Bathroom Renovations in Towcester
Bathrooms in ironstone cottages and new estate houses, done from the drainage backwards.
A bathroom in a stone cottage near Towcester is a different job from one on a new estate south of the bypass, and we do both. The cottage bathroom has walls that need to breathe, a floor that has never been level and a route for the waste that has to be found rather than assumed. The estate bathroom is a straightforward refit or a box room ensuite, with the developer’s plumbing somewhere close to where it should be.
In the town, the Georgian and Victorian houses on and around Watling Street have bathrooms that were added late and want moving or reforming. Our own trades do the strip out, the plumbing, the electrics, the tanking, the tiling and the finish, one programme and one point of contact, twenty minutes up the A5 from our base, with West Northamptonshire building control covering the drainage and electrics.
Cottage bathrooms and what they need
In an ironstone cottage the shower area is boarded and tanked so the water never reaches the stone, and everywhere else the finish stays breathable so the wall can dry. The floor is usually old joists or laid on the ground, and a tiled floor needs a stiff, level base built over it with the damp handled. Ventilation matters more than in a modern house because the windows are small and the walls are thick, and the extractor needs a route out that suits a listed frontage if there is one. Low ceilings and odd window positions shape the layout more than the brochure does.
Internal bathroom work needs no planning application on an unlisted house; the drainage and electrics need Building Regulations approval. On a listed cottage, moving a bathroom, altering a partition or adding an external soil pipe can need listed building consent, and several of the villages are conservation areas. General guidance, in other words. We look at the particular house and say what needs checking with the council.
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Milton Keynes based
Bathroom fitting and renovations we have built
Our own photographs, some mid build, because that is where you can see how a job was put together. More on the projects page.
Typical works can include
Every project in Towcester is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Strip out and disposal
- Stud alterations, boxing and any structural changes
- New soil, waste and hot and cold pipework
- Tanking and waterproofing to wet areas
- Part P notifiable electrical work by a qualified electrician
- Extraction, ducting and background ventilation
The full list, and how we run the job, is on the main bathroom fitting and renovations page.
Very professional and impeccable work standards! Will definitely be using them again!
Questions from Towcester
Can you fit a modern shower room in a stone cottage?
Yes, built so the cottage can live with it: tanked boards where the water is, breathable finishes elsewhere, a stiffened floor and proper ventilation. If the cottage is listed, some changes need consent first and we will say so early. The result is a bathroom that works like a modern one without damaging a three hundred year old wall.
How long does a bathroom refit take in Towcester?
Two to three weeks for a full refit, three to four for an ensuite formed from a box room with new drainage, one to two for a downstairs cloakroom. There is a day or two of no bathroom in the middle of a refit, which we warn you about in advance. The distance from Milton Keynes makes no difference to the programme.
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Can we stay in the house while you work?
Usually yes, and most of our customers do. On an extension you can live fairly normally right up until we break through into the existing house, which we leave as late as possible for that reason.
On a full renovation it is harder but still workable. We go room by room, keep a working kitchen and bathroom going as long as possible, sheet up properly and clean down at the end of each day.
Other work we do in Towcester
Bathroom fitting and renovations nearby
Bathroom fitting and renovations in Milton Keynes, the main page
Also covering Wood Burcote Greens Norton Silverstone Deanshanger Cosgrove Roade
Planning bathroom fitting and renovations in Towcester?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.