Upgrading your bathroom

Your new bathroom will be modern and comfortable. We’ll replace the bath, toilet and sink with a brand new white suite and upgrade your bathroom’s floor to new safety flooring. If possible, we’ll also install a new shower over the bath, tile the wall in the shower area and add a new shower curtain.

If we can, we’ll fit an extractor fan to help reduce condensation. This will run at a low speed at all times to provide background ventilation.

If you have a second toilet, we might replace this too, and upgrade your electric consumer unit (fusebox) if it needs it.

We’ll contact you to let you know about our plans to upgrade your bathroom and tell you which of our contractors will be carrying out the work.

Our contractor will get in touch to introduce themselves and explain what sort of work they’ll be doing. They’ll let you know if you have any choices in colour or design and clarify how long they expect the work to take.

They’ll also put you in touch with a liaison officer who will chat to you about any access arrangements and contact you before the work starts. They will be your main point of contact for any general questions you might have.

From time to time there might be unexpected changes to the schedule. We’ll keep you posted if this happens.

Asbestos survey

Before we start replacing your bathroom, we might also want to carry out an asbestos survey in your home. This is a routine safety check to ensure there’s no hidden asbestos that could be disturbed and is nothing to worry about.

If we do need to do a survey, our specialist contractor Environtec will contact you directly. If any damage is caused, we will repair it when the work is finished.

Not every home needs an asbestos survey.

Your new bathroom suite will be white, but you’ll be offered different colour choices for the tiles and floor. If you have a disability or other special needs, we can arrange for an assessment to be done so that this can be taken into account.

Level-access showers

If you’ve had an assessment by an occupational therapist that recommends a level-access shower, we might be able to do this at the same time as other improvement works.

If so, we’ll arrange for the level-access shower to be fitted in line with the design you’ve agreed with your occupational therapist.

One of our contractor’s liaison officers will visit you at home beforehand and let you know how to prepare. This might include:

• removing all your toiletries and belongings from the bathroom
• lifting and removing your existing floor covering
• removing toilet roll holders, mirrors, cabinets or other furnishings

If you have any special needs which make it difficult for you to lift or move large items, our contractor may agree to move furniture or flooring for you.

However, they can’t accept any liability for damage to your belongings so they might ask you to sign a form to say you agree to this.

The safety of you, your family and our contractors is our top priority. Your bathroom installation will be fully supervised by a site manager through to completion.

Our contractors should always wear the correct PPE (personal protective equipment) but if you’ve got any concerns this isn’t happening, let us know – we’ll never risk your safety, and neither should our contractors.

It will normally take 10 working days to fit a new bathroom.

The bathroom suite will be fitted over three to four days followed by plastering, wall tiling and painting. If you are having a level access shower installed it can take slightly longer.

When the work is finished our contractor and planned works project manager might come to check the finished work.

There will be some noise and contractors will need to be in and out of your home.

The main disruption will be in your bathroom, which you won’t be able to use during the working day. You might also be without water for a few hours while plumbing work is being done. There will also be times when you might not have access to the toilet.

Sometimes, you might not have access to power or heating while electrical work is being done. If your bathroom is upstairs, there might be some times when you might not be able to go up and down the stairs.

Our contractors will never leave you without power, water or a toilet overnight.

If you’re a homeowner you’ll most likely be responsible for repairing and maintaining your home, which will include your bathroom.

However, if you want to do maintenance yourself, you might still need our permission before you start.

You can find out more information about upgrading your home in your agreement. If you are unsure about what your agreement says, please contact us and a member of the leasehold and homeownership team will get back to you.