All work completed by ukbathroomguru.com

We recently added a small en suite to a house in Boston Spa, Leeds.

The plan

Space for Small En Suite

We intended to add an en suite into the corner of this customers master bedroom.

en suite plan

We planned to build 2 x new stud walls with a chamfered corner to define the space, which would contain a toilet, basin, radiator & shower.

The internal size of this room was to be 110cm x 160cm (with a chamfered corner)

A chimney breast (that could not be removed as it was in use) made the job slightly more complicated than normal as none of the new en suite would be situated against an external wall, and this made running the drainage pipework a bit tricky.

This meant that the en suite required careful planning and we advised the customer of what was achievable during our free site survey, during which time we measured up the room and looked at the current plumbing & drainage facilities which would affect the layout / positioning of the new en suite.

We also looked at the boiler / hot water system and fuse box to make sure everything would work correctly when installed and that all work would comply with building regulations.

This cannot be done remotely by a salesman in Bathstore or anywhere else!

The work

Once the plans were agreed, tiles and suite items were chosen and a start date was set…..

checking en suite studwork positionning

We started by erecting timber studwork to define the space.

Before we finalised the exact position of the studwork we assembled all of the suite items and checked how they would fit into the space (in addition to the drawn up plan above.)

We always do this with very small en suites to check that shower doors will not clash when opened, basin doors will swing open and not hit the toilet, users can sit on the toilet without banging their knees on the corner of the basin cabinet etc.

If we discover a small problem at this stage we can address it by adjusting the studwork or suite positioning slightly.

checking studwork positioning 2

In this instance, we chose to move the door frame nearer to the edge of the basin to give a bit more room for the radiator on the other side of the door.

Running pipework

1st fix drainage

We had to install drainage pipework under the floorboards to drain the shower & basin to a rainwater hopper outside.

basin & shower waste into rainwater hopper

We also drilled a hole through to the bathroom next door behind the position of the toilet.

1st fix drainage for en suite WC

This would enable us to take the soil pipe around the chimney breast and outside to the existing soil pipe to make a new connection.

New drainage connection for toilet

Above you can see the two drainage pipes that come from the house (the old one on the right serves the house bathroom toilet, and the new one to its left serves our new en suite toilet)

Waste pipework boxed in

The drainage pipe was then neatly boxed in.

PS Please see here for another awkwardly positioned en suite location.

insulating en suite studwork

Walls were insulated once all cables and pipework was installed to reduce sound transmission……

boarding en suite studwork

…..and plasterboarded ready for plastering.

You can see where we’ve left a gap to add a small window to add a little bit of natural light which is important in a room with no windows.

suntube in en suite

An alternative approach here would have been to fit a suntube though this would have cost a lot more money.

Plastered en suite

Walls were plastered and 2nd fix joinery was carried out (fitting doors, skirting, architrave etc).

En suite walls painted

Walls were then painted with emulsion on the bedroom side and an anti mould bathroom paint internally.

Floorboards covered prior to fitting vinyl flooring

The floorboards were covered with plywood and the edges sanded flat prior to…..

Vinyl floor fitted

A sheet vinyl floor being glued down and skirting boards fitted.

Shower area tanked prior to tiling

The shower are was tanked prior to tiling.

En suite shower tiling

Light, white ceramic tiles were chosen to keep the look clean and minimal and to bounce light around the small space.

Corner basin vanity unit

The en suite design featured a small yet functional corner basin vanity unit which would serve to provide some storage for bits and bobs.

Neat pipework in basin vanity

It also hid all of the necessary pipework required for the drainage.

WC & basin fitted with large custom made mirror

The corner WC was fitted as it fitted the available space better than a standard toilet.

A large custom cut mirror was fitted above the toilet, which (combined with three LED spotlights) served to make this small en suite nice and bright, despite not having a source of natural light.

dynamic tolerances

Here you can see that good planning and checking of suite items when originally building studwork, prevented problems that could have be overlooked e.g. the basin doors clashing with the toilet.

En suite with shower

Finally, the enclosure was added….

Electric shower in en suite

….and the electric shower was fitted.

This would ensure that if the homewoner’s boiler broke down she would still have a source of hot water.

We sometimes recommend this approach when adding en suite showers.

Electric towel radiator

The electric towel radiator was also fitted at this time and allows users to hang their towels at arms reach from the shower.

A simple timer operated the radiator in the bedroom.

before & after en suite installation

Here’s the final before & after picture, with the original carpet rolled back & refitted.

PS Adding an en suite needn’t take up masses of space:
This en suite was just 160 x 110cm internally

Timescale

A job like this would normally take approximately 1.5 weeks for me and my team, and in this instance there was a lot more work to do than normal in getting pipework, cabling and ducting to where it needed to be!

Cost

A job like this is likely to cost £5-6K including:

  • Planning / designing the room
  • ALL of the work from start to finish i.e. ALL labour & materials (see below)
  • Project management as standard
  • Waste disposal
  • All necessary completion certificates
  • Building control fees & liaising with building control officers

How we helped this customer (and could maybe help you)

Even when installing a small en suite such as this, many trades(men) are required:

  • Labourers / builders to knock down internal walls & support as necessary
  • Plumber to fit pipework for the new en suite and position / fit suite items as required
  • Tiler to prepare & tile the walls
  • Carpet fitter to refit the bedroom carpet up to the new en suite & fit the vinyl floor in the en suite
  • Plasterer to prepare & skim the walls & ceiling ready to be painted
  • Painter to paint the newly skimmed surfaces
  • Joiner to build the stud-work, hang the door, fit the skirting & architrave etc
  • Electrician to fit the ceiling spotlights, an extractor fan & an electric radiator.

That’s 8 separate trades for one tiny en suite! (though there is always some crossover between the trades)

More importantly though, these trades all need someone (the lynchpin) in charge to plan & pull the whole project together.

Thats exactly what we do – project managed bathroom & en suite installations from start to finish.

Thanks for reading, ask me any questions you may have…..

Chris

What We Do

We install quality bathrooms, en suites and downstairs WC’s from start to finish, with all the bits in between taken care of.

We provide advice and guidance during a free site survey, and we have a blog with lots of articles that cover frequently asked questions and show you examples of our recent work.

We install bathrooms from start to finish, supplying all the necessary trades and project managing the whole process, so you don’t have to!

We work to detailed, itemised estimates with fixed costs, so you can budget properly without fear of unexpected skyrocketing prices.

Our focus is on doing a proper job for a fair price in a reasonable time – see here for more info or contact me for a quote.