Planning a New Bathroom

Before - Your New Bathroom

Designing and planning a new bathroom can be an interesting challenge. Careful planning and research is the key to success with any new bathroom or refit. Bathrooms are usually the smallest room in the house, but that doesn’t mean you have to compromise on style.

Here are some handy hints and design tips to get you started:

Measuring Your Bathroom

It is extremely important when measuring up your new bathroom that you note the position of the existing plumbing services (water supplies, water and soil outlets), windows and doors. Wherever possible try and design to make use of existing plumbing – it can be costly and time-consuming to re-route the water supply and waste pipes.

Decide on the list of items you want included in your bathroom suite, bath and/or shower/wet room, hand basin, WC and bidet and if you can, sketch it out on a sheet of paper. It is easy to get standard dimensions for most items so why not create a version on paper first, trying out different layouts and see how they work for you.

Working from a visual drawing will help to determine if the space could be better used – consider for instance that the minimum space required between a basin or WC which face each other is 60cm.

It is also important to consider those who may use the room. Do you, for instance, need to make special adaptations or provision for young children, the elderly or the disabled.

Fixtures & Fittings

After - Your New Bathroom

Don’t forget to consider the fixtures and fittings. It is very easy to forget that you might need a heated towel rail when you are planning for instance – and suddenly you have no space to put one in.

Think about:-

• bathrooms taps
• shower heads
• electric shaving points
• cabinets and shelving
• bathroom accessories
• bathroom mirrors
• bathroom lighting
• extractor fans
• heated towels rails
• underfloor heating

Where are you going to store all of the essentials that go with a bathroom such as toiletries, towels and cleaning products?

For those of you that want the ultimate in designer bathrooms, you can now even choose from a collection of Waterproof LCD Televisions that are designed to be installed and integrated into a Bathroom, Shower or Wet Room and can be operated without a remote control.

Decorating Your Bathroom

When it comes to decorating a bathroom that are many options. Most leading paint manufacturers now sell paint specifically designed for the damp, moist conditions of bathrooms.

Bathroom tiles are also very practical, hard wearing, easy to clean, waterproof and hygienic. They are available in various materials and you will find a wide range of options for walls and floors.  You can buy individual tiles or decorative bathroom wall panelling.

Rules and Regulations when Installing a Bathroom

There are strict regulations when it comes to installing equipment in a bathroom. For instance:-

• Only a competent, certified electrician should be used to install lighting and other electrics in a bathroom. And there should be no electrical points other than approved ones.
• External ventilation is required for a bathroom and WC, typically an automatic extractor fan and duct is connected to the outside.
• If the only bathroom in a dwelling leads off a bedroom, it must have another access door other than through the bedroom.
• A room containing a WC must be separated by ‘a door’ from any area used for the preparation of food.

Planning Your New Bathroom

Planning a new bathroom is an exciting time, but it also brings with it a myriad of things to think about.

Ocean Bathrooms is always pleased to offer professional advice to ensure you get the perfect bathroom for your home. We offer a full Bathroom Design and Planning service that will help you make informed decisions before spending any money.

Our experienced Interior Designer can take your original ideas to planning stage and then recreate a 3-D model of your bathroom. You get a visual idea of what your bathroom looks like before you make a final decision.

Need a few ideas to get you started?? Why not pop in to our showroom in Bridport where we have lots of working displays or alternatively visit the Bathrooms Ideas and Inspiration section of our website.