What does a replacement bath cost in Dorset?
Our guide range in Dorset is £900–£2,600 including VAT.
Like-for-like bath
- New acrylic or steel bath, panel and taps
Shower bath
- Re-tiling to the bath area
Freestanding bath
- Freestanding acrylic or stone resin
Guide prices for Dorset including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in Dorset?
Most of Dorset 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. If you are in Bournemouth and considering a freestanding bath, the survey includes a check of the floor and joists before you choose.
What the job includes
- 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
- A survey of the bath opening, the floor, the waste route, the supplies and the tiles around the bath
- Filling the bath before sealing, so the silicone cures with the bath at its heaviest
- 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
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.
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.
Bath panel
Acrylic panels are cheap and easy to clean; wood-effect panels match fitted furniture; a tiled panel on a frame looks built-in but needs an access hatch for the waste.
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.