Bathroom plumbing in West Sussex

What does bathroom plumbing work cost in West Sussex?

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

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

Which towns do we cover in West Sussex?

• Crawley
• Worthing
• Bognor Regis
• Littlehampton
• Horsham
• Haywards Heath
• Chichester
• Burgess Hill
• East Grinstead
• Shoreham-by-Sea
• Emsworth
• Lancing

Most of West Sussex 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. In Crawley flats, any change to the WC or wastes is planned with the lease and the flat below in mind.

What the job includes

• The WC connected to the soil stack, or a new branch where the WC is moving
• Isolation valves on every fitting, so taps, cisterns and valves can be serviced without draining the system
• Draining down and isolating supplies, with the rest of the house back on water as soon as possible
• Shower pumps on gravity systems, and macerators or pumped wastes where gravity drainage cannot reach
• New hot and cold pipework in copper or plastic, properly clipped, and insulated where it runs through cold spaces
• Basin, bath and shower wastes sized and laid to a steady fall, with traps that hold their water seal

Decisions to make first

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.

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.

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.

Pipe routes

Drilling through the middle of joists, rather than notching the tops, keeps the floor strong. Routes are planned with the joist direction in mind.

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.