What does a loft bathroom cost in the Scottish Borders?
Our guide range in the Scottish Borders is £6,200–£12,500 including VAT. Prices in the Scottish Borders run at about 4% below the UK guide, based on Scotland labour rates.
Refit
- Shower, basin and WC replaced
Signature
- Pump or macerator where needed
New loft bathroom
- Formed in an existing loft room
Guide prices for Scottish Borders including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in the Scottish Borders?
Supplies across most of the Scottish Borders are soft. If that holds for your street in Hawick, limescale on shower glass and heads builds up slowly and a squeegee after use is usually enough. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. If your Hawick home has a gravity-drained WC on another floor, a macerator in the loft may open up more layout options.
What the job includes
- A survey of the headroom across the room, with the usable height marked at each fitting position
- A shower pump on a gravity system, an electric shower, or advice on moving to mains pressure, depending on your system
- A check of the floor joists where a bath or large shower tray will sit
- Fitted furniture made to the eaves, so the low space behind the slope becomes storage
- A check of your hot-water system and of the pressure and flow you actually get at loft level
- An extractor fan ducted through the roof or a gable wall, with the duct insulated through cold spaces
Decisions to make first
Eaves storage
Low cupboards built into the slope behind the WC or basin take clutter out of the room and hide the pipework.
Roof window
A roof window over the bath or shower brings daylight and fresh air, but plan the blind for privacy and expect condensation on cold glass.
Gravity or pumped waste
Gravity is silent and maintenance-free. A pumped waste or macerator lets fittings sit away from the stack, provided the house has a WC on gravity drainage elsewhere.
Getting the water pressure
A pumped shower suits a gravity system with a cold tank; an electric shower heats cold mains water at the point of use; a combi or unvented cylinder gives mains pressure throughout.
Rules that apply in Scotland
A bathroom inside an existing loft room does not usually need planning permission, but forming one is normally building-regulations work because of the new drainage, extract ventilation and electrics. A macerator or pumped WC is acceptable only where the home also has a WC on gravity drainage. Under the water fittings rules, a shower pump must never be connected directly to the mains supply.
In Scotland, forming a new bathroom in the loft or altering the drainage may need a building warrant. The Technical Handbook uses 15 litres per second extract for a bathroom, and water fittings are covered by the Scottish Water Byelaws 2014.