The recurring problem here is a bathroom squeezed into a stone built cottage that was never planned to have one, with a short drainage run and a floor that has been altered more than once.
The Short Version
- The figure is set by the stack, the fall and the floor rather than by the suite.
- Drainage is settled before the layout, and the layout before the fixtures.
- We strip to joists and masonry, because what sits behind a bath panel here is rarely what you were told.
- Shower areas are tanked before tiling, since sealant at the edge is not waterproofing.
George Herkes & Son Joinery has worked across East Lothian since 1989, holds East Lothian Trading Standards Trusted Trader accreditation and is rated 5.0 from 62 reviews, and the kitchen installers across Cockenzie & Port Seton are the same team stripping and refitting bathrooms.
Send George a photo of the bathroom and he will come and look at what is under the floor.
Bathroom Renovation Costs
The recurring problem in this town is a bathroom squeezed into a stone built cottage that was never planned to have one. Small room, short drainage run, a floor that has been altered more than once.
That is what sets the figure, not the suite. Whether the soil pipe moves. Whether the floor needs strengthening. Whether the walls are true enough to tile without a fight. The suite is the part people price and the part that varies least. No figure is given before the floor has been looked at, and a price offered over the phone is a price that will move upwards.
Free quotes on Bathroom Renovations across Cockenzie & Port Seton. Speak to George at George Herkes & Son Joinery.
Bathroom Design and Planning in Cockenzie & Port Seton
People plan a bathroom around a suite and then find the drainage will not have it. That is the wrong way round.
Drainage comes first. Where the stack is, what fall is available, what the floor build up will carry. Then the layout, then the fixtures. In the stone built cottages the room is usually small enough that a shower suits it better than a bath, and saying so is more useful than selling a bath. In the later houses that went up from the 1970s onward there is more room to work with. The same reading is applied by bathroom installers across Prestonpans. The room decides.
Strip Out and Preparation for Cockenzie & Port Seton Homes
What sits behind a bath panel in a house of this age is rarely what the last person said it was.
We strip to the joists and the masonry where it is needed. That is the stage that finds the rotted board under the bath, the dead pipework capped and left in a wall, and the tile bed built up twice. Floors get strengthened where the survey says so, with noggins between joists under the bath and the shower tray. Walls get made good so the tiling has something true to sit on. It is part of our renovation services rather than a separate trade. Get this wrong and everything above it is decoration.
Plumbing, Electrics and Waterproofing
This is the half you never see again. It is also the half that decides if a floor comes up again in five years.
Waste runs need a continuous fall, and on a suspended timber floor that means notching within the permitted zone of the joist rather than wherever the pipe wants to go. Shower areas are tanked before tiling: boards, taped joints, banded corners. Sealant at the edge is not waterproofing and never was. Circuits, extraction and lighting go in at first fix, with the extraction ducted outside rather than into a loft void where it will rot the roof timbers instead.
Transparent Quotes and Inclusions
A quote you can rely on says what is not in it. Most do not.
The scope is itemised after the survey: strip out, floor works, first fix, tanking, tiling, second fix, joinery and making good. Anything the strip out turns up is priced and agreed before it is covered rather than appearing at the end as a variation. Nothing is added without your agreement. A quote that does not mention the floor is a quote from somebody who has not looked at it.
Tiling, Fixtures and Finishes
A small room punishes bad setting out, and most bathrooms here are small rooms.
Tiling is set out from the finished floor level rather than the existing one, and from the centre line of the main wall so the cuts land in the corners instead of beside the door. Wall hung basins and concealed cisterns need a frame fixed to something structural, which is established before the wall closes. Vanity units and fitted panelling are built in the workshop to the dimension the room turned out to be. On this coast the ironmongery and the extraction are specified for salt air.
George Herkes & Son Joinery gives free quotes on Bathroom Renovations throughout Cockenzie & Port Seton. Ask George what your job involves.
Bathroom Renovations in Cockenzie & Port Seton FAQs
What are the bathrooms like to work on in the cottages here?
Small, with a short drainage run and a floor that has usually been altered more than once. That is why the survey looks at the stack, the fall and the joists before anyone discusses a suite.
How much does a new bathroom cost?
It is set by what is under the floor rather than by the suite, so the figure comes from the survey. You get it itemised in writing before anything is booked and nothing is added later without your agreement. We answer What is a realistic budget for a bathroom renovation? in full in a separate guide.
Can you fit a shower instead of a bath?
Often it suits these rooms better, and we will say so. The ceiling height, the floor build up and the fall available are what decide it, and all three are measured on the first visit.
Do you tank the shower area?
Yes, before tiling. Boards go on, joints are taped and corners are banded, so the waterproofing sits behind the tile rather than relying on a bead of sealant at the edge.
