New bathroom

I'd recommend that you have a heated towel rail that runs both on the central heating system and independently on electricity.
Then you can still switch it on to warm the room and air your towels when the heating is off.
Our builders disputed such a thing existed, but a friend had one so I insisted. I had to find and order it myself though.

I used to work as a housing officer and found many older people just could not use a bath as they got older. I would say definitely get a large shower unit fitted, not an over the bath shower if possible, get a very shallow shower tray so that you don't have to lift your leg to get into the shower .The best choice would be a bath with shower, an independent shower and the whole room a wet room. Clearly if you don't have the room for all of that then I would get a large shower with a seat so that you can sit if needed. And think about having some grab rails fitted so that if you do have problems rising from seated then you can assist yourself.

Thanks for this post. There are some really good points to bear in mind for the future - which seems to be closer than I would like!

Whenever I am looking for any tradesmen I always use Checkatrade who use trusted Trades who have been vetted and monitored to meet their standards. They also have insurance cover should there be any problems. I never have had any.

We have a shower tray which fits into the space the bath came out of. It is large enough to put a seat in, should we need one. It has a large fixed glass panel, and the whole thing is very easy to clean. We wanted a tray that was more or less flush with the floor, but due to the configuration of the existing plumbing and joists, we ended up with a four inch step in, which is ok. They advertised the shower tray as being non slip, but it isn’t, so we use two shower mats in there which makes me feel safer. There is a large square thin shower head and an additional hand sprayer which is very useful. We also asked for the controls to be placed where we could turn them on before we get into the shower, so that the water is running warm when you get in, so they are on the wall facing the bit where you step in, not at the end where the shower head is. The only other thing I would say is that we have two overhead showers; the one in the ensuite you can unscrew the head by hand to take it off for cleaning (and they do all need cleaning inside at some point); the new one we found we couldn’t do it without employing a wrench!
The only mistake we made with this bathroom is that I fell in love with a basin tap which has proved to be a bloody nuisance. It looks lovely, but if you turn it on too fast it hits the bottom of the sink and squirts up all over you and the floor! A lesson in not letting your heart rule your head!

Has anyone experience of a combined WC & washbasin (washbasin sits on top of the cistern)? We have a downstairs loo but no space for a separate basin so thinking about changing it. Any help greatly appreciated.

Can anyone suggest a good quality D Toilet Seat. Bought a new build house in 2018 toilet seats, Ideal, dreadful. They move when in use and the lid keeps coming off and difficult to get to and adjust. Thinking I might have to have the whole toilet replaced.

Depends on the size of your loo but this is a flexifit
www.plumbworld.co.uk/croydex-eyre-flexi-fix-soft-close-d-shape-white-thermoset-plastic-toilet-seat-wl601522h-252-1253161

Our house had an old fashioned separate toilet and bathroom. When we modernised we had the joining wall knocked down. The new through bathroom had enough space to have a separate shower unit put in which has been very useful. We also made sure that the new bath was lower which has future proofed that. Unfortunately we never thought about having a higher toilet. Too late. The new bathroom was too expensive to change again. Wish I had read a thread like this before we got started.

The information about the VAT from Whiff may be useful. I'll have to look into that. I have bronchiectasis and asthma. Because of the bronchiectasis I got NTM (a sort of non contagious TB) which involved taking three anti biotics every day for eighteen months. You can catch this from a shower head so I need one that I can take off easily and soak in white vinegar.
We have a new bathroom on order and are having a large shower with a grab rail and are doing away with the bath.
We may have to rethink the toilet though. We did not think of getting a higher one.
They are putting a sort of false wall in the shower and making a recess which will provide a shelf for shampoos etc.

We are discussing having bath removed and shower fitted we have over bath shower at the moment ,we never use the bath bathroom is small with separate toilet ,our problem is we have lots of pipes running under bath into cupboard which has boiler in how do we get round this we also seem to have problems with poor workmanship so that is a worry also unfortunately don't know anyone who have had this done . has anyone used a known company they could recommend.

I have wondered about the same thing. Our small home has two baths and the former owner had removed the tub for a shower so the house now has two showers. I have thought it would be a better house sell if there was a tub for small children or if a soak was needed for injures since we are older. Small children may be frightened if forced to get under a shower verses a tub they can enjoy as we have 13 grandchildren and one great grand.

Looking at Mumsnet it doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference now if there is no bath. For babies and toddlers they put a baby bath in the shower and the older children go under the shower. It didn't seem to be a deal breaker for most of them.