Bath out, shower in
The most common job we do. A standard 1700 by 700 bath comes out and leaves exactly the footprint for a 1700 by 700 or 1600 by 800 low tray, which means the waste and the feeds are already close to where they need to be. A fixed glass panel at the tap end, a thermostatic valve on the wall, a rainfall head and a hand shower, tiles or panels on the three walls, and the room is changed. If the toilet and basin stay where they are, this is a three to five day job and the toilet is barely out of use.
Two things to decide early: tray or tiled floor (a low tray is cheaper and quicker; a tiled level floor is a wet room, which has its own page), and door or no door (a door keeps the rest of the room drier; a single panel looks better and is easier to clean).
Which shower your house can actually run
| Your hot water | What works best | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Combi boiler, good mains pressure | Thermostatic mixer with a standard or medium rainfall head | Two outlets running together on a small combi; huge heads |
| Combi boiler, weak mains pressure | Electric shower, or a mixer with a smaller head after a pressure test | Rainfall heads, body jets |
| System boiler with unvented cylinder | Thermostatic mixer with a large rainfall head and hand shower | Nothing much; this is the best case |
| Gravity tank in the loft, vented cylinder | Pumped shower, or a mixer with a dedicated shower pump | Unpumped mixers, which run as a dribble |
| Any system, second bathroom in use at once | Electric shower on its own circuit, so it never fights the other shower | A second mixer off a small combi |
We measure your pressure and flow at the survey and tell you which row you are in before you buy anything.
Enclosures, trays and screens
Trays: stone resin low-profile trays, 25 to 45 millimetres high, are what we fit most. They are rigid, they take tiling up to the edge and they do not flex and crack the silicone the way thin acrylic trays do. Sizes from 800 by 800 for an ensuite corner to 1700 by 800 for a bath replacement.
Glass: 8 millimetre toughened glass for fixed panels and doors, with a protective coating that stops limescale bonding. Chrome, matt black and brushed brass frames are all available, and matt black is what half our customers now ask for.
Doors: sliding where the room is tight, hinged where there is space, bi-fold for the smallest enclosures. Or no door at all with a walk-in panel, if the shower area is long enough to keep spray in.
Electric showers
An electric shower heats cold mains water as it passes through, so it works whatever your boiler is doing and gives a second bathroom its own supply. The limit is flow: a 9.5 or 10.5 kilowatt unit gives a decent shower, not a drenching one. It needs its own circuit from the consumer unit, a pull-cord isolator, and certification, all of which the registered electrician we work with does on the same job. If you are replacing an existing electric shower like for like, check the kilowatt rating; going up a size often means a new cable.