Period bathrooms and new-build bathrooms, side by side
The town centre was rebuilt on its original plan after the fire of 1583, which is why High Street, Welsh Row and the lanes between them are a mix of timber-framed Tudor buildings and Georgian town houses such as Dysart Buildings and Townwell House. Bathrooms in these houses were added long after they were built, often in a former bedroom or on a half-landing, and the floors are rarely level or square. Fitting a modern bathroom in one means packing and boarding before a tile goes on, checking where the original joists run before any wet room drain is cut, and routing waste through walls that are far thicker than modern studs. It is slower than a new-build and we price it as such, honestly.
Kingsley Fields, the Local Plan site on the north-west edge towards Reaseheath, is the opposite job. The houses are new, the developer bathrooms are standard and the owners usually want the ensuite upgraded or a better shower in the family bathroom within a few years. Plumbing is accessible and the walls are plasterboard, so a refit is quick. The Brine Baths Estate and the later housing out towards Stapeley sit in between: solid, conventional homes where a full renovation runs to a normal timetable.
Nantwich water: moderately soft, with a wide range
United Utilities supplies Nantwich from its Gorsty South zone, and its own data puts the average at 74 milligrams per litre of calcium carbonate, which is moderately soft. The range is wide though, from 29 to 151 across its samples, so some homes see water in the slightly hard band at times. In practice that means shower glass and chrome stay clear with normal cleaning, and a softener is not something we would push, but a rainfall head with rubber nozzles you can wipe is worth the small extra. Pressure and flow vary more than hardness in the old town, and we measure both at the survey before recommending a shower.
Cheshire East building control and the conservation area
Nantwich sits in Cheshire East, whose building control service is delivered through its company Civicance from Delamere House in Crewe. New drainage connections, structural alterations and bathroom electrics are the parts of a bathroom job it needs to know about; the electrics that need certifying are done by a registered electrician we work with, and you get the certificate. The town's conservation area covers 38 hectares around the centre and the historic buildings in it are listed in numbers, so if your house is one of them, moving an extractor vent or a soil pipe on a visible elevation may need consent. We check that before we quote rather than after.
Seeing bathrooms in Nantwich
You do not have to drive to Crewe to look at a suite. House of Kitchens and Bathrooms on High Street is an independent showroom in the middle of town, Wolseley at the Nantwich Trade Yard on Beam Heath Way is the merchant with a bathroom display, and Pebbles at Calveley, on the A51 towards Chester, has a bathroom and tile showroom many of our customers end up in. Choose there and we fit it; or ask us to shortlist and we bring samples to the house and quote each item at its price.
What we do in Nantwich
- Full bathroom renovations in period houses, including boarding and levelling old walls and floors
- Ensuite upgrades and family bathroom refits on the Kingsley Fields and Stapeley estates
- Wet rooms and walk-in showers, with the joist and drain route checked first in older houses
- Downstairs toilets fitted into hallways and under stairs
- Tiling, wall panels, plumbing, towel rails, fans and lighting (electrician certified)
- Repairs: leaking showers, running toilets, resealing and regrouting
- Rental bathrooms for Nantwich landlords and agents
Example scenario: a Georgian town house off Welsh Row
A three-storey house with the bathroom in a first-floor back room, a sloping timber floor and a soil stack on the rear wall. We level the floor with a ply overlay, board the walls, fit a 1200 by 800 low tray with a fixed screen, a wall-hung toilet on a frame against the stack wall, a freestanding basin unit, and a quiet humidity fan ducted to the rear. Seven working days, with the extra time in the preparation rather than the fitting.
Nantwich emergencies: stop the leak locally, then call us
Nantwich is further from our base than the towns we cover for night-time emergencies, so a plumber in the town will be faster if water is pouring through a ceiling. We pick up from there: the repair to the bathroom, or a full refit if the leak has ruined the floor or the tiles, in a Welsh Row townhouse or a new home at Kingsley Fields alike.