h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you must get a bath, make sure you get to try it out first. The worst thing about baths these days is that they seem to have vertical ends. That is the back is at 90° to the bottom. You can't sit in them, except upright, and you can't lay in them unless you completely submerge your head.

We had a really big bathtub fitted when we had our bathroom done a few years ago, and it is shaped like that. The only way I can lay in it without slithering around and sliding under the water is by squeezing myself in crosswise, knees under chin. Hardly relaxing.

My mother complains too that bathing is no fun since they had a corner bath put in which also has these non-ergonomic perpendicular back ends.

So make sure you get one where the back end slopes comfortably (think Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman")

Mind you, if the back slope is *too* shallow anyone with big boobs will end up with big boobs. Most baths leave me with the choice between cold feet with a stiff neck or a comfortable neck and a cold frontage.

Bathrooms should be given a greater allowance of space; they typically are way far too small and are fitted with historically outdated bath designs. Some of the new additions on the market place may well look nice but as mentioned there is a difference between aesthetics and practical application. Who ever design some of these new baths must have worked in the house of horrors for when you eventually sit in them they are truly far from comfortable

One of my best friends moved up north last year (and then came back... It's a long and typically complex story...).

The main reason she regrets going is losing the house she was renting. It was a lovely house, reasonably sized, close to countryside AND amenities but of all of that, she misses nothing like she misses the bath.

It was double-ended (gently sloping at both ends), the taps and plug were in the middle along the back edge. You could fill it deep enough to come up to your shoulders comfortably and she's 5'9" but was able to submerge comfortably in it. (not very green, but seriously, it was a delightful luxury!). It also had a shower curtain that ran around it and the shower was fitted above the taps and was wide enough to stand in as well as long and deep.

*sigh*

I had three baths in that tub and I remember them with pleasure now!

Aye, I agree that well designed and spacious bathrooms are in seriously short supply. Even in new-builds it seems like the bathroom is grudgingly stuck onto the house as a necessary evil with very little thought given to layout and ergonomics.

You only realise this when you have the good fortune to happen upon an extremely well laid out bathroom as occasionally happens in visits to friends houses, guest houses or even the very occasional public toilet like this one at Kyle of Lochalsh http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/3874358021_945e2157c5.jpg

>>>It was double-ended (gently sloping at both ends), the taps and plug were in the middle along the back edge. You could fill it deep enough to come up to your shoulders comfortably and she's 5'9" but was able to submerge comfortably in it. (not very green, but seriously, it was a delightful luxury!). It also had a shower curtain that ran around it and the shower was fitted above the taps and was wide enough to stand in as well as long and deep.


Robyn you have described my perfect bath set up. The reason I prefer shower curtains is that they are easier to clean than glass screens, which require daily attention; whilst you are wet from the shower, you have to squeegee the water from them else you end up with limescale and soap scum - and then weekly scrubbing, whilst standing barefoot in the bathtub. Whereas with curtains you just stick them in the washing machine. Buy two sets - of the better quality fabric sort.

I have a shower curtain for my over-the-bath shower, and what I've done is put the pole further out of the bath so the curtain drapes into the tub at an angle. This maximises the body space and the curtain doesn't cling.

Deb

Yep! that works well!

The same friend now has a periodic table shower curtain... But her bath isn't nearly as luscious.

on the other hand, my mum's bath has obviously been fitted by a twit. They appear to have levelled the base not the rim so it doesn't drain properly ... Not very smart!

If your buying a bath Its probably best to get one of the more expensive ones; Certainly when I got the current bathroom set I went for the most expensive one they did which in reality wasn't much* more than the cheapest, but the plastic on the bath itself is just a lot thicker and hasn't got badly marked or anything even though its been down quite a few years now; I've seen people with the cheaper thinner plastic baths and they just don't last as long or clean up as easily
I'd still like a bigger bathroom this one is about half the size it oughta be Mind I'd also quite like to find a tiler who can put tiles up next to the bath that don't leak into the light fitting of the room below... I've tried three differnt tilers so far and they're all unable it seems to put a suitable sealant round the bath where it joins the tiles on the wall This may eventually sadly mean I have to go for a cubacle style shower thing, as I can't afford to keep having the bathroom retiled twice a year
Oh, and don't use B&Q to fit the bathroom whatever you do. The only* single thing they got correct in my bathroom was the floor tiles, everythign else has gone wrong and either been repaired or replaced.

2legs, it may be that the bath is dropping fractionally lower when it's full of water and people and raising fractionally higher when it's empty. That could cause the sealant to come adrift over time.

Would it be worth getting a fitter to look at refitting it, so that it's more solid?

The one really excellent thing about my last bathroom was that there was no give in or under the bath at all.

I don't think its that; the current problem is the tiler used the wrong type of sealant. The previous problem was that the tiler hadn't put enough sealant in (though he sdid use the right sort), the problem before that was the tiles falling off the wall due to the windowledge being angled entirely the wrong way round.
The next solution will be that I'm going to throw everythign in the bathroom away at some point in the next couple of years, and pay to have a new one fitted... The taps are starting to go again on the bath, they're the second set since I had it put in already, the basin taps are getting dodgy now, well one of them was shite from the day it was fitted but I never managed to get that one fixed...

I don't think the bath moves much, it seems pretty solid we may try resealing it ourselves at some point, as we've a tube somewhere of the right type of stuff for it

That picture winnoch linked to showed obviously a men's toilet.

When I recently had to use lots of different public toilets because I was in a choir performing in several different venues, I noticed that they only very very rarely have a mirror with a shelf in front of it WITHOUT a washbasin in between. That is, somewhere to put your make-up bag and stand near the mirror.

Also applies to people who wear contact lenses.

I am fed up with edging round a washbasin and only being able to see one side of my face to make it up, OR trying to make up with a dim light behind me - whilst not being able to get nearer than three feet away from the mirror. Or of getting bruises from a washbasin which is in the way trying to get my face near the mirror while balancing on tip toes, holding my make-up bag in one hand, lipstick, various brushes, etc etc between each set of fingers, trying to keep the make-up bag off the wet washbasin, trying to get mascara on, while people are queuing up behind me. Invariably my handbag slips off my shoulder in the process, or I discover it's soaking wet on the bottom when I pick it up IF I had previously managed to find somewhere to put it.

Sorry. Rant over.

when we moved in we had a seperate toilet and bathroom

the bathroom was door, bath to the right and sink in front,
the toilet next door to the left was door, toilet

we(I) knocked down the wall between and we had the toilet door filled in, we then had fitted, toilet in the same place, bath rotated 90' along the wall, shower cubicle behind the door to the right and a large corner sink to the left.

the bath we have is a large roll top victorian style, plastic tub and we have underfloor heating in the standing area of the room and a corner vanity unit and a shelf above the sink

what wa a pokey small pair of rooms is now a spacious well apointed and equiped family bathroom

Taff, you have just described *exactly* the layout of separate toilet/bathroom in this house at the time we moved in.

All we've done is knock out half of the wall between them (the other half has pipes running down it, sigh). One day, my friends, one day ...

Mol

I have separate loo and bathroom, it did occur to me to knock the wall down, but the doors are at right angles so it would be on odd shape bathroom. Also there is a build in cupboard in J's bedroom which backs into the bathroom which I could knock out, as it's just used for junk really (although he might argue with that!).

It would be bigger, but I can't really see what else I'd do with the space. I don't think it would quite leave enough space for a separate shower that wasn't pokey and claustrophobic. All I do in there is stand at the sink, and/or look in the mirror, or I'm in the bath/shower. I get out, wrap up, then leave the room to get dressed.

Really not sure what I'd do with the space.

What are you lot doing in your bathrooms??

i get out of the shower and towel myself dry before cleaning my teeth, mainly

we also bathe the 2 kids together in the bath and there is enough room for all of us in the room, one sat on the lid of the loo and the other stood by the side of the bath

family bathroom

We knocked a wall down to make our bathroom more roomy. It's not too large, especially as it's got a sloping ceiling, but having everything done in large grey tiles makes it feel larger and it gives you a luxurious sort of start to the day. And two people can wash at the same time as we have two basins.

The best thing about it being new and modern is that it's easy to clean.

Ah yes, I forget some people have more than one kid. I was never brought up to share a bath with siblings, still seems weird to me, which is why I never think of other people doing it.

When I lived in Holywood (Winnoch I think you'll have seen that one) the bathroom had been converted from a small bedroom and so it was HUGE. Big shower, big corner bath, big sink and vanitory unit, and acres of space between them all.

And tbh I just found it wasted space. A well designed smaller bathroom can be a better use of room. I prefer to be in the bathroom alone, mind.

My bathroom was also a bathroom & separate loo til I knocked through. I turned my bath round to go along the short wall by buying a shorter than average bath which is still roomy enough for me. I have a lot more floor space that way (although it's still not a large room). I like the feeling of space.

The feeling of space is enhanced by the fact that the door opens against a wall and is generally wedged there. I only close it when I have visitors, it allows the dog to wander where he wants. Although I have to say he tends to avoid the bathroom if I'm in the bath or shower - he's worried I might try to get him in!

Deb