Be Excellent To Each Other

To celebrate having the most spare money I've ever had in my life*, I am considering getting a decent shower installed in the bathroom of my mental family. Fortunately I live 100 miles away from them, however this has a downside as it means I can't really do it as a surprise. However, I would like to use a proxy of some kind to arrange it for me, with me paying, but I've not the faintest idea of how to go about it. Do I have to buy a shower and pay someone to install it, or pay them to have a look and quote for parts and installation, or what? My budget is ... um, well, several hundred quid. I could stretch it if necessary, but I've no idea what to expect.





*>£27.50 AND a pot to piss in

Clarification of shower required. Dedicated cubicle kind, or in the bath method?

Buy bits, phone man, say "i have bits, make shower", pay.

You can buy the bits yourself and pay someone to do it. Just make sure they seal it properly. Nothing worse than a shower that leaks a year after install.

Have you considered having gold taps and fittings. Then you could have a golden shower (shut up - Ed).

NB, get quotes from 3 qualified plumbers. Then beat down the prices.

Electric or mixer? Did it have a shower before?

If electric, what size is the main fuse and is there an RCD, and how far is the fusebox from the shower?

In the bath kind. A fairly old bathroom, all told.



Mixer, I think. It has a rather antiquated thing on it, basically a glorified hose attached to the mixer bath tap (mixer = two taps, one ... outlet, right?), which was activated by opening the bath taps, then pulling up a little nobby thing (fnar), which presumably channeled the water into the shower instead. It is about as effective for showering as suspending a slumbering drunkard from your ceiling.

It doesn't HAVE to be electric, mind. As long as it's effective, reasonably strong, and reliable, it'll be an improvement.

Cheers, and cheers. I anticipate a high price as it's on the edge of london, but a bit of haggling can't hurt.

If the source of hot water is a hot tank with immersion heater, then an electric shower may be a sensible choice. Remember that the powerful ones cost quite a lot and require heavier wiring - this can get pretty expensive if the fuse box is far away (and the house may have to be chiseled slightly to get the new cable in).

You'll also need a plumber *and* a sparky, or a tradesman who's qualified to do both. I have installed electric showers before but I'm not about to advise you to, here.

If however you have a gas boiler providing hot water (either a combi or conventional type), then a modern thermostatic mixer will be cheaper and needs no wiring and any plumber can do it (or you can do it yourself).

My parents have two super-powered showers (Canadian water pressure is something you miss) in their house. They're marvellous when they're working (a bit tempermental). The first time you use it, though, you're Kramer with that 'Predator' showerhead.

By the way, Lidl or Aldi had a quite nice continental style shower mixer for like 30 quid or something. That'll do the job although it won't have the fine control of the Mira type.

Many thanks. It seems that stealth will not be an option, so I may just have to call them and let them work out what they need, and have me pay.

My mum had a family friend install her shower cubicle. He used a water-based sealant and laid the underneath supporting beams the wrong way around, and so he had to snake the drain pipe around instead of going in a nice, straight line to wherever it needed to go.

And the worst bit was he was actually qualified as a plumber. My mum's partner and my younger brother ended up ripping the whole thing out and redoing it from scratch.

Ditto with the toilet. Fucking idiot.