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Bathroom suite


sunny

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Hello,

We are thinking of buying our bathroom suite from UK and taking to SW France.  A few questions:

* Will the toilet, bathtub, sink and taps/wastes fit - is the plumbing in UK and France the same?

* If anyone has done this, do you have any recommendations on where to buy the bathroom stuff and how to get to SW France?

Thanks for your help!

Sunny

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We bought some of our bathroom things from the UK on Ebay. I wanted for example a shower that has very thick glass. I found 10mm glass shower with tray as well as a shower door for another bathroom that is 10mm thick for a fraction of the cost here in France. Most of the ones available here are only 6mm and I find them a bit flimsy and are a lot more expensive. However, I must add outside of the shower tray that is fitted crooked ( [:(]) we bought these last year and still don't have them fitted!!

I also bought a cast iron rolltop bath from UK Ebay at an incredible low price. I had the bath, showers and other things picked up from our house in the UK and then delivered to France and still saved even if I had bought a lower quality in France. I also bought the taps from UK Ebay from companies that delivered to France. However, for things like toilets and an ordinary straight bath I bought in France. They seem to be priced quite low and good quality. I can't see where it would be worth the trouble with those.

Having said all of that I wish money wasn't an object and I could just go into one of the high end specialty bathroom shops in France and place an order. But 10mm glass is still hard to come by even at thousands of euros. At least it was last year [:)].

I would say it is definitely a lot of hassle but it depends on your budget and what you want if it is worth the trouble. It was for us. The big disappointment for us is the trouble in finding a good artisan to fit them properly!

Sadly with the crash of the pound we are having to source most things from the UK. I am off to the UK tomorrow and when I return to France next year, I will be loaded up particularly with tubs of paint this time as well as ordering a kitchen and appliances in the UK.

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Hi Anton, I am off in a little while so may not be able to see your reply. But we had no problem with this. In fact, because I needed a larger than average shower tray, I just had one delivered from the UK two weeks ago because I couldn't find one anywhere in France. There was no problem fitting it. The plumber told me that all the plumbing sizes appear the same throughout Europe. Perhaps this isn't true and just got lucky with the things we ordered from the UK and they were all the same as the French plumbing. We bought the loos in France so maybe this is what you are referring o.
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Apart from some older French houses using 80 mm soil pipes for which adaptor are available loos are not a problem. UK 40 mm waste pipe used with comprsssion fittings does not easily mate with French 40mm. Other  items like 15 mm to 16 mm pipes can be over come.

More detail than you could ever wish to read in another place :

http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=188

 

 

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[quote user="Anton Redman"]

Apart from some older French houses using 80 mm soil pipes for which adaptor are available loos are not a problem. UK 40 mm waste pipe used with comprsssion fittings does not easily mate with French 40mm. Other  items like 15 mm to 16 mm pipes can be over come.

More detail than you could ever wish to read in another place :

http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=188

[/quote]

Or just use French traps?

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Thanks to all for your replies. 

Anton, thanks for the link - it is very useful.

We are still not sure whether to buy in UK or France...need to explore what is available and the prices a bit more.

Does anyone know of a company which is reliable for transporting big items from UK to SW France?  Any idea of cost would be very helpful.

Thanks again for your advice and suggestions.

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Hello,

We are thinking of buying our bathroom suite from UK and taking to SW France.  A few questions:

* Will the toilet, bathtub, sink and taps/wastes fit - is the plumbing in UK and France the same?

* If anyone has done this, do you have any recommendations on where to buy the bathroom stuff and how to get to SW France?

Thanks for your help!
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[quote user="Epixium"]Hello,

We are thinking of buying our bathroom suite from UK and taking to SW France.  A few questions:

* Will the toilet, bathtub, sink and taps/wastes fit - is the plumbing in UK and France the same?
* If anyone has done this, do you have any recommendations on where to buy the bathroom stuff and how to get to SW France?

Thanks for your help![/quote]

Welcome Epixium,

 Most of your questions are answered on this thread already

Dont bring UK wastes as the pipe sizes are wrong for France, all other bits as mentioned above will fit. UK copper size is different and thinner.

Buy the time you have transported it will it be any cheaper? depends what you want and where you are taking it.

Where to buy, Bathstore when they have a sale? who knows depends on you style.

 

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Welcome to the forum, on the first page of the thread is a link - shown with an _________ underline. If you click on that limk it takes you to a long posting in another place. When you have read that thread you will know more than enough about the similarities and differences between French and UK plumbing.

Unless I was taking a van down anyway I find it hard to cost justify bringing sanitary ware from the UK. First two outlets are owned by Kingfisher who also own B&Q and Screwfix. Leroy Merlin are similar but a bit more expensive or upmarket

http://www.bricodepot.fr/bordeaux/

http://www.castorama.fr/store/

http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-front/pre?zone=zonecatalogue&renderall=on&idLSPub=1123599291&pageid=17

 

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One note of caution, UK mains water supply is 3bar. French is 5bar, with 6bar not uncommon. Ensure your UK bought taps are rated for such pressures or you have a pressure reducing valve installed at the property in France.

I was in CP Hart in Londinium last week and the sales girl told me if I didn't fit a reducing valve to the house the taps I was looking at would explode.

I too was shocked at the price of French slipper baths in France, when the time comes ours will be sourced from the uk too.
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  • 2 months later...
We've bought our bathroom stuff in the UK and intend to drive it down ourselves next week. Got 2 walk-in showers, 3 WCs and 4 basins and taps from bathstore. They quoted £650 to deliver it which seems very reasonable but we've decided to hire a van and take it ourselves (large transit £250 for 3 days)

We've used the stuff before on a previous renovation and are happy with the quality and while I'm sure we could have got cheaper in France our plumber was quoting 6,000 euros for similar styles.

By the time we've paid for diesel, tolls and ferry i think the cost will be about the same as the delivery charge but it gives us a chance to check on the build and we'll also have room to take more of our stuff over.

Hope this info is helpful for someone and thanks for all the previous gems.

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