In short: A bathroom remodel should be done in this order: design and order the materials, strip out, first-fix plumbing and electrics, floor preparation, boarding and plastering, tanking, floor tiling, wall tiling, second fix, silicone and snagging. Getting the sequence wrong is the most common cause of a bathroom renovation that has to be partly redone.
What's in this guide 9 sections
- Before the strip-out: design, measurements and materials
- Why the order matters more than the fittings
- The bathroom renovation steps, in order
- Who does each part: plumbers, electricians and the other trades
- How long does a bathroom remodel take, week by week?
- Final inspection and snagging
- The three most common sequence mistakes
- Where decisions have to be made
- How the sequence changes for a wet room
01 Before the strip-out: design, measurements and materials
The first part of any bathroom remodel happens before anything comes off the wall. Start with the design: where the bath, shower, toilet and basin will sit, how the door swings and how much clear space each fixture needs. Measure the room yourself or have it surveyed, because a basin or shower tray that is 50mm too wide changes the whole layout.
Then choose the fixtures and materials for the project and get them ordered; it helps to make one list of every item, from the bath to the last towel rail. The most common delay on a bathroom job is not the work; it is a suite, a shower screen or a box of tiles that was never ordered in time. A good rule is that nothing is stripped out until everything that goes back in is on site or has a confirmed delivery date.
Set the budget at the same stage, and keep part of it back. Older homes often hide something behind the tiles: a rotten joist under the bath, old lead pipework, or a circuit that will not pass a modern test. A realistic contingency for those means the job keeps moving when one turns up. Our guide to how much a bathroom renovation costs has the current figures.
02 Why the order matters more than the fittings
Almost every avoidable bathroom problem is a sequencing problem. Tiling onto a substrate that was never levelled. Fitting the shower valve before the wall was tanked. Painting a ceiling before the plaster had dried. None of those are skill failures; they are order failures.
The sequence below is not a preference. Each stage produces the condition the next one needs, and skipping ahead means going backwards later.
03 The bathroom renovation steps, in order
A bathroom remodel should be done in this order: strip out, assess what is uncovered, first-fix plumbing and electrics, floor preparation, boarding and plastering, tanking, floor then wall tiling, grouting and sealing, second fix, joinery and finishing, and finally silicone, cleaning and the snagging walk-through. Each stage starts on a surface the last one left ready.
- Strip out. Suite, tiling and flooring removed back to the substrate, waste taken away, floors and access routes protected. You cannot survey what is behind the old bathroom until this is done.
- Assess what you have uncovered. Check the joists, the state of the pipework, the electrical circuits and whether the walls are sound. This is the moment to change the plan if something unexpected has appeared, not later.
- First-fix plumbing and electrics. New hot, cold and waste runs to their final positions, new circuits for lighting and sockets, extractor provision, underfloor heating cabling. Everything that will be buried happens now, which is why the plumbing and lighting layout has to be fixed before this step.
- Floor preparation. Levelling, backer board or ply overlay on timber floors, and forming falls if it is a wet room. Tiles bedded straight onto floorboards will crack — timber moves, tile does not.
- Boarding and plastering. Walls re-boarded or made good, ceilings skimmed. Plaster then needs 5 to 7 days to dry properly in a normal heated room.
- Tanking. Shower zones and wet room floors waterproofed with a liquid or sheet membrane taken into every corner and junction, and sealed around the drain. Tile and grout are water-resistant, not waterproof.
- Floor tiling, then wall tiling. Floor first, so wall tiles sit on a finished floor level and the junction is clean. Set out the whole room before fixing a single tile — decide where the cuts land before they land badly.
- Grouting and sealing. Natural stone is sealed before and after grouting. Movement and change-of-plane joints are siliconed rather than grouted rigid.
- Second fix. The new fixtures go in: suite, brassware, shower, screens, light fittings and accessories are installed, then the plumbing and electrics are tested under load.
- Joinery and finishing. Boxing, panelling, vanity units, skirting and any bespoke elements.
- Silicone, clean, snagging walk-through. Then, and only then, decoration.
04 Who does each part: plumbers, electricians and the other trades
A full bathroom remodel touches five or six trades: a plumber for the supply and waste lines, an electrician for the lighting, extractor fan and any underfloor heating, a plasterer, a tiler and usually a joiner for boxing and storage. In England, new electrical work in a bathroom is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations, so it must be done or signed off by a registered electrician, and any gas work needs a Gas Safe registered engineer.
The hard part is not finding the trades; it is keeping them in order. When each one is booked separately, the job waits for whoever is slowest, and nobody owns the gaps between them. That is why we keep every trade in-house at Barbers Bathrooms & Kitchens: one team, one programme, and one person answerable for the sequence from strip-out to the final touches.
05 How long does a bathroom remodel take, week by week?
A standard bathroom remodel takes 7 to 12 working days once work starts, and a wet room 10 to 15. Most of that time is set by drying and curing, not by how fast the trades work.
- Week 1: strip-out, first-fix plumbing and electrics, floor preparation, boarding and plastering.
- Week 2: tanking, tiling and grouting, then the bath, shower, basin and toilet go in at second fix.
- Final days: joinery, silicone, cleaning and the snagging walk-through.
Allow longer if the design needs a suite with a long lead time, or if the strip-out uncovers work that has to be priced. Our guide to how long a bathroom renovation takes breaks the days down further.
06 Final inspection and snagging
The last step is a walk-through with you before anyone leaves. Run every tap and the shower, flush the toilet, check the extractor fan clears the steam, look along the tiles in daylight for lippage, and check the silicone is continuous where the bath and tray meet the wall. Anything that is not right goes on a snagging list and is fixed before the job is signed off, not left for a return visit you have to chase.
07 The three most common sequence mistakes
- Tiling before tanking. The tanking membrane goes under the tiles, not over them. Once the tiles are on, the only way to add it is to take them off.
- Decorating before the plaster has dried. Fresh plaster needs 5 to 7 days, and the first coat should be a watered-down mist coat rather than ordinary emulsion, or the paint will peel.
- Fitting the suite before tiling. Tiling around a fitted suite rather than behind it looks it, and it makes the suite very difficult to replace later.
08 Where decisions have to be made
Certain choices lock the sequence and cannot be changed once passed. Knowing when they arrive stops a job stalling while you decide.
| Decision | Must be made by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Layout — is the toilet moving? | Before first fix | Drainage runs are set at first fix and cannot be changed afterwards without lifting the floor again. |
| Shower type — tray or wet room? | Before floor preparation | It determines whether the floor is lifted and falls formed. |
| Underfloor heating | Before floor preparation | It goes under the tiles, on insulation board. |
| Position of every socket, spur and light | Before first fix | Cabling is buried in the wall at first fix. |
| Tile choice and layout | Before tiling starts | Setting out depends on tile size; a late change means re-planning the whole room. |
| Brassware and shower valve | Before first fix | Concealed valves need pipework in specific positions. |
09 How the sequence changes for a wet room
A wet room follows the same order with two significant additions. The floor works are more substantial — lifting the floor, installing a former or forming falls in the screed, and fitting the drain — and the tanking stage covers the whole floor as well as the walls.
Both of those sit between first fix and tiling, and both have cure times that cannot be rushed. That is why a wet room typically runs 10 to 15 working days against 7 to 12 for a standard bathroom.
