Geberit Cistern : Ideas For Bathrooms

When planning a bathroom from scratch the location of each fitting needs careful thought, ie. baths need adequate room to get in and out of comfortably as well as room around to towel dry. In addition, ideally, toilets should be sited close to the existing stack pipe if you want to avoid the costly expense of re-routing pipes. Stack pipes are also best sited at the back of the house as they are quite unsightly and they are often not allowed at the front under local planning regulations.

Washbasins need enough room to allow you to comfortably wash in front of as well as allowing elbow room around. For lavatories and bidets there needs to be adequate room to sit down and the bidet needs space to the side and back for legs.

*Wet rooms

Another possibility for a small en-suite is to create a wet room. The room will need to be completely watertight with a draining point for the shower. Before installing check with a surveyor to establish whether the existing floor structure will need to be strengthened. A concrete sub floor provides a stable base for wet room construction. You can also now get a form of waterproof lining for the walls and floor, which is fitted before tiling to achieve a completely watertight surround. Shower fixtures can be positioned in a corner, in the middle of a wall, freestanding or centrally and overhead.

When putting in the shower do take advice from your plumber whether you will need a pump and, if you do, whether it needs to pump the whole bathroom or just the shower. If your bathroom takes hot water from the tank and cold water direct from the main, the pump may not be able to handle the difference in pressure between the two. Wall-hung sinks and toilets will keep the floor area of the wet room clear and also allow surfaces to be cleaned easily.

*Lighting

Good lighting is essential for grooming tasks in the bathroom. Halogen downlighters recessed into the ceiling work well. You may well also need additional task lighting around the mirror for shaving and make up provided by wall lighting with halogen bulbs, which provide the most natural lighting alternative to daylight. Whatever lighting you choose, remember that for safety reasons in the UK, light switches should be outside the bathroom and all light bulbs should be completely enclosed in shades which fit flush against either the walls or ceilings. Pendant light fittings are not suitable.

*Storage

Storage is also very important for bathroom. When you are concealing the cistern and pipework this presents an ideal opportunity to create storage. The basin can be set into a work surface with cupboards underneath. The lavatory cistern, again can be hidden with shelves above it. You must remember to ensure there is still good access to the pipework for maintenance purposes.

Storage is not practical in a small wet-room because of the risk of soaking but in a larger room storage for towels and so on can obviously be fitted in well away from the shower area. Walls

On a practical note walls need to withstand the combination of moisture and heat that results in condensation as well as being sprayed with hot water. As such, ceramic tiles have always been the popular choice as they are waterproof, attractive and durable. You also have the choice of textured hand made tiles, mosaic tiles or even beautiful recycled glass tiles.

Paint is another popular choice. There are now a large choice of paints specifically designed for bathrooms and kitchens available in most DIY stores. There is also a good choice of washable and spongeable wallpapers on the market, which will combine well with wood, tiles or paint. As an alternative to the above sheet materials such as Perspex, shatter proof glass or plastic laminates can be used.

*Floors

The type of floor you use in the bathroom will be very much determined by how wet it is likely to get, in addition to how long you want it to last and how comfortable you want it to be. Any floor covering will need to be non-slip. Again, the obvious choice is tiling, either stone or ceramic, but they can be rather cold and not too friendly to anything that falls on them.

A better alternative to carpet and an eco-friendly floor covering are the natural floorings of seagrass, coir, hemp and jute. Appropriately sealed cork tiles are an excellent choice because they combine comfort with a water repellent surface. Rubber flooring is another possibility which as well as being water repellent feels warm underfoot and comes in some bold colour choices. Vinyl is still a popular choice for bathroom floors and comes in innumerable number of patterns and colours, added to which it is stain resistant, warm and inexpensive.

Carol- Ann at Cherryellie designs home interiors and makes unique home accessories including decorative cushions and throws As well as home accessories Cherryellie also sells limited edition designs of handbags and evening bags with matching silk scarfs through our website at http://www.cherryellie.co.uk. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol-Ann_Meader