Cheshire Bathroom Fitters | Knutsford | Sandbach | Holmes Chapel | Middlewich

Every job we do, there’s a list of small decisions that nobody ever asks us about. The customer’s focused on the tiles, the suite, the shower — understandably, that’s the exciting stuff. But there’s a load of less glamorous choices that quietly determine how the bathroom looks and performs three, five, ten years down the line.

Paint is one of them.

We’ve just stocked up on supplies for an upcoming job, and one of the items on the list was a tin of paint for the ceiling. It cost £66. You can get a tin of bathroom paint from a shop brand for less than half that. So why don’t we?

Not all “bathroom paint” is equal

We use Dulux Trade Diamond Matt. A couple of things about it specifically:

• It’s matt — so no shine, no reflections, nothing that draws attention to a slightly uneven ceiling (which, on a reskimmed ceiling, is more common than people think)
• It’s moisture and stain resistant
• It’s scrubbable — you can actually clean it without the finish wearing away

That combination matters in a bathroom more than almost anywhere else in the house. Every time you shower, the room fills with steam. That moisture has to land somewhere — and in most bathrooms, a fair amount of it ends up on the ceiling and walls.

What happens with cheaper paint

A cheap shop-brand paint will go on the wall and look fine on the day. The problems show up later.

The biggest issue is that cheaper paints tend to be very watery — thinner, less pigment, less of whatever makes a paint actually do its job. That means you need more coats to get proper coverage in the first place, which already starts to eat into the saving. But the bigger problem is what happens once the room is back in use.

A paint that isn’t properly moisture resistant will start to let damp through to the surface over time. That’s when you see mould starting to appear — usually first in the corners of the ceiling, or anywhere steam tends to collect. Once mould gets a foothold in paint that isn’t designed to resist it, it’s a losing battle. You can wipe it off, it comes back. Eventually you’re repainting a bathroom that’s only a year or two old.

A paint that isn’t scrubbable has a similar problem from a different angle. Bathrooms need cleaning more than most rooms — splashes, condensation marks, the odd bit of toothpaste on the wall near the sink. If the paint can’t handle being wiped down without the finish degrading, it starts looking tired much faster than it should.

The bit nobody sees — the mist coat

On most of our jobs, we’re reskimming the ceiling and often the walls too — fresh plaster needs proper preparation before the final paint goes on. We always seal new plaster with a mist coat first: a heavily watered-down coat of the same paint, applied before the proper coats go on.

The point of a mist coat is to let the paint bond properly with the fresh plaster. Skip this step, or do it badly, and you can end up with paint that doesn’t key into the surface properly — which shows up later as patchy areas, or paint that’s more prone to lifting or marking.

It’s another one of those steps that’s completely invisible in the finished bathroom. Nobody ever looks at a freshly painted ceiling and thinks “ah, I bet that had a proper mist coat.” But it’s part of why the finish lasts.

Is it applied any differently?

Not really — that’s part of what makes this an easy decision. A good quality bathroom-specific paint like Diamond Matt doesn’t need any special technique or extra time to apply compared to a standard paint. It goes on the same way, with the same number of coats once the surface is properly prepared. The difference isn’t in the application — it’s in what the paint is actually made of, and how it performs once the room’s back in daily use.

£66 versus £30 — is it really worth it?

On a job costing several thousand pounds, the difference between a £30 tin of paint and a £66 tin of paint is genuinely small money. But it’s the kind of small money that, multiplied across every wall and ceiling in the room, either gives you a finish that looks good for years — or one that starts showing problems within twelve months.

This is really the same principle that applies to everything else we use — Mapei waterproofing, branded suites, proper tanking before tiling. None of it is the most expensive option on the market. All of it is the option that means the job is still looking and performing well long after we’ve left.

It’s a small thing. But it’s exactly the kind of small thing that separates a bathroom that looks great on completion day from one that still looks great five years later.

Thinking about a bathroom renovation in Cheshire?

Every material choice we make — from the paint on the ceiling to the waterproofing behind the tiles — is chosen for how it performs over the long term, not just on the day we finish. If you’re in Middlewich, Sandbach, Northwich, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel or Winsford and thinking about a new bathroom, call Martin on 07734 703414 for a free, no-obligation quote.

Cheshire Bathroom Fitters — based in Middlewich, working across Cheshire for over 20 years.

One of the most common questions we get asked — and one of the hardest to answer honestly on the internet — is “how much does a bathroom renovation cost?”

Search for it and you’ll find everything from “£2,000 to £15,000” to “it depends.” Neither of those is particularly useful if you’re trying to work out whether your budget is realistic.

So here’s something more useful. A real job, completed this week in Sandbach, with a proper breakdown of what was involved and what it cost.

The job: a small ensuite in Sandbach

The customer had a small ensuite off the master bedroom that hadn’t been touched in years. The brief was to modernise it completely and make it feel as spacious as possible — not easy when you’re working with a compact room.

Here’s what the job involved:

• A dividing wall removed to reconfigure the layout
• Artex ceiling removed and the ceiling reskimmed
• Walls reskimmed and fully redecorated
• New recessed downlights installed throughout
• High-powered extractor fan fitted
• Frameless quadrant shower enclosure with an ultra-low profile tray — chosen specifically to open the room up visually
• Wall-hung vanity unit installed
• Bespoke towel storage shelf fitted underneath the vanity
• Stuart Turner 2-bar shower pump installed
• Cold water tank in the loft upgraded to 50 gallons to support the pump properly

Total cost: £8,923

The job took 7 days from start to finish.

Why small rooms often cost more than you’d expect

This is something worth understanding before you get any quotes in. Small bathrooms and ensuites are actually harder to work in than larger rooms — and that has a direct impact on how long the job takes.

When the space is tight, only one person can work at a time. You can’t have a tiler and a plumber in a small ensuite simultaneously — there simply isn’t room. Tasks that might overlap in a larger bathroom have to happen sequentially. That adds days to the programme, which is reflected in the labour cost.

It’s one of the reasons we’re always a bit cautious about “small bathroom” quotes that seem surprisingly cheap. Either the contractor hasn’t thought through the practical constraints of working in a tight space, or they’re planning to cut corners somewhere.

What drove the cost on this particular job

A few things pushed this one beyond a straightforward suite replacement:

The structural work. Removing a dividing wall isn’t complicated, but it has to be done properly — checked for any load-bearing implications, made good, and fully plastered out before anything else can happen. You can’t rush plaster drying time, so this adds to the overall programme even when the work itself is straightforward.

Artex removal. Older Cheshire properties — and Sandbach has a good stock of them — often have artex ceilings. Removing it properly, skimming, and getting a clean finish takes time and skill. It’s one of those jobs that’s invisible when it’s done well and very obvious when it isn’t.

The shower pump and loft tank. Fitting a Stuart Turner 2-bar pump is a significant upgrade in terms of shower performance — but it only works properly if the cold water tank in the loft can keep up with it. On this job, the existing tank was too small, so we upgraded it to 50 gallons at the same time. We wrote about why this matters in a separate article — you can read it here — but the short version is: fitting the pump without sorting the tank would have given the customer a pump that kept cutting out. We only fit Stuart Turner pumps, and we only fit them when the system can support them properly.

The frameless enclosure. A frameless quadrant enclosure costs more than a framed one. On a small room, though, it earns its money — removing the visual weight of a frame makes a noticeable difference to how spacious the finished bathroom feels. Combined with the ultra-low profile tray, the shower area reads as part of the room rather than a box stuck in the corner.

So what’s a “normal” bathroom renovation cost in Cheshire?

Based on the jobs we carry out regularly across Middlewich, Sandbach, Northwich, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel and Winsford, here are honest ballpark figures for 2025/26:

Straightforward full bathroom renovation (like-for-like suite replacement, standard tiling, no structural work): £6,500 – £8,000

Full bathroom renovation with some additional work (reskimming, layout changes, shower pump): £8,000 – £10,000

Ensuite installation (new ensuite created from an existing bedroom space): £7,000 – £10,000 depending on what’s involved in creating the space

Wet room conversion: £8,500 – £12,000 — the full waterproofing system and drainage requirements push the cost up, but done properly it’s built to last decades

These are real numbers based on real jobs. They’re not the lowest quotes you’ll find, and they’re not the highest either. What they represent is the cost of doing the job properly — with Mapei waterproofing on every wet area, branded products from established manufacturers, and a 12-month workmanship guarantee on everything we do.

What the quotes that come in lower are usually missing

If you get a quote significantly below these figures, it’s worth asking a few questions. In our experience, the gap usually comes from one or more of the following:

• Waterproofing not included — or a cheap product used instead of a proper tanking membrane
• The bathroom suite priced at bare minimum, with quality problems that appear six months later
• Labour underpriced because the contractor hasn’t properly costed the time involved, which often leads to the job dragging on or being rushed at the end
• No allowance for what’s found when the old suite comes out — and on older properties, there’s almost always something

A fixed-price, itemised quote protects you from all of this. Ours typically run to 4-7 pages and describe every element of the work. If something unexpected comes up once we’ve opened the walls, we tell you before we proceed — not after.

Thinking about a new bathroom or ensuite in Sandbach or the surrounding area?

We cover the whole of the CW11 postcode and the surrounding areas. Give Martin a call on 07734 703414 for a free, no-obligation quote. We’ll visit the property, take a proper look at what’s involved, and get a detailed written quote back to you.

Cheshire Bathroom Fitters — based in Middlewich, working across Cheshire for over 20 years.

A real scenario from a job in Middlewich this week

We were called in this week to fit a shower pump for a customer in Middlewich. On paper, a straightforward job. But before any pump gets fitted, we always check the cold water tank in the loft first — because the tank and the pump work together as a system, and fitting a pump to an undersized tank is one of the most common and expensive mistakes we see.

What we found in the loft told us everything we needed to know. The original builder had installed a 25 gallon cold water tank — fine for the era the house was built, when a single bathroom with a standard shower was all anyone expected. Not fine for a modern shower pump, which demands a consistent and adequate supply of cold water to function properly.

What a shower pump actually does — and what it needs to work

A shower pump doesn’t create water pressure from nothing. It boosts the pressure of the water that’s already flowing through your system. For that to work, it needs a sufficient and consistent volume of cold water feeding it from above.

If the tank in your loft is too small, the pump draws water out faster than the tank can refill. The result varies depending on the pump fitted. With a Stuart Turner — which is the only brand we fit, because in over 20 years we’ve found nothing that matches them for reliability and longevity — the pump will stutter for a few seconds and then switch off cleanly rather than continuing to run with inadequate water flow. It’s a safety feature, not a fault. Many homeowners assume the pump has broken. In most cases it hasn’t — it’s protecting itself because the tank can’t keep up.

The general rule of thumb is a minimum of 50 gallons for a home with a shower pump. A 25 gallon tank — perfectly standard for homes built in the 1970s and 1980s — is half of what’s needed.

The two options we gave our customer

Once we’d diagnosed the problem, we gave our customer an honest choice. There was no upsell here — just two genuine options with different costs and different implications.

Option 1 — Change your showering habits

Not the most satisfying solution, but a legitimate one if cost is a concern. By turning the shower off while soaping up and back on to rinse — the so-called navy shower approach — you reduce the rate at which the pump draws from the tank and give it more time to refill. For some customers, particularly those using the shower once a day, this is perfectly workable.

Cost: nothing.

Downside: it requires discipline every single day, and it doesn’t solve the underlying problem if you have more than one person showering regularly.

Option 2 — Increase your cold water capacity

The proper fix. This means either replacing the existing 25 gallon tank with a larger one — typically 50 gallons — or adding a second tank alongside the existing one and connecting the two together. Both approaches give the pump the volume of water it needs to do its job properly.

Before committing to a replacement tank, there’s a practical constraint that’s easy to overlook — the loft hatch. A standard rectangular 50 gallon tank simply won’t fit through many older loft hatches, which means the choice of tank is partly dictated by the access available. In these situations a coffin tank is often the answer. These are elongated, lower-profile tanks designed specifically to pass through restricted openings, and provided there’s sufficient floor space in the loft they work just as well as a conventional tank.

One more thing worth checking while you’re up there — the platform the tank sits on. A 50 gallon tank full of water is considerably heavier than the 25 gallon tank it’s replacing, and older timber platforms weren’t always built with that weight in mind. Strengthening or replacing the platform before the new tank goes in is a straightforward job and not an expensive one, but skipping it isn’t worth the risk.

In terms of honest costs for 2026 in Cheshire, here’s what you should expect to pay:

• The tank itself — a good quality 50 gallon cold water tank costs in the region of £200-£250. As with most things in this trade, buying cheap here is a false economy.
• Labour to replace the tank — disconnecting the old tank, strengthening the platform where needed, installing and connecting the new tank, and making good typically adds £200-£350 depending on access and pipework complexity.
• Total cost — roughly £400-£600 all in, depending on your loft and what’s involved.

Adding a second tank alongside the existing one is sometimes the more practical route where loft access or pipework makes a full replacement awkward. A second tank properly connected and balanced with the existing one costs a similar amount for materials and slightly less for labour. Total cost in that scenario roughly £350-£550.

Either way, once the tank issue is resolved, the pump can be fitted and commissioned properly — which is what we went on to do for our Middlewich customer.

How to tell if your tank might be the problem

If you’re experiencing any of the following, your cold water tank is worth investigating before you spend money on a new shower pump:

• Your Stuart Turner pump stutters briefly then switches itself off during showering
• Pressure drops noticeably when another tap or appliance is running elsewhere in the house
• You can hear the tank in the loft refilling frequently and for long periods
• Your home was built before 1990 and has never had the loft tank replaced or upgraded

The only reliable way to know for certain is to have someone with experience take a look. We always check the tank as part of any shower pump installation — because fitting a pump without checking is the short cut that leads to a callback.

A note on why this matters for older properties in Cheshire

The CW10, CW8, CW9 and CW11 postcodes — Middlewich, Northwich, Sandbach and the surrounding areas — have a significant stock of homes built between the 1960s and 1990s. Many of these will still have their original cold water tanks, sized for the plumbing demands of the era they were built in. Modern shower pumps and the general increase in water usage in a typical household have moved the goalposts considerably.

If you’re in an older property and thinking about upgrading your shower, it’s always worth asking your fitter whether the tank has been checked. If they don’t mention it, ask the question yourself.

If you’re in Middlewich, Northwich, Sandbach, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel or Winsford

We carry out shower pump installations and cold water tank upgrades across all of our service areas. Every job starts with an honest assessment — we’ll tell you exactly what we find and exactly what it will cost before any work begins.

Call Martin on 07734 703414 for a free, no-obligation quote.

Beyond the Install: Why a Bathroom Supply & Fit Reigns Supreme. 

Renovating your bathroom? You might be tempted by a fit-only service, but a supply and fit package offers significant advantages, making the process smoother and the outcome better. Here’s why:

• One-Stop Shop, Zero Hassle: Imagine sourcing every tile, tap, and toilet yourself. A supply and fit service takes that burden off your shoulders. We handle it all, from initial design consultations to sourcing quality materials, saving you precious time and stress.

• Expert Advice, Tailored to You: We understand space planning, material compatibility, and current trends. We’ll guide you through the overwhelming choices, ensuring your dream bathroom is also a practical and functional one.

• Guaranteed Quality, Inside and Out: Supply and fit companies often have established relationships with reputable suppliers, meaning you’ll get high-quality products at competitive prices. Plus, we take responsibility for the entire project, so if there’s an issue with a product or the installation, we’ll sort it.

• Coordinated Project Management: Juggling different tradespeople can be a nightmare. A supply and fit service manages everything, from plumbers and electricians to tilers and fitters. This streamlined approach minimizes delays and ensures everyone’s on the same page.

• Peace of Mind, Start to Finish: With a single point of contact, you’ll have clear communication throughout the project. We’ll handle the logistics, manage the budget, and keep you informed every step of the way, giving you peace of mind from initial design to the final flourish. Choosing a supply and fit service isn’t just about convenience; it’s about investing in a stress-free and successful bathroom renovation.