What does a replacement bath cost in the Lothians?
Our guide range in the Lothians is £850–£2,400 including VAT. Prices in the Lothians run at about 4% below the UK guide, based on Scotland labour rates.
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 The Lothians including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in the Lothians?
Most of the Lothians is supplied with soft water. In soft water, taps, wastes and toilet pans scale up slowly, so brushed and matt finishes are a safe choice. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. Before a new bath is ordered for a Livingston home, we measure the stairs and landing as well as the opening.
What the job includes
- Tile repairs or re-tiling around the bath, and a fixed screen where there is a shower over it
- Leak testing at the waste, overflow and taps, taking the old bath away and a final clean
- New flexible connectors or pipework, with isolation valves on the hot and cold supplies
- 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
- Filling the bath before sealing, so the silicone cures with the bath at its heaviest
Decisions to make first
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.
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.
Rules that apply in Scotland
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 Scotland, the Scottish Water Byelaws 2014 cover new taps, fillers and backflow protection. A replacement bath does not normally need a building warrant, but structural work to the floor for a heavy bath may.