Quality Workmanship
Built to last, not just to look finished on handover day.
Bathroom renovation • London
Bathroom Renovation in London
Design, waterproofing, structural work and installation — a bathroom renovation is small in floor area but unforgiving in detail, managed as one project by a single team from first visit to a fully tested, finished bathroom.
- Skilled tradespeople in every discipline
- Meticulous attention to detail
- Quality workmanship, built to last
- Renovation expertise across London
Get Your Free Quote
Tell us what needs doing and we'll come back with a written, itemised quote — no obligation to proceed. Prefer to talk it through in person? We're happy to arrange a free site visit.
A bathroom is the smallest room in most houses and the one where getting something wrong is the most expensive to fix. Waterproofing sits behind tiles, plumbing sits behind walls and under floors — a mistake here doesn't show up as a cosmetic flaw, it shows up as water damage to the room below, sometimes weeks or months after the job's been signed off.
01
Bathroom Design & Layout
Space is the defining constraint on almost every London bathroom renovation — most rooms are small, and every decision (shower over bath versus a separate shower enclosure, where the WC sits relative to the existing soil pipe, whether there's room for storage) trades off against every other one. Moving a WC more than a short distance from the existing soil stack usually means a fall too shallow to work properly, which is why layout gets decided against the existing pipework, not independently of it.
Worth knowing: The single most common design mistake is choosing fixtures before confirming they'll actually fit with clearance to use them properly — a bath that fits the room on a floor plan but leaves no space to dry off standing next to it.
02
Waterproofing & Tanking
This is the phase that determines whether a bathroom lasts fifteen years or starts causing problems within two, and it's completely invisible once tiling goes on. Proper tanking — a waterproof membrane applied to floors and walls in wet areas, not just "the tiler being careful with grout" — is what actually stops water getting into the structure behind the tiles.
Worth knowing: The areas most commonly under-waterproofed are the ones that don't look obviously wet — around a freestanding bath's feet, behind a WC cistern, at floor-to-wall junctions — because attention naturally focuses on the shower enclosure and everything else gets less care than it needs.
03
What's Behind the Walls
Plumbing and electrics get finalised before any tiling starts: supply and waste pipes for the new layout, extractor fan wiring (a legal requirement in a room with no openable window), and any additional circuits for underfloor heating or heated towel rails. Getting this stage wrong means chasing into finished tiling later, which is a much worse job than doing it right the first time.
Worth knowing: Bathroom extractor fans are frequently wired but not properly ducted to the outside — running to a loft void instead of through the roof or wall, which moves the damp problem rather than solving it.
04
Structural Work, If Needed
Converting a bath to a wet room, or reconfiguring a small en-suite, sometimes means building up a floor to create a fall towards a drain, or altering joists to accommodate new pipework. This isn't needed for every bathroom renovation, but where it is, it needs to happen before waterproofing, not discovered as a problem after tiling's begun.
Worth knowing: Wet rooms need considerably more structural planning than they appear to from photos — the floor build-up for drainage falls is usually the single most underestimated part of a wet room conversion quote.
05
Installation: Suite, Tiling & Fixtures
With waterproofing cured and plumbing roughed in, the visible work begins: the bath, shower enclosure or WC goes in, followed by tiling, cut and fitted around every pipe, socket and fixture point rather than tiled first and cut around later.
Worth knowing: Tile lead times catch people out more often in bathrooms than almost any other room — a specific tile out of stock can hold up an entire project, worth confirming availability before, not after, the schedule is fixed.
06
Second Fix & Finishing
Taps, shower fittings, the extractor fan, heated towel rail, mirror and lighting all get connected and tested, followed by sealant around every wet-area junction — the detail most likely to be rushed and the one most likely to fail first if it is.
Worth knowing: A bathroom that looks finished and a bathroom that's actually finished aren't the same thing — every fixture should be run and checked for leaks before anyone calls the job complete, not assumed fine because it looks fine.
Suite & finish
Bathroom Suite & Finish Choices
As with kitchens, the finish decisions are practical trade-offs dressed up as aesthetic ones — worth understanding before a suite is ordered rather than after.
Freestanding bath
Freestanding baths read as a statement piece and suit larger bathrooms where there's floor space on all sides to actually appreciate the shape — but they're harder to make properly waterproof where the bath meets the floor, precisely because there's no surrounding panel hiding an upstand or seal.
Built-in bath
A built-in bath, panelled into an alcove or against a wall, is more forgiving on waterproofing and generally the better choice for a smaller or more heavily used family bathroom, even if it reads as less of a design statement.
Walk-in shower
A walk-in shower — level access, minimal or no glass barrier — reads as more spacious and contemporary, and suits a wet-room-style setup particularly well. The trade-off is containment: with less glass holding water back, the room's overall waterproofing and ventilation need to be genuinely excellent, not just adequate around a smaller enclosed footprint.
Shower cubicle
An enclosed cubicle, with hinged or sliding doors on three or four sides, contains water far more effectively — the practical choice for a busy family bathroom, or where waterproofing the whole room to wet-room standard isn't necessary or affordable. The trade-off is a more visually boxed-in feel, and door tracks and seals that need cleaning to stay looking good.
Tile format matters more than most people expect before choosing one. Large-format tiles (600mm and above) mean fewer grout lines, which reads as cleaner and reduces the amount of grout that can eventually fail — but they need a very true, level substrate to lay well, adding cost if the existing floor or walls aren't flat enough. Smaller format or mosaic tiles are more forgiving of an imperfect substrate and give more grip underfoot in a wet room, at the cost of considerably more grout to maintain over time.
London Areas We Cover
End-to-End London Home Renovation Coverage
The areas below are examples, not a complete list. Kay Home Renovation takes on projects right across Greater London, whatever your postcode — if you don't see your area named, get in touch anyway; it's very likely still covered. Whether it's a single room that needs freshening up or a full interior-exterior renovation from start to finish, the same team sees it through, from the first survey to the final handover.
East London
- Ilford
- Redbridge
- Barking
- Romford
- Wanstead
- Woodford Green
- Chigwell
North London
- Islington
- Enfield
- Barnet
- Haringey
- Tottenham
- Muswell Hill
- Finchley
South London
- Croydon
- Bromley
- Lewisham
- Greenwich
- Wandsworth
- Clapham
- Dulwich
West London
- Ealing
- Hounslow
- Hammersmith
- Richmond
- Uxbridge
- Chiswick
- Acton
Central London
- Westminster
- City of London
- Southwark
- Kensington & Chelsea
- Camden
- Marylebone
- Holborn
These are examples from each region, not an exhaustive list — Kay Home Renovation covers the whole of Greater London.
Why Kay Home Renovation
Skill & Quality
Attention to Detail
Real care taken over the quality of the finish, not just the speed of getting it done.
Reliable Timelines
Projects completed to the schedule agreed at the outset, not an optimistic one designed to win the job.
Fair Pricing
Written, itemised quotes with no inflated figures and no unwelcome surprises once work begins.
Consistent Standards
The same standard of finish across every trade, not just the ones on show.
Snag-Free Handover
Nothing signed off until it's actually right, not just close enough.
Frequently asked
Questions Before You Get In Touch
How much does a bathroom renovation cost in London?
Cost depends heavily on scope — a like-for-like refit sits at a very different price point to a full reconfiguration or wet room conversion. A written, itemised quote follows a free visit, with no obligation to proceed.
Do I need planning permission to move my bathroom or add an en-suite?
Usually not for work within the existing structure of a house, though converting a bedroom to include an en-suite may involve building regulations for drainage, ventilation and electrics regardless of planning permission. This gets confirmed during the free visit.
How long does a bathroom renovation take?
A straightforward refit typically runs one to two weeks. A full reconfiguration or wet room conversion, including structural floor work, more realistically takes three to five weeks.
What's the difference between a wet room and a standard bathroom with a shower?
A wet room has the whole floor waterproofed and gently sloped to a drain, with no shower tray or enclosure step — the entire room is designed to get wet. It needs more structural planning than a standard shower enclosure but suits smaller spaces and step-free access particularly well.
Can I add underfloor heating to my bathroom renovation?
Yes, and it's one of the more commonly requested upgrades — electric underfloor heating is straightforward to add during a renovation since the floor's already being lifted for waterproofing and tiling. It needs to be planned before tiling starts, not added afterward.
What are my options for a small bathroom or en-suite?
Space-saving fixtures — corner baths, shorter-projection WCs, wall-hung basins that free up floor space — and a wet room approach without a shower tray lip both help a small room feel and function larger. Large-format tiles and a single wall colour also make a small bathroom read bigger than heavily patterned or segmented finishes would.
Get a free quote
Request Your Free Quote
Fill in a few details and we'll come back with a written, itemised quote — no obligation to proceed. Prefer to talk it through in person? We're happy to arrange a free site visit.
- Phone
- 07735 939986
- 07735 939986
- enquiry@kayhomerenovation.co.uk
- Based in
- 58 Peregrine Road, Hainault, Ilford, IG6 3SZ
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00, Sat 09:00–14:00