My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs
£189-00 to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand
basin and toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

TIA

Dave

Dave wrote:

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

Hard to say for sinks and WCs other than not too "designer". For baths,
the low end is usually thin and flexible, and not very deep.


--
Cheers,

John.

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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Dave" wrote in message
...
My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs £189-00
to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand basin and
toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

TIA

Dave

When you say "Focus Bay suite" do you mean an own brand from Focus? If so,
beware of buying cheapo own brand suites from DIY places. It's the loos you
most likely will have a problem with as the cheap unbranded ones tend not to
flush very well.

Our predecessors in our house had installed a cheap toilet downstairs and it
never flushed properly once.

Go for a decent British brand like Armitage, Shires, Twyford etc. They're
often not as much more as you'd think.

In article ,
Dave writes:
My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs
£189-00 to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand
basin and toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

For a bath, I would suggest actually getting in to one in the
shop. The shapes vary, and it would be annoying to fit one,
and then find you don't fit in it or it's uncomfortable for
some reason. For example, I found some where the sloped end
was too steep, and if you wanted to soak in the bath for an
hour (as I sometimes do), you'd end up with a cricked neck.

I went for a Kawaldi steel bath, which I found in a sale for
under £100. Used a bog-standard B&Q Bog which works very
well, although the seat that was for use with it was useless
(I'm not heavy, and sitting on the closed lid bent the thing),
so I took that back and bought a nice solid beech one in a sale.
I wanted to get a slightly more specialist basin, as space
is short in the room. So I went for an Ideal Standard short
projection basin to recess into home made wall units, which
has pretty much a full sized bowl, but has the tap offset to
the side so the bowl can go right back to the wall. IIRC,
the basin was around £80 from a plumber's merchant, and
had to be ordered for next day delivery.

So for something like £240 (excluding taps), I got a
simple but quality bathroom suite taylored to my requirements,
albeit each item from a different manufacturer and supplier.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Dave" wrote in message
...
My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs £189-00
to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand basin and
toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

TIA

Dave

Just fitted one of those - it does include two sets of taps (cheap and nasty
ones).

The toilet and sink are absolutely fine. If you don't like the design then
fair enough, but they are definitely not 5 times worst than a designer set.
The bath is on the shallow side. I may be wrong here, but it seem to be
made of thicker material than the similar one that I bought from them a
couple of years ago. In general the bath is also absolutely fine.

Owain wrote:
Dave wrote:

My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs
£189-00 to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand
basin and toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.


The main decision you have to make is do you want a plastic or a steel
bath? I think cheap plastic baths feel a lot flimsier than steel ones.

I am of the same opinion :-)
Plus a plastic one will not be as durable. Our current bath is pressed
steel, but we are getting conflicting advice on plastic v steel.

Dave

John Rumm wrote:

Dave wrote:

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better
what the more expensive/better items will be like.


Hard to say for sinks and WCs other than not too "designer". For baths,
the low end is usually thin and flexible, and not very deep.

Thanks for that. The wash hand basin and the loo look like being from
the Frontline company, as we both like a particular design. We will need
two of each of these.

As for the bath, we have out eye on one from Jewsons, if we can both
agree. It is plastic, but I still have reservations about it v a steel one.

Dave

RedOnRed wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...

My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like? i.e. How good is a Focus 'Bay' suite? It costs £189-00
to take away. It consists of plastic bath, porcelain wash hand basin and
toilet with close coupled tank. No taps or other fittings.

If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

TIA

Dave


When you say "Focus Bay suite" do you mean an own brand from Focus? If so,
beware of buying cheapo own brand suites from DIY places.

We have no intention of purchasing from Focus. My post was just to get a
feel for the quality of these items, so as to judge the rest.

Thanks.

Dave

Andrew Gabriel wrote:


For a bath, I would suggest actually getting in to one in the
shop. The shapes vary, and it would be annoying to fit one,
and then find you don't fit in it or it's uncomfortable for
some reason.

Yes, I have noticed that and ruled out several baths, to my wife's
disgust, for those same reasons.

For example, I found some where the sloped end
was too steep, and if you wanted to soak in the bath for an
hour (as I sometimes do), you'd end up with a cricked neck.

Like you, I do enjoy a good soak. I sometimes fall asleep in the bath.
Left foot covering the overflow, water up to the chin and right foot
crossed over left knee, to maintain a geometric lock :-)

I went for a Kawaldi steel bath, which I found in a sale for
under £100.

I think you have talked me into a steel bath, but do you think you can
convert my opinionated wife at the same time ;-)

Used a bog-standard B&Q Bog which works very well

We didn't find anything that we liked.

although the seat that was for use with it was useless

IKWYM :-)

Many thanks for your input

Dave

JoeJoe wrote:


Just fitted one of those - it does include two sets of taps (cheap and nasty
ones).

I didn't spot that, but wife has already decided on the style of taps
and they are coming from our local builders merchant. What's more, I
like them as well. (normally, we disagree about virtually anything. If
you were to see us out you would wonder why we were still married.) :-)

The toilet and sink are absolutely fine. If you don't like the design then
fair enough, but they are definitely not 5 times worst than a designer set.

That is reassuring, even though we are not buying one.

The bath is on the shallow side.

Now that is something to look into. Our various trips around the bath
sellers have shown up several baths where my wife has said, with
enthusiasm 'look how deep that one is'. My thoughts have been 'how much
bloody hot water will it take to fill it?)

Many thanks for you input

Dave

RedOnRed wrote:

Go for a decent British brand like Armitage, Shires, Twyford etc. They're
often not as much more as you'd think.


Regretfully I've never had one of those brands which worked properly.
The cheap and nasty Texas Homecare ones however, did! Many of the Focus
etc ceramic ware products are very good value and function well.
However, if you look carefully, some of them (Spanish) have very poor
glazing. Price is not too good an indicator for ceramic ware, but baths
are nearer to "you get what you pay for".

Regards
Capitol

In article ,
Dave writes:

I think you have talked me into a steel bath, but do you think you can
convert my opinionated wife at the same time ;-)

One comment I would make is that a steel bath can be more slippery
than a plastic one. If it's also your shower, this could increase
the risk of slipping.

Used a bog-standard B&Q Bog which works very well

We didn't find anything that we liked.

I recall being surprised to find it was a Dalton one when I got
home, suspecting it would be a no-name. Although only a 6l flush
and close coupled, I must say it always clears the pan perfectly.
B&Q may have changed models of course.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Dave wrote:

As for the bath, we have out eye on one from Jewsons, if we can both
agree. It is plastic, but I still have reservations about it v a steel one.

If they have an option for a thicker one (say 8mm) then they are
actually quite ridgid once installed.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I recall being surprised to find it was a Dalton one when I got
home, suspecting it would be a no-name. Although only a 6l flush
and close coupled, I must say it always clears the pan perfectly.
B&Q may have changed models of course.

The B&Q bog I used in the loft actually works very well from a flush
point of view.

However, there were two design flaws which I note:

One is the lack of fixings for the cistern - you could screw the pan to
the floor but not the cistern to the wall leaving the default assembly a
tad wobbly (fixed that with a liberal application of silicone so as to
glue it to the tiles!).

The second is more an operational issue - the water trap is sited more
to the front than on many pans, with there being more of a slope to the
rear face of the pan interior. So we are talking skidmark city here
unless one remembers a strategic placing of a couple of sheets of loo
roll on the landing zone!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Dave wrote:

I didn't spot that, but wife has already decided on the style of taps
and they are coming from our local builders merchant. What's more, I

Have a look at some of the BES ones... used some on a bathroom for
SWMBO's aunt recently, and was pleasently supprised at the price and
quality (saw the same ones in a posh online tap supply place for three
times the price!)

like them as well. (normally, we disagree about virtually anything. If
you were to see us out you would wonder why we were still married.) :-)

Seen this?

http://www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com/

Now that is something to look into. Our various trips around the bath
sellers have shown up several baths where my wife has said, with
enthusiasm 'look how deep that one is'. My thoughts have been 'how much
bloody hot water will it take to fill it?)

Nothing worse than sitting there with cold bits sticking out of the
water though ;-)

(I found with the one in our place the bath itself was deep enough but
the overflow was sited so far down the side it halved the apparent
depth. Havine also discovered that it could in fact only cope with a
tenth of the delivery rate of the taps its usefulness was drawn into
question! Some pipe repair type epoxy putty was duly applied to back of
it and it caused little further problem!)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
John Rumm writes:
The B&Q bog I used in the loft actually works very well from a flush
point of view.

However, there were two design flaws which I note:

One is the lack of fixings for the cistern - you could screw the pan to
the floor but not the cistern to the wall leaving the default assembly a
tad wobbly (fixed that with a liberal application of silicone so as to
glue it to the tiles!).

The second is more an operational issue - the water trap is sited more
to the front than on many pans, with there being more of a slope to the
rear face of the pan interior. So we are talking skidmark city here
unless one remembers a strategic placing of a couple of sheets of loo
roll on the landing zone!

Mine was a different model -- it doesn't have either of these issues.

--
--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Mine was a different model -- it doesn't have either of these issues.

I think my one was in the "Barcelona" range...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

My wife and I are doing the rounds viewing baths, wash hand basins and
toilet pedestals. Now I know you get what you pay for, but what is the
bottom line like?

I'd always go for a steel bath at the budget end. They are much more
substantial and easier to fit. Last time I went for the Kaldewei (less than
100 quid) and it was excellent.

I've never had trouble with cheap end sanitaryware. I've just bought a
cloakroom set from Homebase. 143 quid, including genuine chrome waste and
good quality single lever monobloc tap. It all looks just fine.

Christian.

In article , Dave
wrote:


If I know what this bottom line means, I can understand much better what
the more expensive/better items will be like.

The better seats shouldn't give you a bottom line.


--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk