combined wc & wash hand basin

[REDSAW]

what an awful looking, poorly conceived piece of tat.

can always put some pebbles and flowers around it and call it a water feature!

 

[Centralheatking]

I honestly cannot see why we should buy ur product when we can already buy it now - as below DHSS already pay out on this type of installation- however if you know why yours is better then please let us all know

As per a separate post (in the WRAS forum), this is precisely the product I am helping to bring to the Uk. You can Google "Wici-Concept Toilet with Basin" for find out more.

The English version is being worked on and will be fully live and optimised in a few months. If you want further info in the meantime, including prices, you can contact me directly.

 

[Rodolphe]

Well, I will try, though I don't really expect to change anyone's mind.

Firstly, I am very aware this will not appeal to everyone, nor will it be suitable for everyone. I'm not trying to say this is the next revolution in toilets, it IS a niche product. I am realistic.

With the exception of the boxed-in product, these can be installed by end-users with little skills. Faced with the prospect of hiring a plumber to change the whole WC unit or the possibility of safely adding a basin facility themselves, some people will be attracted by the fact they can add a simple component and be done in 20/30 minutes. Not a huge selling point for you or I, fair enough, but still.

The B&Q product is similar to something that arrived in France in 2010 (and I assume over here as well, as Centralheatking knew about them already). Over there it's a GSB product and there are strong differences in quality (in our humble opinion of course).

For the mid-range product (Wici-Concept) and boxed in product (Wici Bati), we use Fluidmaster for the inlet and flush mecanisms. The end-user doesn't always see or care about it but you pros might. The various taps we supply are sourced from Roca and other suppliers we use are Geberit and SAS. So there's a guarantee of quality on the components we do not manufacture ourselves. I invite you all to go and fiddle with the B&Q tap and default kit and assess it yourselves on that front.

The basins themselves are polyresin. I know a lot of people think that resin is rubbish, but we all routinely fit resin baths and shower trays which last for years, so I tend to think that is more of an opinion than fact. We outsource the main polyresin manufacturing/moulding process to a specialist company in France but all the finishing is done in-house so we have full handle on quality control on each unit.

To finish with the basin, the B&Q one is TINY. I'm not a big bloke but frankly it's hard to fit both hands at once in the bowl. And while the shape is pleasing because it is in line with the cistern (I agree it looks quite good), on a practical level our basins are larger and their ergonomy has been studied to death and, really, is more practical (outside of the shape and size of the actual bowl part where the washing takes place, where would you put the soap on the B&Q basin?)

Next there's the Wici-Boxi product, which is the back-to-the-wall, hidden cistern product. For a start, the one argument in its favour that works the most for me is the fact you can box-in, and tile over the whole thing but still have enough access to the cistern for maintenance, thanks to the fact there is a basin (the repairs on fully boxed-in system out there do my head in in that respect). The basin designs (there are three) on this one are also more varied and modern, and with the tiling options you can make this look quite stunning. I fitted on last summer with tiles chosen by the client (www.frenchandsonsplumbing.co.uk/portfolio, I hope it's OK to post this link) and I do think that it looks better than the B&Q stuff. Again though that is personal and you may well disagree. And I take no credit for their good taste

Lastly, because it has been mentioned in passing, there is no study that show that soap in the cistern clogs up the mecanisms. You get at worst one/two squirt of soap with each 6-L flush (not going to discuss the fact not everyone washes their hands every time here ) so it get REALLY diluted. We have had NO returns from client mentioning this as an issue after 3 years and in fact a chemist got in touch with us to indicate that soapy water might well, on a molecular level, help prevention of limescale deposits so in fact it could even be helpful. This is a point that's valid both for all manufacturers of such products, not just us of course.

That's all I got If it did not convince you then fair enough, that's fine. I did not mention this on these forums because I want to contravene the sponsor rules and sell heaps to you guys, I mostly mentioned it because I am always on the lookout for... stuff to show clients and help them make choices and I don't only install bathrooms I like, I install what I'm asked to and knowledge it's always good to offer them choices, even if it's for them to discard it, isn't it? I just thought perhaps you guys also might find it useful to at least know about it in case you're ever asked.