Overhaul of the bathroom

Bathroom and toilet, or, in official language, a toilet. The place that it occupies is only 6-8% of the total area of ​​the apartment, but in terms of its importance the bathroom is beyond competition.

You can imagine an apartment without any room or even without a kitchen (in “studios” usually there is no kitchen as such – it is combined with the living room), but it is absolutely impossible to imagine housing without a bathroom.

Overhaul of a bathroom is a rather difficult technical problem, this is not a joke. Only highly qualified specialists should be entrusted with this work..

Firstly, if the quality of installation and finishing work can be at least partially checked by anyone (for example, the wall is crooked, the door or window does not close, or the tiles are laid unevenly), then you cannot check the quality of installation of the water supply, sewerage and electrics by eye.

And secondly, the result of poor-quality work can be flooding of neighbors, constantly clogging sewers, a short circuit in the wiring due to water that has got on it, etc. serious troubles.

So, let’s start renovating the bathroom. If you decide to make a redevelopment, then keep in mind that this may require approval from the relevant authorities, and for projects related to an increase in the area of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe bathroom, you may not receive this very approval – officially, of course. This is due to various regulations that prohibit the placement of bathrooms over living quarters, etc..

But suppose that you have safely passed the stage of all approvals and proceeded directly to the repair. We have already written a lot about floors, ceilings and walls, so I just briefly remind you that all materials must be moisture resistant, and the floor must be waterproofed. By the way, regarding the waterproofing of the plumbing cabinet (this is the place where the plumbing and sewerage risers are located). This is the most dangerous place in terms of leaks. If this very waterproofing is not done there, then even with the smallest leak in the cabinet (and there are a large number of various connections and stopcocks), the water will instantly pass to the neighbors below. However, if you do it there, then there will be a risk of a different kind: in the event of a break in the riser pipe or a malfunction of the faucet from the neighbors from above, all the water, instead of flowing down the riser pipe, will pour into your apartment. Therefore, to do or not to do waterproofing in a plumbing closet is, as they say, a creative question..

In the bathroom, it is also very important to observe the geometry of the room, otherwise it will be difficult to lay the tiles well and place the plumbing fixtures correctly..

Wiring and electrical equipment

The bathroom and toilet impose special requirements on everything that is somehow connected with electricity. The entire bathroom is divided into four zones. For each of these zones, it is detailed in detail what can be there and what is not and what are the requirements for electrical equipment for each of these zones. Electrical equipment used in damp rooms must be grounded, the wiring must be three-wire (phase, zero, earth). Lamps, sockets, switches are used with a degree of protection IP44. One of the new requirements is the potential equalization system. There are a lot of different rules and regulations related to electrical equipment in bathrooms. It is simply impossible to list all of them in a short article. The layman has little chance of not violating any of them. Therefore, before starting work, an electrical engineer draws up a project, which is then coordinated in Energonadzor. In the event that the builders who are making repairs to you cannot provide you with such a project or are asking for it too expensive, the project and its approval can be ordered from a specialized organization. Also, this service can be provided by an electrical engineer of the organization operating your home..

I can advise you to use 12-volt lamps in the bathroom. They are safe and have significantly fewer placement restrictions.

Water supply and sewerage

Steel, copper, metal-polymer and polypropylene pipes are now used for supplying hot and cold water. For sewerage – PVC pipes. Shut off the water using ball valves. If plumbers use threaded connections, then it is important not to brick them into the wall so that you can access them later. Welded joints of steel pipes must be primed to avoid corrosion. Coarse filters should be installed on water pipes without fail in order to avoid damage to expensive plumbing equipment. Filters are best installed with drainage, as this makes them easier to service.

When connecting a heated towel rail “children’s” mistake is the wrong hot water supply.

If the plumber says that the correct piping cannot be installed in the place where you want to install the heated towel rail, trust him and install an electric heated towel rail.

The sewer pipes are laid with a slope of about 5% and, if possible, without 90 ° corners.

I strongly recommend buying all pipes and sanitary fittings only from well-known manufacturers and preferably in specialized stores. On the Moscow market these are German, Italian, Belgian and French manufacturers.

The ramifications of buying Chinese knockoffs that are flooding construction markets can be disastrous..

Inspection hatches for servicing the plumbing and sewerage system should not be too small, otherwise their meaning will be lost and in case of any problems you will have to break the walls.

All these are common points when installing water supply and sewerage systems, but in general, all this should be within the competence of your plumbers.

Let’s move on to ventilation. It is imperative to install forced exhaust ventilation.

What should you look for when buying a fan? The first is power, it must correspond to the volume of the room, the second is noise (measured in decibels). Both characteristics are indicated on the fan.

Plumbing equipment. Here we will talk about mixers, water heaters, sanitary ware, etc. I cannot say anything comforting about domestic manufacturers. Unfortunately, they are inferior to the world’s leading manufacturers in almost all respects. Excellent faucets are produced by companies such as ORAS, GROHE, HANSGROHE, DAMIXA.

For showers and bathtubs, look for models with a thermostat. They have two controls. One regulates the temperature, and the other – the water pressure. In my opinion, extremely convenient.

Among the manufacturers of washbasins, bidets, toilets and baths in the middle price category, you can list such manufacturers as IDEAL STANDART, ROCA, IDO, IFO, GUSTAVSBERG, JACOB DELFON. The design of all these products, surprisingly enough, is striking in variety, and the quality is at a fairly high level..

Pay attention to flush systems for toilets, which are mounted in the wall, and hanging toilets for them. While such solutions are not very common in our country, but in vain, they look quite interesting.

Electric water heaters. They are divided into flow and storage. Instantaneous water heaters are smaller, but have a significantly higher power than storage ones. It can go up to 16 kW. With a large number of other electrical appliances in the apartment, this can create a very heavy load on your electrical network. In addition, you are unlikely to be able to meet the capacity standards for apartments. Therefore, I personally prefer storage water heaters.

What to buy? The choice is large enough. They are ELECTROLUX, ARISTON, SIEMENS, VALLIANT, STIEBEL ELTRON.

I can only advise one thing: if you do not live alone, buy a storage heater of at least 80 liters.

I won’t advise you to install a whirlpool bath or not, since a good bath is quite expensive and it’s up to you whether to pay $ 3000-4000 for it.

I will only note that, in principle, the connection of the whirlpool bath does not differ from the connection of the usual.

I hope these tips will help you during renovations, when purchasing materials, and when communicating with builders.