Bathroom Renovation Ilford

Bathrooms in Ilford's Victorian and Edwardian terraces are often squeezed into a former bedroom or tacked onto the closet wing, tight on space and short on ventilation. GS Renovation draws on our founder's 30+ years on the tools to fit bathrooms, en-suites and wet rooms in IG1, waterproofing them properly and making clever use of every awkward corner.

In Ilford, a full bathroom refit typically costs £6,000 to £20,000 or more (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Ilford: we carry the tanking, plumbing and tiling as one contract, with the electrics certified by a registered electrician.

How the job runs

1. Free design visit at your Ilford home and an itemised quote.
2. Strip-out, then first-fix plumbing and electrics.
3. Tanking to the wet areas, then tiling.
4. Sanitaryware and second fix, with notifiable electrics certified by a registered electrician. Typically 10 to 15 working days on site.

Wet rooms and tanking in Ilford

Water and old buildings do not mix, so tanking is where every Ilford bathroom job begins. We fully waterproof the floor and walls behind the tiling, particularly around wet rooms and walk-in showers where there is no tray to contain splashes. On the suspended timber floors common in these terraces, we build a solid, decoupled base first, so movement in the century-old joists never cracks the tiles or breaks the seal.

Ventilation and drainage matter just as much. Many IG1 bathrooms suffer from poor extraction and long, shallow waste runs left over from earlier conversions, which we put right with proper fans and correctly falling pipework. Underfloor heating warms the tiles and helps keep the room dry, and we finish with wall and floor tiling laid to last. Any new electrical circuits are certified by a registered electrician under Part P.

Housing in Ilford

For Ilford the Council Tax list gives about 14,670 homes; by type 53% flats and 47% houses, by age 29% post-war, 5% interwar and 66% older than 1919. Since most homes here are flats, a bathroom in a flat in Ilford sits over a neighbour's ceiling, so it is tanked before tiling and a moved WC needs the freeholder's licence.

Bathrooms in Ilford rear additions and shared houses

66% of homes in Ilford were built before 1919 and 44% are terraced houses. Where the upstairs bathroom in one of those terraces sits in the rear addition over the kitchen, under a roof of its own, that roof is the room's weak point. Warm, wet air meets a cold ceiling and condenses unless the roof is insulated and the extract fan runs long enough to clear it. Before tiling, we lift a section of the ceiling to see what insulation and ventilation the roof void has. Where the roof is being recovered anyway, that is the moment to insulate it properly, because it will not be opened again for years.

Adding en suites is a different matter in Ilford, because the reason for them matters. Where en suites go into every bedroom so a family house can be let to sharers, the letting itself is a change of use. In Redbridge a whole-borough Article 4 direction, in force since 6 December 2019, means a move into the C4 small HMO class needs planning permission. For an owner adding one en suite to the main bedroom there is no such question, only building regulations for the new drainage and ventilation. We ask what the bathrooms are for at the first visit, because the answer decides whether planning comes before the plumber.

Space-saving en-suites in Ilford terraces

Adding an en-suite to an Ilford terrace usually means finding space that is not obviously there, borrowing from an oversized bedroom, an airing cupboard or the head of the stairs. We plan the layout around the sloping rear-addition roof and the position of the soil stack, then choose a compact suite, a slim shower and wall-hung fittings that free up floor area and make a small room feel far larger.

Where the plumbing has to travel, we plan the runs so waste falls correctly and pumps are only used when genuinely needed. Good extraction is essential in these enclosed period spaces to stop condensation and mould taking hold. We tile, seal and fit throughout, matching the finish to the rest of the house, so the new Ilford en-suite or family bathroom feels like it was always meant to be there.

• Ventilation and extraction ducted to outside
• Underfloor heating and heated towel rails
• En-suite creation in bedrooms and loft rooms

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 5 statistical areas in Ilford. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once the bathroom renovation work in Ilford is scoped, people usually go on to read chimney breast removal in Ilford, bathroom renovation across Redbridge, bathroom fitting in London, our London bathroom renovation page and Bathroom Tile Ideas.

The GS Renovation Difference in Ilford

Ilford homeowners trust GS Renovation with bathrooms because we get the hidden work right, the tanking, drainage and ventilation, not just the tiles you see. We know how these period IG1 homes behave, from moving timber floors to tight, badly ventilated spaces. With our founder's 30+ years on the tools and one team handling plumbing, electrics and tiling, your bathroom is built to stay watertight.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.