Case Study:
New Bathroom in Hitchin
We recently completed the installation of a new bathroom in Hitchin. We are very proud of the end result and would love you to see it too!
New Bathroom In Hitchin
Nobody wants to see your plumbing!
Although we are plumbers, we appreciate that not many people are likely to get very excited about plumbing per se. Unless you happen to be a plumber, you are not going to walk into your own or someone else’s house and say how lovely their plumbing looks.
We know that the soldering of the Yorkshire joint, or the positioning of that compression joint is less than inspiring and this is why we always do our level best to hide the plumbing from view.
Plumbing: The bane of every painter and decorator
When your property needs a good spruce up, the one thing that puts dread into a painter and decorator is pipe work and plumbing. They know they can’t paint over compression joints, as these may require tightening up from time to time and should they be caked in paint, this prevents this from happening.
Soldered joints may also have those tell tale teardrops of solder that oozed out and wasn’t cleaned off by the plumber who installed them, making the decorator’s job harder still to achieve a good finish.
Actually, we will be the first to say that plumbing in general looks pretty unsightly, and we ensure we clean off all surplus solder and ensure we do a clean and tidy job. In essence, plumbing is a functional necessity for any property, ensuring the water gets to where it needs to, without leaking or backing up with blockages, it just isn’t very nice to look at!
Creative plumbing solutions from Vantage
With the acknowledgement that plumbing is not the most inspiring thing within your overall decor, we do our very best to come up with innovative ideas to hide any unsightly plumbing and pipe work from view. We determine where the runs of pipe work need to go, what types of joins they need and where they need to be and then think of clever ways to hide it all from view.
Not only does hiding plumbing look neater, it is one less thing that will need painting. Pipe work is generally situated very close to skirting boards and walls, making it really difficult to paint properly. This often results in paint runs, or uneven paint finished, ruining the look of an otherwise lovely room. Boxing in plumbing and pipe work is a fantastic way of disguising the fact that it’s there at all. In fact, the boxing around pipe work can then often be utilised for the display of ornaments, plants, or maybe even used as extra storage with the plumbing situated at the back of the enclosure.
Hide that toilet cistern
Toilet cisterns are just another element in the bathroom that is a necessary, but not that inspiring to look at piece of decor. A cistern is simply a functional piece of plumbing to ensure the waste is washed from your toilet, not something to make a fashion or style statement with.
A simple box, tiled with a quality ceramic or quartz finish can look simply amazing. Leave it as it is, or as a place to display a plant or ornament and your bathroom or toilet will look much better. The box will hide the cistern, with just the handle or push button flush visible. We see this as the first step to a more modern and clean looking bathroom or toilet.
Pipes and plumbing to basins, baths, radiators and shower enclosures
We plan our plumbing in such a way, that you will never have to worry about looking at unsightly pipes, clips, joints or flexi hoses. We box of where we can, making an actual feature that not only hides pipes and plumbing, but offers a place to display or store things that you do want to see or use in the bathroom or toilet. When we can’t make a box or other enclosure for our plumbing, we always try to hide it behind the fixture it serves, or chase it into the wall or floor for a more flush and neat finish.
What about access to the plumbing?
When we do make boxes or compartments to hide plumbing and pipe work, we ensure that we incorporate inspection hatches or some other means of accessing the plumbing hidden there. This is particularly important for toilet cisterns. Should the cistern mechanism experience a fault, you will need to gain access to the cistern, so the lid to the box hiding it will need to be easy to remove for inspection.
When this is not practicable, we can sometimes install an inspection hatch for the plumbing on the other side of the wall that it’s fitted on or within. This a common practice for built in fitted showers. A simple inspection hatch in the adjoining room, or on the landing, depending on where the shower is fitted, can be removed to service the shower mechanism with ease. These inspection hatches can either be covered with a picture, a mirror, or may even be made to look like an actual fitted cupboard.
Under floor plumbing
It is clear that we cannot install inspection hatches should you have under floor plumbing. Maybe a small area could be made accessible should the need arise, but as long as all joints are sound and professionally soldered, we see no reason to worry about access.
The only time access to plumbing under the floor may become a particular concern, is when the floor has been tiled with quartz or ceramic tiles. In situations such as this, we always ensure that not only all joints are sound, but there is no chance of the pipes being exposed to temperatures that could result in them, or the plumbed joints freezing up and bursting. We insulate all our under floor plumbing properly, sometimes a low heat wire can be wound around the pipes to ensure they never freeze up.
When that pipe cannot be hidden
Sometimes you simply can’t hide some plumbing or pipe work, but it doesn’t mean you have to put up with hideous plumbing.
We can replace your old pipe work with new, clean pipes, that won’t look ugly. Old radiator pipes are the most common ones to look worse for wear. They often come out of the floor to service the radiator and have a seriously dented appearance from many years of being hit with the vacuum cleaner. Others may run horizontally along the wall, just above the skirting board and these two have taken a beating over time and will need replacing.
Vantage is happy to remove the old and damaged pipes and plumb in new sections or runs. Once installed, the new pipes can be either painted to look nicer, or snap on pipe covers can be purchased relatively cheaply at most DIY outlets these days. These are great, as they do away with the need to ever paint your exposed pipe work and plumbing again.
Spot the plumbing
Take a look at the pictures of our bathroom and see if you can see any unsightly plumbing or pipes. You’ll be hard pressed to find any as we have strategically hidden them all from view. This leaves a clean and modern finish that is supremely easy to keep clean.
So if you want to tidy up your plumbing, why not give us a call at Vantage today?
Completed projects
Have a look at our projects
We work on lots of varying projects in different towns and cities around Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. We work on everything from completely new bathroom installations, to power flushing central heating systems and repairing leaky pipes and responding to emergency callouts.
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