A bathroom drawn before anything is ordered
Our bathroom design service turns a room into a measured drawing and a schedule of every item before any ceramics are ordered or any pipework is moved. The design fee, and how it is credited against an order, is explained when we quote.
The survey
We start in the room. We measure the walls, floor and ceiling heights, the window and door positions, and where the soil stack, supplies and radiators are now. We note what the walls are built from, because a solid masonry wall and a stud partition take fixings, concealed cisterns and recessed niches differently. We look at the floor: its construction, which way the joists run and whether it is level.
We also check the way in. A freestanding bath has to get up the stairs and through the door, and in an older house with a tight stair turn that can decide the choice of bath. If you already have architect’s drawings or a measured survey, we work from those and check the key dimensions on site.
Measured drawing and layout options
From the survey we draw a measured plan and elevations of the room, then layout options showing where the bath, basin, WC and shower sit, the space in front of each and the swing of the door. Clearances matter more than most people expect. A WC needs room in front of it to be comfortable to use, and a shower door has to open without catching the basin.
Each option names the pieces it uses. You can compare a Thornham basin on a metal washstand with an Orwell wall-hung basin in the same position, and see the difference in width and projection.
Pipe runs and waste falls
A layout has to drain. Every waste needs a continuous fall to the soil stack, and Approved Document H of the Building Regulations sets limits on the fall and on how far a branch can run before it needs venting. A bath or shower placed a long way from the stack may need the floor raising, the waste run through the joists, or a different position altogether. A WC connects to a much larger soil pipe than a basin waste, so moving it is the biggest change in most rooms, and we treat its position first.
We check the hot and cold supplies too, and the system feeding them. A gravity-fed system with a cold water tank only a short height above the outlets gives very different pressure from a combination boiler or an unvented cylinder, and that affects which taps, mixers and showers will work properly. Where pressure is low we say so at the drawing stage and specify brassware to suit, or note what would need to change.
Shower trays and walk-in showers need a fall to the waste, either built into the tray or formed in the floor. On a timber floor, the depth between the joists and the finished floor level decides what is possible.
Wall and floor construction
Wall-hung toilets and basins hang from concealed frames or from fixings into the structure, and the wall has to be built for them. A frame needs a wall deep enough to hide it, or a false wall built out in front. We show these on the drawing, with frame heights set for the pan and for the people who will use it.
Floors are checked for load. A freestanding bath full of water, with someone in it, can weigh several hundred kilograms on a small footprint. On an upper floor of an older house the joists may need checking by the builder or a structural engineer, and we mark where that applies. We also note where underfloor heating, tanking and tiling will raise the finished floor level.
Electrical positions are marked against the bathroom zones in BS 7671, so lights, shaver sockets and electric towel rails are specified for where they sit. Electrical work in a bathroom falls under Part P of the Building Regulations, and much of it has to be done by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme or notified to building control.
Samples
Glazes and brassware finishes are hard to choose from a photograph. We provide samples so you can see them in the room, in its own light, beside the tiles and paint. Matt glazes in particular look different in a north-facing bathroom from how they look under showroom lighting.
The schedule of items
The finished design comes with a schedule listing every item by collection, code, size, finish and quantity. It covers the obvious pieces and the ones that get forgotten until the plumber asks for them: wastes, traps, cistern fittings, flush plates, seat hinges, bath fillers and the brackets a wall-hung basin needs. Your builder prices from the schedule, and we order and deliver against it.
Coordinating with your builder
We send the drawing and schedule to your builder, plumber and electrician, and answer their questions directly. If the builder finds something on site that changes the drawing, such as a joist where the waste was meant to run, we revise the drawing and the schedule so nobody has to improvise. Deliveries are timed to the programme: concealed frames and shower valves arrive for first fix, ceramics and brassware for second fix.
Supply only, or supply and fit
You can take the design and schedule to your own builder and buy the pieces from us supply-only. Or we can supply and fit with our own fitters; ask about installation in your area. The drawing is the same either way, and the same person here looks after the project. Builders and designers ordering for clients can open an account through our trade page.
Made furniture from our joinery workshop
Our joinery workshop at Mickfield makes vanity units, cabinets, panelling and other bathroom joinery to measure. Because it is drawn as part of the same design, a vanity unit can fill an alcove exactly, with its top cut for the basin on the schedule and the waste and trap positions agreed before it is made. Panelling can be set out to line up with a cistern, a window sill or the rim of a bath. It sits alongside the bathroom furniture in our collections.
Starting a design
Send us photographs of the room, rough dimensions or any drawings you have, with a note of what you want from it. You can also bring them to the showroom at Mickfield. Call 01449 711782 or use the contact page.