SANITARYWARE AND FITTINGS
The product list of sanitaryware and fittings is so large, the more basic, everyday products have been listed. The following table will give a clear indication of sizes. There is a wide variety of local and imported items, which can be viewed in showrooms throughout the country. Extensive product catalogues can be obtained from manufacturers and importers.
Planning a bathroom
It is easier to rectify problems on paper whilst still in the planning phase. Try to visualise the space available and think your bathroom through. The bathroom layout should attend to specific needs and purposes.
Things to focus on:
- Find a focal point – bath, shower, vanity, etc.
- If you have a large window, place the bath underneath in order to present a smart picture when you window dressing is done. It is also charming and relaxing to look into a garden after a tough day at work. A bathroom could be made luxurious by adding a spa bath.
- In a small bathroom, the shower is the most expensive item in the room – show it off
- Hide the toilet. If your bathroom space allows for it put this sensitive item behind a door. The more private, the better.
- Add screening walls – vanity height or the ceiling to add dimensions to the space available.
- The various items – bath, shower vanity, should flow together. Try to avoid putting each item in a corner.
- The main bathroom should have a double vanity, if space allows, as well as a bidet. If space only allows for a shower, special touches can be added, for example, a few side jets, two shower arms and roses and a shower rail in order to adjust the height of the shower rose.
- If the second bathroom has to cater for more than one person, try to attend to their needs – for example, separate packing space in which each person can keep their belongings.
- Create a space for laundry. Add a couple of hooks to hang wet/used towels, or robes. Create space for extra towels – various bathroom accessories are freely available. Allow for a good size mirror above the basin.
- It does not matter how minor, but try to follow one chosen theme throughout the bathroom – for example, ensure that the tap colour combination is the same as that for bathroom accessories. Use the same tap range throughout the house. If the vanity has frosted glass panel, used matching frosted glass on the shower door.
If you are building a house with resale value in mind, have a subtle scheme that is not too specific. Remember that it is generally the bathroom and kitchen that sells a house.
Trends vary from time to time, but basic things like white sanitaryware, chrome taps and accessories and subtle tile colours will always be acceptable.
Local SA Bath Installation Procedures
Over 95% of South African Houses have concrete floors. A sand and cement bed (mortar bed) is used to install the bath and shower tray.
The recommended ratio mix of sand and cement is 5:1 (five parts sand to one part cement). Make sure that the area around the waste is free of all materials so the waste fittings can be attached.
Decide on the bath’s height. Approximately 150mm higher than the height of the bath, or 3 tiles high, mark a plumbline on the wall at the height you have decided.
Securely mount the wall battens on the plumbline that has been marked. Make sure that the plumbing is ready for the next step
Mix the mortarbed, using 3 spaced brick bed rows, under the bath’s base, making sure that the first row is close to the waste.
Connect up the plumbing
- Fill the bath half way with water and allow the mortarbed to set
- Brick and plaster up the front and end of the bath
- Tile up the required area
- Using a mildew resistant silicone, seal the area between the top edge of the bath and tiles
- Clean bath and check for scratches
- Small scratches may be removed by using a metal polish, e.g. Brasso.
- Deeper scratches may be removed by using 1200 grade water paper and polished up with a metal polish (rubbing compound).
CONTACT DETAILS
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