Bathroom plumbing in Kent

What does bathroom plumbing work cost in Kent?

Our guide range in Kent is £650–£4,500 including VAT. Prices in Kent run at about 12% above the UK guide, based on South East England labour rates.

Guide prices for Kent including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.

Which towns do we cover in Kent?

• Maidstone
• Gillingham
• Chatham
• Tunbridge Wells
• Folkestone
• Margate
• Ashford
• Canterbury
• Sittingbourne
• Gravesend
• Dartford
• Ramsgate
• Dover
• Tonbridge
• Strood
• Whitstable
• Deal
• Sevenoaks
• Rochester
• Herne Bay
• Broadstairs
• Faversham
• Swanley
• Longfield
• Hartley
• Swanscombe

Water across much of Kent is very hard. 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. For Maidstone homes on a combi boiler, we measure the flow rate at the bathroom before you choose a shower valve.

What the job includes

• Basin, bath and shower wastes sized and laid to a steady fall, with traps that hold their water seal
• A pressure test of new pipework before walls are closed in and floors go down
• New hot and cold pipework in copper or plastic, properly clipped, and insulated where it runs through cold spaces
• Isolation valves on every fitting, so taps, cisterns and valves can be serviced without draining the system
• A check of your hot water system, and the pressure and flow rate at the bathroom
• Draining down and isolating supplies, with the rest of the house back on water as soon as possible

Decisions to make first

Gravity or pumped waste

Gravity drainage is always the first choice. A shower waste pump or macerator solves a run that cannot fall, but adds noise, a power supply and servicing.

Shower supply

Combi boilers and unvented cylinders give mains pressure. A gravity system with a cold tank may need a pump, but a pump must never be connected to the mains.

Copper or plastic

Copper is rigid and suits pipes on show or near the boiler. Plastic is quicker under floors and inside walls, and long runs need fewer joints.

Hard water

In hard water areas, a scale reducer or water softener protects valves, shower heads and glass. Keep an unsoftened tap in the kitchen for drinking.

Rules that apply in England

New WCs, taps, showers and valves must meet the water fittings rules where you live: a maximum 6-litre flush for new WCs, backflow protection, and no pump connected directly to the mains supply, because shower pumps are only for gravity systems with a cold tank. Unvented hot-water cylinders must be installed by a G3-qualified installer, and any work on a gas boiler by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

In England, the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 apply. New drainage or a new connection to the soil stack can be building regulations work under Part H, and a macerator or pumped WC is acceptable only where there is also a WC on gravity drainage elsewhere in the home.