done over a protracted period (5 months) so I could be off.
It was way beyond what I expected to spend. All of the materials are very high quality and individually the the prices seemed reasonable. The problem was the shear volume of materials required for a bathroom that size. I was determined not to cut corners.

There were hidden costs such as:
1) Insulating under the floor to limit noise transfer. Re-insulating the attic over the bathroom because I wrecked what was there pulling cables and piping.
2) Multiple trips to the local dump.
3) Doing the soil stack and waste pipes outside twice (not well done first time).
4) A lot of pain was required, I used Colourtrend (5 pots) which is not cheap.
5) I replaced every pipe fitting I uncovered (which was a lot due to the proximity of the hot press) as the existing push fit ones not not properly installed.
6) Due to my lack of experience I over engineered much of the work. This meant a lot more Tec7, fixings (screws, frame fixings, so, so many!!), plywood (marine, 4 sheets), Marmox waterproof tape (very pricey), Marmox sealant (very pricey) and 13mm cement board (4 sheets) than were actually required.
7) Additional tools such as G clamps, spirit level, hand saw, circular saw blade, set of special drill bits for tiles etc..
8) Stupid things like the very solid stainless steel towel rail and toilet roll holder cost €120 and €45.
9) I also made mistakes! For example, I realized that I did not have sufficient depth for the shower mixer tap. This meant I had to batten (3 x 2”) the outside block wall out further. I used this opportunity to add additional insulation to the outside wall. When I did this I found that the first layer of battens were not properly secured. I had to replace these too and fix with frame fixings.
10) Many of the internal walls needed additional supports. Wood totally rotted through at one point. This has to be cut out and replaced.

Seems way off for the work done DIY.

True.

Black_Knight wrote: »

Where'd you get the sink? Looks along the lines of what we're looking for for our bathroom.

soak.ie or soak.com but I think they have gone to the wall.