Bathroom Sanitary Ware

Faiche Ro

Trying to pick out sanitary ware at the moment for a new build, really struggling as I am not in the industry at all and no clue about plumbing etc so any help is appreciated.

We’ve been to a few bathroom places and the majority of them seem to be using similar brochures mylife etc. so the quotes all seem pretty similar.
Then from doing a bit of research here on boards a good few were buying off a german site (although a good few of those threads were in recession times)

Is there much difference in the quality of something from Mylife v’s a brand like Grohe? Do you really get what you pay for or are you paying for the name. (is a grohe shower worth an extra 500 euro?)

There are so many brands for something like a wall hung toilet and I cant really tell the difference from looking at them if the quality is poor or not.
Any advice on brands to choose v’s avoid would be a big help.

lemonkey

We use two brands on jobs:

1. Ideal Standard/Armitage Shank (mainly for HSE, OPW, Education.. public jobs.)
2. Sonas Bathrooms (mainly for housing developments.)

I'm no expert in Sanitary Ware quality but there is no visible difference in the two products apart from Sonas is more than half the price of Idea Standard Ware. So I'm assuming if you find another cheaper brand (as you mentioned Germany) there is more than likely no visible difference.

My experience with Showers on the other hand is brand like Mira and Triton seem to be sought after as they're said to be reliable. So maybe on a Shower it's more of a ''you get what you paid for'' as there are several working parts involved. So a shower cannot be compared to a sink and taps for example.

Might be worth getting a price from a Sonas rep and ignoring their website rates. They're great value for quality ratio. Ring their head off and ask for the name and number of the rep in your area. I'm fairly sure you'll still have to buy through a merchant (I.e Heitons, Chadwicks..etc) but what ever the rep quotes you is all you pay. By doing this you bypass the chance for the merchant to fleece you with an extra margin.

Faiche Ro

lemonkey wrote: »

We use two brands on jobs:

1. Ideal Standard/Armitage Shank (mainly for HSE, OPW, Education.. public jobs.)
2. Sonas Bathrooms (mainly for housing developments.)

I'm no expert in Sanitary Ware quality but there is no visible difference in the two products apart from Sonas is more than half the price of Idea Standard Ware. So I'm assuming if you find another cheaper brand (as you mentioned Germany) there is more than likely no visible difference.

My experience with Showers on the other hand is brand like Mira and Triton seem to be sought after as they're said to be reliable. So maybe on a Shower it's more of a ''you get what you paid for'' as there are several working parts involved. So a shower cannot be compared to a sink and taps for example.

Might be worth getting a price from a Sonas rep and ignoring their website rates. They're great value for quality ratio. Ring their head off and ask for the name and number of the rep in your area. I'm fairly sure you'll still have to buy through a merchant (I.e Heitons, Chadwicks..etc) but what ever the rep quotes you is all you pay. By doing this you bypass the chance for the merchant to fleece you with an extra margin.

Thanks for replying, I’ll get on to them.
Maybe the showers and walk hung toilet are the ones to splash out on.

dellas1979

Hi OP,

If you are going for wall hung toilets, it is imperative that you get the best brand as possible.

Because you need a good wall frame and a good toilet. Wall hungs are so much harder to fix than a standard loo with cistern. So you need something of good quality. I went for Gebrit wall frame and wall plate (the button you use to flush), villeroy and bosch toilet.

The showers I went with Grohe. I would also go for an external mixer shower (rather than concealed). i.e., if you have a concealed shower and something needs to be fixed or replaced, youve to tear out your tiles.

Sinks. You need to decided if you want off the floor/wall hung or standing sink. Plumber will need to know this for first fix plumbing.

PS: I bought all my wear from Germany couple of months ago.

Faiche Ro

dellas1979 wrote: »

Hi OP,

If you are going for wall hung toilets, it is imperative that you get the best brand as possible.

Because you need a good wall frame and a good toilet. Wall hungs are so much harder to fix than a standard loo with cistern. So you need something of good quality. I went for Gebrit wall frame and wall plate (the button you use to flush), villeroy and bosch toilet.

The showers I went with Grohe. I would also go for an external mixer shower (rather than concealed). i.e., if you have a concealed shower and something needs to be fixed or replaced, youve to tear out your tiles.

Sinks. You need to decided if you want off the floor/wall hung or standing sink. Plumber will need to know this for first fix plumbing.

PS: I bought all my wear from Germany couple of months ago.

Thanks for the response. Ya we just went to a bathroom place today that seems to stock more expensive brands and we’re looking at that brand of toilet.

Did you save much by buying off the German website?

Faiche Ro

dellas1979 wrote: »

Hi OP,

If you are going for wall hung toilets, it is imperative that you get the best brand as possible.

Because you need a good wall frame and a good toilet. Wall hungs are so much harder to fix than a standard loo with cistern. So you need something of good quality. I went for Gebrit wall frame and wall plate (the button you use to flush), villeroy and bosch toilet.

The showers I went with Grohe. I would also go for an external mixer shower (rather than concealed). i.e., if you have a concealed shower and something needs to be fixed or replaced, youve to tear out your tiles.

Sinks. You need to decided if you want off the floor/wall hung or standing sink. Plumber will need to know this for first fix plumbing.

PS: I bought all my wear from Germany couple of months ago.

Thanks for the response. Ya we just went to a bathroom place today that seems to stock more expensive brands and we’re looking at that brand of toilet.

Did you save much by buying off the German website?