What does a replacement bath cost in Berkshire?
Our guide range in Berkshire is £1,000–£2,800 including VAT. Prices in Berkshire run at about 12% above the UK guide, based on South East England labour rates.
Like-for-like bath
- Old bath removed and disposed of
Shower bath
- Bath screen and shower
Freestanding bath
- Floor reinforcement check
Guide prices for Berkshire including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in Berkshire?
Most of Berkshire has hard water. Taps, plug wastes and toilet pans scale up quickly, so chrome copes better than matt black, and a removable aerator is worth having. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. Landlords with properties in Reading can usually have a bath replaced between tenancies in one to two working days.
What the job includes
- Supply of the new bath, taps or filler, waste and overflow, and bath panel
- Tile repairs or re-tiling around the bath, and a fixed screen where there is a shower over it
- Filling the bath before sealing, so the silicone cures with the bath at its heaviest
- A survey of the bath opening, the floor, the waste route, the supplies and the tiles around the bath
- New flexible connectors or pipework, with isolation valves on the hot and cold supplies
- Removal of the old bath, including breaking up a cast-iron bath in place where it will not come out whole
Decisions to make first
Size
Most UK baths are 1700 × 700 mm. Going longer or wider than the old bath means re-tiling and checking that the new one fits up the stairs.
Shower bath
A P-shaped or L-shaped bath is wider at the shower end, giving room to stand and space for a fixed screen instead of a curtain.
Freestanding bath
Acrylic freestanding baths are manageable on most floors; stone resin and cast iron are much heavier when full. You need room to clean round the bath and a plan for where the waste and filler come up.
Acrylic or steel
Acrylic is warm to the touch, light and the usual choice; thicker, reinforced acrylic flexes less. Enamelled steel is rigid and hard-wearing but feels colder, and needs sound-deadening pads to stop it drumming.
Rules that apply in England
Replacing a bath in an existing bathroom does not need planning permission, and a straight swap is not normally building regulations work. New taps or a filler must meet the water fittings rules where you live, including backflow protection. If the new bath is much heavier than the old one, such as a cast-iron or stone resin freestanding bath, the floor needs checking, and strengthening joists is structural work that may need building control approval.
In England, Part G limits the hot water to a new bath to 48 °C at the outlet, usually with a thermostatic mixing valve, but only in a new dwelling or one created by a change of use. It does not apply to a replacement bath in an existing home, though a thermostatic valve is still sensible where children or older people bathe. New wiring for a shower over the bath or new lights is notifiable under Part P.