North Leeds Plumbing & Heating – Home Improvement and DIY Advice

Bathroom radiators are a necessity but now individuals are trying to incorporate this necessary element into the design of their bathroom as a whole. Of course, it stands to reason that manufacturers have cottoned on to this trend and are now producing sleek, design-led bathroom radiators which will assist their customers in creating a contemporary space.

One such company is Aeon. They create designer radiators from stainless steel; therefore you can be assured you are buying quality alongside luxury. In fact, all Aeon radiators come with a twenty year guarantee which means that you are also purchasing piece of mind.

Aeon’s Cat Ladder Polished Steel Towel Rail is one of their most popular designs. While towel rails are often considered a practical element within a bathroom, Aeon has managed to combine this factor with effortless style. As with all of their radiators the entire unit, inclusive of fixtures and fittings, is constructed from stainless steel. There are three available sizes which mean that this bathroom radiator should be suitable for any sized room. This radiator is guaranteed to enhance the aesthetic of your bathroom. It will not take up a lot of room, with a depth of just 34mm.

Aeon Radiators are designed with ease of installation in mind, therefore when you purchase one of their products it will come complete with all of the fixtures and fittings required for connection. They also use the strongest welding technology so you know your product will be as strong as it is stylish.

What bathroom would be complete without the ideal bathroom mirror? Finding that perfect bathroom mirror and then finding the right place to position it can totally change the entire room. Mirrors can be used to reflect light within a room making even the smallest bathroom appear bigger.

The great thing about mirrors is that there is truly a style out there to suit everybody. Of course, if you have remodelled your entire bathroom, you will obviously be looking for a bathroom mirror which will reflect the design of the room. There are also style rules that you should take into account. One example is that your mirror should never be wider than the vanity unit below. However, if you have a double basin, you may wish to consider a mirror which spans the entire wall, creating the ‘wow’ factor by reflecting light around the entire room.

If you are planning to create a modern aesthetic within your bathroom, you may wish to consider a frame-less mirror complete with inset lighting. This will help to create a super-relaxing ambience within the room. It is also important to consider the shape of the mirror – circular and square styles are particularly suited to modern rooms. If you have a white bathroom suite and white tiled walls finished off with a large modern mirror your room will be ultra-chic.

Even if you are not totally remodelling your bathroom, but are just looking to enhance an existing room, you should not underestimate the power of the bathroom mirror.

By the time you reach step four of installing your water underfloor heating system you are almost finished. You will now have the manifold fitted to the wall, the floor insulated, the pipe work snaking neatly across the floor and connected back to the manifold. The next step is checking out the system.

Step four is where you need to check your work. Before the floor is sealed away forever, you need to establish that it really is watertight and the pressure in the pipes is correct. To do this, connect a hosepipe to the system and fill it with water. As with the previous stages, in depth instructions are always available on the Internet and you are advised to follow them closely. If you employed a plumber to fit the pipe work these tests are something he should be doing before he leaves.

Once the system is filled with water you need to check for any sign of leakage. Be very thorough with your checks, because once the concrete screed has be laid it can be very costly to correct any problems. Note the pressure displayed on the gauge and if you are sure there are no leaks monitor it for 24hrs. There may be a slight dip, but if the pressure falls dramatically or plummets to zero, then you do have a leak and you must find and correct it before you go any further with the installation.

Adding a shower pump to a shower that is fed by a gravity feed hot water tank will greatly improve its performance. If you want to fit a mixer shower that works from an ordinary gravity fed system it is essential to consider the rate of flow that you can get from your shower head. In other words you need to know how much water can get through it. You will need 0.5 bar of water pressure to make it work properly and even then if someone turns on the water in another part of the house the water can go scalding hot, or freezing cold because the balance will be lost.

If you turn on your bath taps as far as they will go you will be able to see if the rate of flow is equal between hot and cold water. If one is coming through at a higher pressure the shower will not work as well as it should.

The way to resolve this problem is to fit a shower pump that pushes the water to your shower head at a greater pressure and gives a much better shower. This sounds like a good solution but you will need to have a large hot water storage tank to use a shower pump because it will use up to 25 litres of hot water per minute and a normal sized tank will empty very fast. 

To judge how much hot water you can store in your hot water tank monitor it for a few days and see how full you can get the bath before the hot water runs out. You may need to replace your hot water tank with a larger one before you can fit a shower pump.

If you want to fit a new electric shower always check out the existing cable and never assume that it will be suitable to use for your new installation. You might have to fit a new fuse and a new cable which goes right back to the electricity consumer unit. This is a job for an electrician. If you are not sure what is required it is always good practice to consult a plumber, or an electrician and get their advice.

Another thing to consider is how hard the water in your area is. Limescale builds up quickly inside electric showers and this is usually what finally leads to the need to replace them. Titanium lined showers which will not collect limescale deposits are available and these will give your shower many more years of life.

If you are using a combination boiler and the water is turned on somewhere else in the house the water pressure drops and the remainder becomes scalding hot, then the thermostat in the shower switches off and you freeze. To resolve this you could fit a thermostatic electric shower or even opt for a shower that uses the hot water from your combination boiler.

If you are in any doubt about the best solution for you, the best way to decide is to take a note of your current boiler type, shower type and wiring system and ask an expert to recommend the easiest and most practical way for you to fit a shower that meets your requirements.

The beauty of the Roman shower enclosure range is that you can have an enclosure designed to meet your exact requirements and specifications. With the Roman wet-room and collage options, customers have the opportunity to make their dream bathroom a reality. Roman also has the skills and experience to create a shower enclosure to fit in the most awkward space or the smallest space. The bespoke service requires customers to provide the measurements and Roman will provide the expertise. They actually promise that no space is too small so if you have spent years wishing that your bathroom was big enough for a stylish shower enclosure, you should see what Roman can do for you. It is fair to say that you will pay for the quality and design of this bespoke service, so budget will be an important factor.

However, Roman shower enclosures are not only made to measure as they also have a standard product list with standard specifications. Even if you have a small bathroom you may find one of their standard enclosures would fit in your space. They make the most of small spaces by utilising clever design features such as inward opening doors.

One of the new Roman ranges is the Embrace shower enclosures which can feature pivot or bi-folding doors, wet room panels or shower screens. The panels can be fitted to a shower tray or a wet-room floor. You can even choose between plain or patterned safety glass panels. For the ultimate luxury you can combine the Embrace shower enclosures with the Embrace Digital Thermostatic Valve, which is a ceiling fed shower with a loft stored valve.

There are many style options available when choosing tiles for your bathroom. In fact, bathroom tiles can actually enhance the overall design of your bathroom alongside their obvious practicalities. There are tiles in every colour imaginable and they can really become a focal point in any bathroom, further enhancing the bathroom suite and décor.

However, choosing the tiles is often the easy part. You then have to make the decision as to whether you tile the bathroom yourself or you leave it to the professionals. If you decide to tile it yourself then you will need to make sure that you have the right tools for the job. You will need a tile cutter, tile saw, grout spreader (and grout obviously), spirit level, tile nibblers, adhesive spreader, tile cutting jig and a home-made gauge stick.

Before you or your tile installers begin, you should ensure that the walls are clean and dry. You will also want to ensure that the wall surface is as flat as possible.

How you choose to position your tiles will probably be determined by the size and shape of the bathroom wall. This is quite technical and if you are tiling for the first time you should make sure that you research this process thoroughly first, either by talking to someone knowledgeable about the process or ensuring you have a how-to guide handy.

It is also necessary to purchase extra tiles as there will inevitably be some casualties while you navigate around the bathroom appliances. Tile cutting is never easy!

When installing your own underfloor heating system you need to follow 5 steps. Firstly you need to attach the pre-assembled manifold to the wall, then you must prepare the floor area with insulation; Marmox is an excellent product and lay the fixing rails, in uniform lines, to the base and the wall.

Step three is to lay the actual pipe work and this is where you must consider whether you have the necessary experience to carry out the work yourself. If you have pipe work skills then by all means lay it yourself, but if you have any doubts then you really need to consider employing a plumber, as the pipes need to snake in even rows from one side of the room to the other, with a break in the middle for the thermostat controller. All the bends must have watertight joints, as you certainly do not want to find that the system is leaking once you have laid the floor. You are advised to use one or more insulation clips on all bends. A plumber will weld the joints if he is concerned about leaks and the pipes need to be evenly spaced to ensure that the underfloor heating system runs to its optimum efficiency.

The pipe work should then be connected back to the manifold and finally, using the brackets supplied, fix the pipe work to the fixing rails to add stability.

Whether you’re modifying existing plumbing or running pipework to a new location, fitting a bathroom sink in a bathroom is likely to present few difficulties provided that you give some thought to how you will run the waste to the vertical stack.

When choosing a bathroom sink you will have the choice of wall-hung or a pedestal bathroom sink. They are invariably made from vitreous china, but bathroom sinks that are supported all round by a counter top are also available in pressed steel and plastic.

Be sure to select your basin taps at the time of choosing your bathroom sink, in order to ensure the bathroom sink of your choice has holes at the required spacing in order to receive the basin taps – or no holes at all if the basin taps are to be wall mounted.

When it comes to the pedestal bathroom sink, the hollow pedestal provides support for the basin and also conceals the unsightly supply and waste pipes. The bathroom sink is secured to the wall with screws, but the pedestal supports much of the weight.

With the wall-hung bathroom sink, the older wall-hung basins are supported on large, screw-fixed brackets, but a modern concealed mounting is just as strong provided the wall fixings are secure. Be sure to check that you can screw into the studs of a timber-frame wall or take off the plaster and install a mounting board. If you want to hide the pipes of the wall-hung bathroom sink, consider some form of panelling.

Whether they are traditional or contemporary in design, there is a huge range of basin taps designed to complement the basin unit of any home. With a vast array of basin taps to meet all budgets, take your pick from stylish mixer taps, single lever taps and basin taps in pairs, that offer that finishing touch to any bathroom.

Many basin taps are marvellous to look at and most modern basin taps have many features that allow you to have complete control over the water flow.

Mixer basin taps allow you to mix hot and cold water at your convenience and also allow you to control temperature. Basin taps now even possess automatic features that mean you do not even need to touch the tap, allowing you further convenience, but also with great style.

Most basin taps are made to standard sizes, so fitting your basin taps to a new unit should not prove difficult, however, if you’re replacing taps on an older fitting, be sure to check that your new basin taps cover the access holes correctly. Also remember to check that the spout is long enough to deliver water where you want it to go – there must be enough overhang to wash your hands underneath the basin taps, for instance.

Furthermore, whilst you have the water turned off, fit service valves to the pipes serving the basin taps so that the taps can be serviced in future without having to turn off the water.