The cost of a new bathroom…

Your average new bathroom will cost £7,700, but will add only £2,892 to the value of your property – according to something I read the other day:

http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/07/the-10-best-l-1.html

I’m not sure where the figure comes from but it sounds about consistent with out experience an average bathroom does cost about £7K+, but many people asking for quotes only expect to pay £2,892! I know how they feel – both Mr T.P. and I are often amazed at how much it might cost to buy some of the bathroom fitting which he provides. Such as hundreds of £££ just for a shower door – not even including the tray you need to stand in!

A quote for a complete new bathroom include tiles; electrics (which must be certified) – ventilation & lights; flooring; possibly plastering, new door & windows; as well as plumbing.

Only the last week Mr Tara Plumbing completed a lovely bathroom installation – it looked like something from a catalogue/ showroom. The customer said she’s be showing everyone! But she added – don’t expect any work via word of mouth referrals – ‘my friends are all too poor’.Such a familiar story when working in Thanet.

Those make over shows on TV give the illusion that an entire house could be almost rebuilt for £7,700! Well, not by professional tradespeople who need to earn a living…

Anyway – what about that article – will it only add £3k value to your home.  Common sense suggests that if you are only looking to add value or sell  your home then the upgrades need to be in proportion to the typical price of properties in your area.

Equality 2008 Bill

“What a missed opportunity. In the past year, a powerful pressure group has called for legislation that would establish a man’s right to leave the toilet seat up whenever they like. Men who leave the toilet seat up are regularly asked to put it down by women who claim to find the sight of a raised seat “gross”, or even “inconsiderate to other users”. But according to Matthew Parris of the Times, principal spokesman for the raised-seat lobby, “Hygiene and common sense dictate that ‘up’ should be the default option … Public toilets should have sprung seats returning automatically to up.”

And yet, unaccountably, the new consultation paper, A Framework for Fairness, failed to address this glaring bias in toilet attitudes. Instead, the paper focused on unfairness at golf clubs, and on breast-feeding in public, which is to be established as every nursing mother’s right, provided it is done “discreetly”,…”

I couldn’t resist quoting this written by Catherine Bennett in the Guardian – the whole article is excellent, well worth a read. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2102646,00.html

I was actually looking for that latest news on the so called Equality Bill after I read in another blog:

“I’ve been left gobsmacked by this week’s news that the government is introducing legislation against loving your child: the Equalities Bill will mean that it will be an offence to stop a woman breastfeeding her child in public. Here’s the catch, though. This is ONLY valid until the child is six months of age.

At any time beyond that, a woman breastfeeding in public can be charged with INDECENCY. Yes, you read that right. In a culture of page three girls and pornographic magazines visible in shops where children can see women’s breasts being exploited for sexual gratification and lust, women who meet their child’s biological needs in public will be considered criminals.

The government apparently reckons it wants women to feel confident about breastfeeding. What rubbish! If it wants women to feel confident then the very last thing it should be introducing is a law about when you should cut off your love!”
http://veronikarobinson.blogspot.com/

I totally agree with Veronica, although this is not quite how I would put it.

If you pass a law protecting the right to breast feed in public to age 6 months, then by implication it is NOT OK after 6 months. Which is totally ridiculous.

Babies do not stop needing food after 26 weeks! Babies should get most of their nutrition from Breast Milk until way past this time and should be breast fed until they are at least 2 years old – these are the facts – based on science and widely agreed by the medical profession.

Breast is best! You know the phrase – by implication, formula is second best i.e. inferior.

Personally, I had no problem breast feeding Master Tara Plumbing Junior in public, a few years back. Now we are expecting twins and I shall be breast feeding them when ever and where ever the need arises. As for discretion! Well, if you see me out and about on my own with 2 babies and only 2 arms and 2 hands and you’d like to help me maintain dignity and discretion, then please do come over and offer to help.

If you have never breast fed you might not be aware of the powerful suck of a baby – stronger than a hoover with a new bag, or a Dyson after the filter has been cleaned. Try getting one of those off your nipple when they have fallen asleep and you have no free hands!

The Times have reported on it all as well:

“…concern that more needs to be done to increase breast-feeding rates.

The latest data show that less than 1 per cent of new mothers follow international advice to breast-feed exclusively for six months. While 76 per cent of mothers start out breast- feeding, most resort to formula within the first six weeks.”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1923519.ece

This article and the readers comments goes on to discuss whether feeding babies should take place in public toilets!

 

So, toilets seat up or down? I’ve blogged on this before… http://mrstaraplumbing.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/toilet-seat-lid-etiquette/

Top 10 plumbing mistakes:

I got an email from across the pond telling me about a Plumber’s blog.

Isn’t it wonderful  here I am talking to myself in a seaside town in Kent, next thing I might be discussing almost anything from breast feeding to children’s education with folk from anywhere in the world.

Anywhere – so long as they speak English, of course.  Me being a typical product of my culture, I can order 2 beers in any European language, that’s all.

The plumber’s blog was not in English, it was in American.  I often find their language very difficult to understand, as well as their culture, president… etc.  Mr Tara Plumbing lived out in that country for a while, he told me their plumbing standards and techniques are (generally) excellent. 

Anyway, there was a blog: Top Ten Plumbing Mistakes, I quote here (with out a translation in to my native tongue) and a link for the full thing is below:

• 10. Trying to solder pipes with water still dripping or just trying to solder if you have
  never tried it.
  9. Re-using old supply lines and p-traps made of metal.
  8. Asking how to at Home Depot or Lowes (Exception Ace Hardware’s employees do seem
  to know their stuff.)
  7. Buying an assortment of fittings so you have enough parts. (Tip: take off your faucet or fixture and bring
  the parts that will be connecting to the store and make sure you have the proper connections and lines.)
  6. Starting your kitchen faucet or sink replacement an hour before dinner
  5. Not sealing threads with plumbers tape or Not using plumbers’ putty on your drain connections
  4. Buying cheap off brand faucets (Especially for behind the wall installations.)
  3. Not turning off the house main water valve before starting your plumbing project.
  2. Having your Friend or Relative there to give you advice. Or Letting your wife/husband watch.
  1. Starting the job and then deciding to call a plumber
• http://www.shopdpoblog.com/2008/06/top-10-do-it-yourself-plumbing-mistakes.html

    Got me thinking I must  ask Mr T.P. for his top 10, I think I’ve probably mentioned some of them previously in my blog.   They might include things like:

forgetting to leave your number on our ansaphone; asking why we haven’t called you back – when you haven’t yet listened to our message on your ansaphone; telling us you didn’t pay the last plumber because you didn’t like him; …

Anyway, the American Plumber’s blog includes lots of questions and answers to plumbing problems, a fantastic resource – for anyone who might be researching plumbing problems in the U.S.A!

http://www.shopdpoblog.com/