Should I fit my own new bathroom suite?

[nobfelt2]

Hi! I am tempted to have a go at replacing my bathroom suite but I have no plumbing experience. Has anyone replaced his or her own bathroom? Is it easy to do? Do you have any practical tips? Should I get a plumber?

The piping is currently copper but i'd like to connect Hep2o piping to it, it this ok to do?

Many thanks

[Scarlett]

This is just my opinion, but I would get a plumber to do it. Bathrooms and kitchens really do sell houses, and it is important to have a good finish. If you are only replacing the suite it is obviously easier than if you are doing tiles and floors etc, but even doing edging has to be done well or it can make the whole room look tatty.

Why not offer a local plumber your services- ask them what it would cost to do the job if you were helping him. That way he could train you up, and you could help him , and he might give you a discount... just an idea?!

[Lore]

I think I'd end up with something that looks like it belonged in the Dali exhibition if I tried this!

I'd go with Scarlett's suggestion.  You could end up with a bigger price tag if it doesn't go as planned!

[curiosity]

It seemed so easy that we were considering doing this, especially the sink & bath. The fact that we only had one toilet put us off, cos really it needed a quick old one out, new one in job, so we paid for a plumber and it was done in a day. Especially if, like ours some of the connections (from traditional to modern) need extra bits. He put the new piping in, we reduced the price by chasing out some of the walls, and generally preparing, Anyway good Luck.

[Jules001]

my brother is a plumber and he gets loads of work through people attempting to fit their own, they then run into problems and it takes my brother longer to put right so costing more by him having to spend longer on the job. It may look easy when they do it, but that is because they train and do this work day in and day out. What do you do for a living and would it be as easy for someone with no training to come in and do your job perfectly with no faults? You need to think about the implications of this going wrong, water damage is both costly and unsightly.

[nobfelt2]

Thanks guys, your advice seems sensible.  I'd hate to start then make a complete mess of things then to have to get  plumber in to fix my mistakes.

Cheers!

[Louisebabe]

Hi, my hubby is on his 3rd year at college to become a Plumber. He says fitting in a new bathroom suite is straightforward, as long as you know what you are doing......make sense really! If for some reason the bathroom is not an exact fit, thats when you will face problems. My hubby had to fit a bathroom in this year as part of his exam-somebody on the same course, been doing it as long as my hubby, failed on this task-so if someone can fail while doing plumbing at college, i definately wouldny attempt it if i were you. Get a plumber in to be on the safe side.....

[daveyf]

I fit bathrooms and have seen loads of (expensive)bodged jobs making the house worth less. dont let that put you off tho if your good with your hands and have a diy manual youll get by on a straight refit, the most important thing for you to do is to put isolator valves on the end of the old pipework. If anything does go wrong with your new pipewrk you can turn them off.

you may save half a days payment by stripping out but youll have to drain down and isolate.

if you get a different person to do each stage youll end up paying twice as much in the end + youll be for ever chasing trades + nobody will take responsibility for the finish.

hope this helps ya dave