GS Renovation builds bathrooms across East Barnet, in the added-on bathrooms over the rear additions of Victorian terraces and the original upstairs bathrooms of the interwar semis. We tank properly, sort the ventilation and the waste falls, and certify the electrical work, because a bathroom fails from the inside out long before the tiles look tired.
The bathroom over the rear addition
In a lot of the terraces near East Barnet Village the bathroom sits over the back addition, often in a room that was added later with thinner walls and less insulation than the rest of the house. It is the coldest room in the building and the wettest, which is why condensation and black mould show up there first, particularly on the damper ground down towards the brook. A better extractor on a run on timer, insulation in the walls and roof above, and a heated towel rail that actually heats do more for that room than new tiles.
Under the floor, old joists in these houses have usually been notched and drilled by three generations of plumbers, and a bathroom is heavier than a bedroom once you add a stone floor and a filled bath. We lift the boards and look. Where joists have been cut about badly we strengthen or replace to the engineer's advice rather than tile over a floor that flexes, because movement under a tiled floor cracks grout, then the tanking, then the ceiling below. Wet rooms in particular need a floor that does not move.
Tanking, drainage and en suites in EN4
Tanking is not optional in a shower area, whatever the tile adhesive tin says. We waterproof the walls and floor of the wet zone before any tile goes on, form the falls to the drain in a wet room and test it before covering it, which matters most where the bathroom sits directly above a habitable room. Tiles and grout are a finish, not a waterproof layer. The bit you never see is the bit that decides whether the ceiling below stays dry in five years.
En suites are usually possible in the larger bedrooms of the interwar semis, and the question is always the drainage rather than the space. The new waste has to reach the existing stack with a proper fall and without a run of boxing across the landing, so we work the route out first and site the WC accordingly. All the electrical work, from the shower circuit to the lighting, the extractor and any underfloor heating, is carried out and certified under the Building Regulations, and the extract has to discharge outside rather than into the loft.
- En-suite creation in bedrooms and loft rooms
- Soil pipe and waste re-routing within the floor build-up
- Ventilation and extraction ducted to outside
- Drainage falls set to the gully in wet rooms
- Shower pumps and pressure improvements where flow is poor
Why Choose GS Renovation in East Barnet
East Barnet owners choose GS Renovation because we build bathrooms that stay dry in old houses. Tanking before tiling, falls set and tested, joists checked and strengthened where previous plumbers have been at them, ventilation ducted outside and the electrics certified. One team does the plumbing, the waterproofing, the tiling and the finish, so nothing falls between trades and the room is right in ten years.
- Pipework pressure and leak tested before tiling starts
- Extraction sized and ducted outside, never into the loft
- A dedicated project manager from first survey to handover
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- The shortest sensible downtime where it is the only bathroom