Bathrooms, en-suites and wet rooms — tanked properly, drained properly, ventilated properly. The waterproofing you can't see is the part that decides whether the finish lasts.
The single most common bathroom failure we're called to remedy is water tracking through a shower area into the structure below. It rarely announces itself for a year or two, and by the time it does the floor is usually the problem rather than the tiles.
A shower enclosure or wet room needs a continuous waterproof layer behind the tile — a liquid membrane or tanking board system, dressed into the tray or the graded floor, with the corners and pipe penetrations detailed properly. Tile adhesive and grout are not waterproof, and a tile is not a membrane.
In a wet room the floor itself becomes the drainage surface, which means a former or a graded screed falling to a linear or point drain, tanked across the whole floor and up the walls. It is more work than a tray, and it is the part of the job worth spending on.
Three things determine whether a finished bathroom is actually good to use, and none of them appear in a mood board. The first is water pressure: a rainfall head and body jets on an unvented system with insufficient flow will disappoint every morning, and the fix is far cheaper designed in than retrofitted.
The second is drainage position. Moving a WC any distance from the existing soil stack is the constraint that most often reshapes a layout — there's a limit to how far you can run at the required fall before a pumped solution is the only answer.
The third is ventilation. A properly sized extract fan, ducted to outside rather than into a loft void, running on an overrun timer, is what prevents the mould that otherwise appears within two winters.
A same-layout replacement is typically 2–3 weeks. Moving the WC, forming a wet room or altering the floor structure usually makes it 3–5 weeks. Tanking and screeds have curing times that can't be rushed, which is often what people underestimate.
Usually yes, but the floor structure has to be checked first — a graded screed adds weight, and a linear drain needs depth within the floor build-up. On a traditional timber floor it's very often achievable with the right former; on some spans it needs the joists strengthening.
Electrical work in a bathroom is notifiable under Part P, and ventilation is covered by Part F. Adding a new bathroom where there wasn't one, or altering drainage, brings in more. A like-for-like replacement with no new circuits generally doesn't, but the electrical certification still matters.
A mechanical extract fan ducted to the outside, sized for the room and ideally on a humidity sensor or overrun timer. Venting into a loft void rather than through the roof or wall is common in older installations and causes condensation problems above the ceiling.
Answer a few quick questions and the team will be in touch shortly.
