Bathroom taps - which make?

[linniebird]

Hi guys, thought someone might be able to give me some advice on which make of taps to go for in the new bathroom we're going to have installed. I'm still in the process of buying the 'hardware', but the one thing I'm stuck on is taps. A good friend of my husband is a reputable plumber and told us we have very high water pressure. We also have a combi-boiler (Worcester) that keeps playing up. God knows what's wrong with it - we've had a legit plumbing company in twice, had two new circuit boards, fan etc and the problem with it cutting out and tripping the button at the top still keeps happening resulting in a sudden cold deluge while in the shower if in there more than a few minutes. Interestingly, the problem is less acute in the cold weather! Anyway, back to the taps. From the info I've found online, it's important to buy good quality gear which is why we've resisted the temptation to get them from the 'sheds'. I've been looking at Grohe and wondered if anyone has an opinion on this make and what others you might recommend. I'm going for wall mounted (with back plate) but the choice is bewildering . Need mixer for basin (set in vanity unit) and bath/shower mixer. Any words of wisdom out there? Thanks.

 

[WHPES]

Grohe are a good make (as are Hansgrohe whch isn't actually the same) as are other makes such as Pegler, Bristan etc. Basically most "named" brassware in the comparable price ranges. Make sure the mixer you choose is suitable for the supply. You may need to fit flow limiters to the cold side whatever make of mixer you buy.

 

[linniebird]

Hi WHPES, thanks for that. I didn't expect to get a reply at this time of the morning! Funny you should mention Hansgrohe. I've only just seen that make online this evening. I just wanted to ask if the wildly fluctuating prices within each of the aforementioned makes' ranges are any indication of quality? Or to put it another way, in the case of Grohe, is the quality at the bottom end of their price range not as good as at the top end? I'm guessing it has something to do with how high-tech you want to go; eg thermostats and other little gizmos they add to the higher priced stuff. We're having a separate shower area built into a recess with an electric shower (Mira Advance Memory) so at least the boiler won't be able to get me anymore! I don't suppose you know how good (as in do they leak) HSK shower doors are by any chance?
Many thanks for your help

 

[Puddle]

For wisedom you will have to wait for another poster

However maybe just go for a tap you like ,made by a recognized,established manufacturer,you will get quality and if you need parts in the future ,they will be available and you will find they have a good after sales service

 

[linniebird]

Hey Puddle - you're a live one. Tell me, does anyone ever sleep around here?
Anyway, reading the posts on this site saved me from a very expensive mistake. I was looking at taps in Wickes but the ones I liked called Waterfall had an RRP of over £900!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though Wickes have a 50% sale on right now they were still nearly £450, double and even treble the price of most of their other taps. I decided to see if I could get a better deal somewhere else ...
Have a great evening ... oops, I mean morning.

 

[WHPES]

Some of your best deals for branded taps are online.

 

[linniebird]

Thanks for your help folks. At least now I know that my usual policy of 'you get what you pay for' is right in this case. If anyone has anything to add I'll be more than happy to listen. Cheers.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

Just make sure you get a branded tap and nothing from the sheds (b and Q etc) as they will be chinese imports and you will have no chance of getting a spare part 2 years down the line

A lot come with a decent guarantee period as well so keep receipt and all is good!

 

[dontknowitall]

Here are some nice taps:

Waterfall Basin Taps Bath Taps and Shower Taps

Prices not too bad either - I recently saw something similar to these that cost £1280 (from memory) - blue light for cold water, red for hot and mixture of those colours for water in between.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

Here are some nice taps:

Waterfall Basin Taps Bath Taps and Shower Taps

Prices not too bad either - I recently saw something similar to these that cost £1280 (from memory) - blue light for cold water, red for hot and mixture of those colours for water in between.

i have been asked loads about this water fall taps, i reckon they are the next 'new thing' . I am yet to fit one though

 

[Puddle]

Fitted this last week,only takes 24 stewart turner negative head pumps to operate
Made by Bristan but think grohe is bringing out model

Keeps going hot and cold though not sure if its the comi playing up or the thermostatic valve ?

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

have you checked the filters? i fitted one of these and found a canoe in the cold water filter!

 

[dontknowitall]

Cracking post Puddle!

Where's the bloomin' plug?

 

[linniebird]

Thanks all. I came across the exact same Waterfall taps in Wickes, and as you will have read from my previous post, their RRP package for basin and bath/shower mixers was approx £900 (though half price in their sale), but the link you gave dontknowitall goes to livinghouse.co.uk where they are probably roughly comparable in price to Wickes as the livinghouse taps don't include VAT. The £900 Wickes's package was for basin + bath/shower mixer, but I have now decided that I only require the bath tap without the shower as I'm having a separate recess shower put in which kind of renders the shower mixer idea superfluous.
Quite like the sound of the coloured lights Plumbstar Tom, but I can see my electrician husband rolling his eyes ( ) thinking 'Oh no, not ANOTHER gizmo!' I'm already having coloured lights behind the bath panel which he's wiring in, so I don't think we'd better go there ...!
I think I'll probably go for the Bristan 'Prism' or 'Soprano' ranges as they look good and do what I want. The cheapest I've found them was on topbrandbathrooms.com. The wall-mounted bath filler is £173.18 and the wall-mounted basin mixer is £159.72 (incl VAT). Was considering the 'futuristic' Bristan G-Type range but they don't do a wall-mounted basin mixer and as I want everything matching, it's a no-go.
Tell me, do any of you chaps know anything about HSK shower doors? Very expensive (the RRP of the one I want the 'Noblesse' hinged door is around £600). Was on an eBay site and one of the eBay shops said you should only buy British made shower doors because others have a tendency to leak. Don't think this can be right and I took it just as a sales pitch, but it sowed the seed of doubt in my mind. Even though I can get this door for about £460 it's still an awful lot of money to spend on something that may ultimately be inferior.
Have any of you come across this make in your travels?
Sorry, this has been such a long post. Just trying to avoid buying the wrong things! It's no good trying to get an honest opinion from retailers who have a vested interest in selling their product - it just ain't gonna happen! It's people like yourselves I listen to because you're the ones out there doing the job.

Thank you all for your kind patience and advice. Lin.

Daft buggers ...

Cracking post Puddle!

Where's the bloomin' plug?

It's a pop-up waste, didn't you know?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Fitted this last week,only takes 24 stewart turner negative head pumps to operate
Made by Bristan but think grohe is bringing out model

Keeps going hot and cold though not sure if its the comi playing up or the thermostatic valve ?

think you are losing a bit of pressure,puddle?more like a waterfall!!!!!

 

[stevetheplumber]

dont uuse them in a hard water area they scale up like mad as water tends to lay on the surfaces

 

[linniebird]

Hi stevetheplumber. Thanks for your reply. Do you mean the Waterfall taps? I did look at the horizontal surface area which could allow water to sit. Is that what you meant?

 

[Puddle]

Hi stevetheplumber. Thanks for your reply. Do you mean the Waterfall taps? I did look at the horizontal surface area which could allow water to sit. Is that what you meant?

you are going to have to keep all fittings clean,that means cleaning regularly,not allowing any build up of scale

good shower screens are made all around the world

I do not like the Soprano very much,do not think they look that classy and fiddly, think prism look a lot better,especially on wall controls

But I have prism so would like

How about nice bath,keep 1700 but go wider 50 or 100 mm if possible (press steel)

wall water fall filler,then if shower in own area or over bath if you decide a nice fixed shower head with two body jet or one at middle of back hight

then have all water controls from a wall plate out side bath and shower area,basically plate will have thermostatic control then on/off to shower and bath out lets all with prism style heads

in side shower you could have wall diverter between fixed head and body jet

this gives the impression of space in areas and allows shower to be mixed before getting in or having to move bath screen
how big is proposed bath room area ?

 

[linniebird]

Hi Puddle. The room (currently a bedroom) is rectangular 3110 x 2280 with an additional recessed area of 2440 x 1060. Having not seen Soprano up close and personal as you obviously have it looked very similar to Prism in the pictures, but if you think Soprano is a bit tacky (I don't do tacky), then I'll probably go with Prism, which was the one I liked first. Have already bought bath 1700 x 800 - very angular - squared off type of thing. I'm going for a quasi-Roman bath effect (large picture tiles of an (ancient) Roman boat race with lady in foreground from Fine Art Tiles (artist name: Poynter). This will be centralised over the bath. You might think I'm going a bit overboard, but have lots of ups and downs in my life - mostly downs - and this is the first time in the whole of my 56 years of existence that I have had the chance to do something like this. I just want it to be glorious! Hopefully will avoid overkill, but I have a reputation for good taste so fingers crossed. It did occur to me with the jesting that some of you might think I'm some kind of spoilt well-off pig. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm a bus driver who works all the overtime I can get my hands on (60-70 hours p/w) to help my husband who got made redundant just before Xmas 2008. He went s/e because nobody was hiring electricians in our area and we've had some very narrow squeaks with paying the mortgage. Things are picking up for him now, but I still have to help out. The waterfall thing you posted did make me laugh though, and I thought it was very clever the way you integrated various elements of my plans and problems in your dialogue
Anyway, I wanted to keep the bathroom as simple and uncluttered as poss. I asked about the HSK shower door because it IS expensive, and I can't afford to make a mistake. We thought the separate recessed shower would look better and make best use of available space. Don't intend to skimp on things like shower unit or taps though. Buying cheap as I'm sure you are aware, is sometimes false economy. The Mira Advance Memory should fit the bill as should the Prism taps.
Don't know if you can relate to this, but my home is my retreat where I shut out the outside world when I get home. My job can be very stressful at times - you wouldn't believe how many people have a go at bus drivers (you may even have done this yourself!). A lot of men don't like women drivers, and like it even less when you're driving something bigger than they are! Women bus drivers come in for a lot of stick out there even more so than their male colleagues. I think some have a go when they see a woman because they think she's an easy target only in my case, boy have they picked on the wrong one 'cos I'll have a go right back!! When you get this sort of thing on a regular basis it's even more important to create a place of peace and harmony when you get home.

Hopefully the picture ...