Bathrooms, bathrooms bathrooms!

[Mike_scotland]

Good morning group!

again i ask for assistance or a point in the right direction from this excellent forum and its members!

me and my partner are almost at the stage of picking bathrooms and we got recommended items from Victoria plumbing(online retailer) from our plumber but we have looked at some reviews and to be fair they have a fair amount of good ones and a fair amount of bad reviews so seems like hit or miss!!

can anyone point us in the direction of good quality bathroom furniture and other bathroom products? we know this can vary massively in price but just looking for ideas of what other self builders etc have used

Tiles help also would be a good if anyone can recommend any websites or places for tiles!, we see B+Q are pretty cheap but heard there sizing can be way off! were thinking of trying CTD or topps.

thanks in advance!!

Edited December 13, 2021 by Mike_scotland

[joe90]

I found the price difference out there is massive, I took a punt and bought all mine (two bathrooms and cloakroom) from a similar “cheap” supplier. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality, BUT  after a couple of years  a breakdown on the glaze on one toilet has appeared and I will eventually replace it but even if I do it still works out cheaper than many others out there. If you do buy “cheap” just make sure you inspect it “with a fine tooth comb” on delivery.

[ToughButterCup]

The issue is price point.

We decided on Geberit and Hansgrohe - it was far more expensive than we had planned for - because of the quality ; in Geberit's case their support documentation and videos are superb. We had to save up for six months or so, and bought at sales and when offers were available.  I still wince at the cost,  the plumbers commented favourably and also sucked their teeth when we told them the cost. 

[Mike_scotland]

i think maybe the key could be picking mid range things or even the above mentioned Geberit i found that brand on victoria plumbing.... so maybe buying from a cheaper website but better branded things?.

[ToughButterCup]

Yes, possibly. Research research research. Pays off almost every time.

My other half is the researcher in our family. I have re-named her the  Glow-Worm. All I ever see of her is the reflected light of a small screen in her face.

A gentle glow.

[Mike_scotland]

1 hour ago, ToughButterCup said:

The issue is price point.

We decided on Geberit and Hansgrohe - it was far more expensive than we had planned for - because of the quality ; in Geberit's case their support documentation and videos are superb. We had to save up for six months or so, and bought at sales and when offers were available.  I still wince at the cost,  the plumbers commented favourably and also sucked their teeth when we told them the cost. 

i just had a look online at Geberit.... there reviews seem quite bad... i take it you have had no issues mate?

[saveasteading]

I have taken to using the local plumbers' merchant. The prices are perfectly reasonable compared to the big retailers, the advice is good, and I feel that they can't afford to supply anything substandard (reputation).

Perhaps being in the industry helps ease of discussion if it gets technical, but I really don't think that matters.

I recently had a tricky shower challenge with a sloping ceiling, and they had a special screen made

 

Roca is good too. And I don't think there is anything wrong with Armitage.

Where do the unbranded ones come from is my biggest concern? Not from the big names.

[Mike_scotland]

19 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I have taken to using the local plumbers' merchant. The prices are perfectly reasonable compared to the big retailers, the advice is good, and I feel that they can't afford to supply anything substandard (reputation).

Perhaps being in the industry helps ease of discussion if it gets technical, but I really don't think that matters.

I recently had a tricky shower challenge with a sloping ceiling, and they had a special screen made

 

Roca is good too. And I don't think there is anything wrong with Armitage.

Where do the unbranded ones come from is my biggest concern? Not from the big names.

yeah totally get you mate.

i think from what i have found is online there are all the TOP brands have alot of bad reviews so its so hard.... i think its a case of if your unlucky enough to have a problem(nothing is perfect) they people with the problems put bad reviews yet if its perfectly fine they dont leave a review.

i have found that; 

Grohe

Duravit

Armitage

Hudson Reed

Rope Rhodes

Villeroy +  boch

 

all seem to have a reasonable standard to them and good reviews.

[Mr Punter]

I have used RAK sanitary ware in the past.  Very good value and the quality seems fine.

[saveasteading]

A post a few months ago said that the factories categorise their ceramics after manufacture, according to how the glazing turned out, and the top-of-range stuff had an extra/better  coating.

But I expect all the big names do QC on everything and chuck out the sub-standards....they really do not want them rejected by users.

[Gone West]

We bought everything for the bathrooms from Bathstore around five years ago. The quality was good.

[Mike_scotland]

20 minutes ago, Gone West said:

We bought everything for the bathrooms from Bathstore around five years ago. The quality was good.

what branding was it? do you know?

[Gone West]

16 hours ago, Mike_scotland said:

what branding was it? do you know?

The only things I remember for sure that were branded were the Nikles showers. The taps may have been Crosswater but the ceramics etc weren't labelled as far as I can remember. I'm sorry I can't check as we moved house a few months ago.

[ToughButterCup]

23 hours ago, Mike_scotland said:

i just had a look online at Geberit.... there reviews seem quite bad... i take it you have had no issues mate?

 

None, none at all. Their stuff is pricy - flush plates for example are stupid - rude almost. But in the scheme of things .... you've just got so much other stuff to sort out, by the time we were fitting the stuff, I just winced and moved on to the next issue.  Price-inelastic I think is the term.

 

I have a feeling that house-churn is so much higher here than over there (Germany) that those two companies feel justified in charging through the nose - or wherever.

[Andrew]

I've had to furnish 2 bathrooms, 2 en-suites and a downstairs toilet. We used a mixture of different brands and suppliers. Most of the things like vanity units and shower screens came from Victoria Plumb in the sale. They are crafty beggars and I needed to keep a fairly long-term view on the price of the things to get a true picture of when they are actually reduced. Stone resin shower trays were generic unbranded from a random bathroom supplies website - all have turned out fine. We decided to go for Grohe taps and shower mixers throughout as we wanted something decent quality (and to be honest it's the only logo you would really see) - these were from the cheapest website I could find that stocked them - again turned out fine and look good. 

 

For tiles I got all of our from the Johnson Tiles factory outlet in Stoke (https://www.johnson-tiles.com / https://outlet.johnson-tiles.com). It wasn't too much of a trek for us to go and have a look at what they had and then I called up and ordered what we wanted which they delivered on a pallet. They were well up for a deal too, I think I got about 15% - 20% off an order of £1500. 

 

I'd say the best thing to do would be to buy to your budget, you can spend mega money on bathrooms but also do it quite fugally but still have good looking results (I spent about £7.5k total on all the stuff for our 6 bathrooms including electric underfloor heating mats + towel radiators).

 

The other thing to mention is alway open and check the stuff when it arrives. I didn't install one of the vanity units from Victoria Plumb until 13 months after it arrived, and of course that was the one with a broken handle. It was a real challenge to get them to replace it - had to leave a bad Trustpilot review threatening the small claims court before they "found a spare one in the warehouse" and sent it out to me. 

[Barryscotland]

We’ve just taken delivery of two bathrooms and after trailing round lots of  bathroom shops we ended up going to MKM, semi decent quality stuff like roper Rhodes. Checked a handful of the prices on the quote online before ordering and couldn’t find any of the items cheaper online.