If you are planning to update your bathroom, the first thing you need to do is to decide what style you like. Once you know that, you will be in a position to start looking at actual bathroom suites and narrowing down your options.

Measure your bathroom

The first step is to measure your bathroom, and draw a plan of it. You can easily do that using graph paper, or if you prefer you can use some home design software to help you to do so. This page will help you to decide which one to buy.

Map out the pipe work

Remember that you may need to hire plumbing experts such as Drainage Services when fitting a new bathroom suite and this will add an extra expense.

As well as marking the dimensions of the room, you should also note down the exact position of your taps, and plugholes. This will tell you where the drainage pipes that you will have to connect to are located.

For the toilet, you should also work out the position of the soil pipe. It is also important to note down the position of any ventilation you have installed, the window, and the door. If you have wall lights you would like to keep in the same place note their position too.

Will it fit?

Using the information you collate will enable you to determine whether any suite you are considering buying will fit. Importantly, you will also be able to determine whether it can all be easily connected to your existing pipe work, and electrics. This is an important consideration, because the cost of moving those can be high, especially if you need a professional to do the work.

If the bathroom in your home has very limited space, be sure to factor this into your plans. It will be important for you to browse through lots of  bathroom suites for small bathrooms to decide which setup will maximise your space.

Your budget

It is very important to set your budget, and stick to it. When setting it bear in mind the fact that you may uncover issues when you start ripping out your new suite.

For this reason, it is wise to include a 10% or so emergency pool in your calculations. That way should a problem crop up you will have some cash available to deal with it. The last thing you need is to have to use a half finished bathroom while you scrape together the cash to finish the job.

Functionality

Of course, looks are important, but functionality is more important. Before making your final decision about which bathroom suite you buy ask yourself if every member of the family will be able to use it both now, and in the future. For example, if you, or another member of the family, are getting elderly it makes sense to choose a shower that can be retrofitted with a fold down seat, if necessary.

Keeping it clean

If you want your bathroom to look its best, you need to be able to keep it clean. Try to think about how easy that will be when choosing your bathroom suite. A glass shower cubicle will need to be cleaned after each use if you want it to carry on looking good. If you, or other members of your family, are not likely to do this, you may be better off opting for a different style of shower.

Following the simple tips above, is the best way to make sure that the bathroom suite you buy fits, and is practical to use.