Quick bathroom refresh - is it quicker to retile or retile & replace bath/sink/toilet

Posted 29th Jan 2023

House with one bathroom

The toilet, sink, bath are blue in colour

Tiles are dated

We are looking to sell soon

We would probably get a workman in to do this.

My wife says retile only is quicker.

I thought that if the toilet, bath and sink are replaced (like for like, but different colour), the workman would not need to spend extra time having to cut and fit tiles around the toilet, sink bath, so ultimately there would not be a big time difference.

Does anyone have experience of this?

How long should it take to do this?
(Retile one wall above the bath and half a wall where the sink and toilet are?

Also, if we get a workman in, what price would seem reasonable for labour?

Thanks for your help and advice.

Post

Share with WhatsApp

Share with Messenger

Garden & Do It Yourself Ask DIY Plumbing & Fittings

New Comment

15 Comments

sorted by

29th Jan
I'd say clean it up, make sure grouting is clean, maybe replace silicon but not bother with tiles - many people will want to redo bathrooms and kitchens anyway so its a lost cost.
Just make it look clean and fresh.

obviously I've not seen your bathroom, o dont know how dated it looks. but thats my opinion (other opinions are available)
29th Jan
Would agree with this but would add, get a couple of tradesmen around to quote for a full refurb - that way, if a potential buyer asks for a discount to account for the tired bathroom, you have a fairly accurate figure on what it costs and can discount accordingly - assuming you haven't already factored this into your asking price.
29th Jan
if the bath suites are old, then it will be better value to replace the whole bathroom. new tiles and old suites won't really do an awful lot to the added value factor on selling a property as the buyer would still factor in that they will need to put in a new bathroom and will factor this into the offer price. (edited)
29th Jan
What matters is how much you sell for. Get several estate agents round, tell them in advance you are looking to sell soon and want advice on how to present the house to achieve the best price. Ask them what impact the refurbs you are considering will have on selling price, given their local knowledge of house values and conditions. We did exactly this. They can also tell you the condition of houses in your price bracket and whether a blue bathroom suite will actually dent your asking price or speed of sale. Good luck.
29th Jan
One option is the pvc bathroom panels. It would refresh and should be less labour as they don't need to cut tiles here and there, Basically just strips from roof to floor (or upto the bath line) It won't be as labour intensive if they want to rip it out either once sold.

Last house purchase we did, they where refurbishing one of the bathrooms with it ready for sale as the bathroom was outdated and we just figured we would be ripping it out anyway so wasn't concerned. We've ended up leaving it though as it's been fine and had given it quite a clean look. They did the whole bathroom with it though. Infact it's one of the only rooms we haven't done anything too. (edited)
29th Jan
they are quite expensive and don't look as nice as tiles. i put one board up in my bathroom on the shower area and it didn't look new for long.
29th Jan
What are the plug holes, taps, plugs, shower & head, toilet handle & hinges like?

All sparkly clean? If not then replace them as a must, whichever way you go. (edited)
29th Jan
I wouldn’t waste the time and money on it. The buyer will probably have their own ideas of what they want. As long as it’s clean and functional just sell it as it is. You never know, the buyer might like it.
30th Jan
Of course the buyer will have their own ideas but in most places this is not a sellers market. £500 spent on the bathroom can be make or break. (Bodge it and sell it as some people say)
29th Jan
I suspect people need to know specifics. Not all bathrooms are equal.
29th Jan
You can re-tile over tiles. A glue like liquid with grit in is painted over the old tiles and there you have a flat surface ready to tile.
29th Jan
We bought a bungalow and intended to do a full refurbishment of bathrooms and kitchen. However, we decided to move about a year later before starting any work. The estate agent said it wasn’t an issue and not to bother getting them changed and property sold within a couple of weeks
Author
16th Apr
Ended up getting the bathroom redone.

£2,500 for installation labour costs.

Approx £900 for new bath, sink, toilet, wall and floor tiles

House sold within a week of going on the market for a price which will recover the cost of the bathroom fitting.