What does a replacement bath cost in Hertfordshire?
Our guide range in Hertfordshire is £950–£2,600 including VAT. Prices in Hertfordshire run at about 6% above the UK guide, based on East of 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 Hertfordshire including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in Hertfordshire?
- Watford
- Hemel Hempstead
- Stevenage
- St Albans
- Welwyn Garden City
- Cheshunt
- Hatfield
- Bishops Stortford
- Borehamwood
- Hitchin
- Hoddesdon
- Letchworth Garden City
- North Watford
- Harpenden
- Bushey
- Hertford
- Rickmansworth
- Potters Bar
- Berkhamsted
- Ware
Most of Hertfordshire has very 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 Watford and considering a freestanding bath, the survey includes a check of the floor and joists before you choose.
What the job includes
- Levelling the bath on adjustable feet or a cradle, with timber battens fixed to the walls under the rim
- 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
- Removal of the old bath, including breaking up a cast-iron bath in place where it will not come out whole
- Leak testing at the waste, overflow and taps, taking the old bath away and a final clean
- A survey of the bath opening, the floor, the waste route, the supplies and the tiles around the bath
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.
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.
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.