What does a replacement bath cost in Cheshire?
Our guide range in Cheshire is £850–£2,400 including VAT. Prices in Cheshire run at about 6% below the UK guide, based on North West 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 Cheshire including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in Cheshire?
- Warrington
- Chester
- Crewe
- Ellesmere Port
- Widnes
- Runcorn
- Macclesfield
- Northwich
- Great Sankey
- Winsford
- Congleton
- Wilmslow
- Sandbach
- Nantwich
Most of Cheshire has moderately hard water. Taps and wastes will need an occasional descale, and chrome or brushed finishes are easier to keep clean than polished brass. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. Survey visits in Warrington cover the bath, the tiles around it and the waste route, so the quote reflects your bathroom rather than a standard job.
What the job includes
- Tile repairs or re-tiling around the bath, and a fixed screen where there is a shower over it
- Levelling the bath on adjustable feet or a cradle, with timber battens fixed to the walls under the rim
- Supply of the new bath, taps or filler, waste and overflow, and bath panel
- Removal of the old bath, including breaking up a cast-iron bath in place where it will not come out whole
- Filling the bath before sealing, so the silicone cures with the bath at its heaviest
- New flexible connectors or pipework, with isolation valves on the hot and cold supplies
Decisions to make first
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.
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.
Taps or filler
Deck taps on the rim are the simplest swap. Wall-mounted taps or a bath filler look cleaner but mean opening the wall, and an overflow filler hides the spout altogether.
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.
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.