Brushed brass, matt black, chrome and gunmetal. Taps, showers, heated rails, handles and waste covers are the parts of a bathroom people touch every day, and they are also the parts that give a room away when they are fitted crooked or left unsealed. This is the detail end of the job, done as carefully as the rest.
Tap, shower valve, waste, towel rail, screen profile and handles all in one family. Mixing finishes can work when it is deliberate, and looks like an accident when it is not, so it gets decided at the design stage rather than at the till.
Shower valves plumbed into the wall with the pipework run to suit, so nothing is on show and the plate sits flat on the tile. Isolation kept accessible so a future service does not mean breaking tiles.
Rails and radiators sized for the room, valved and balanced so they actually reach temperature rather than staying lukewarm because the rest of the system is stealing the flow. Electric elements fitted where you want summer heat without the heating on.
Matching waste covers, traps chosen with enough clearance for the vanity, and overflows connected rather than blanked and forgotten. Small things that only get noticed when they are wrong.
Straight silicone lines, colour matched, cut in properly at the changes of plane. Tile trims mitred rather than butted. This is the ten percent of the job that decides whether the other ninety percent looks professional.
Brushed brass and matt black are living finishes and they mark if they are cleaned wrong. Everything is protected during the build, cleaned at handover, and you get told plainly what to keep away from them.
Good quality PVD brushed brass does not tarnish, and it is the finish we would recommend for anything that gets used daily. Cheaper lacquered brass can wear through at the touch points within a couple of years. What ruins either of them is bleach or a limescale spray left sitting on it.
Basin and bath taps, wastes, towel rails and handles are all straightforward to change on their own. A concealed shower valve is a different matter, because the plate covers a hole in the tile that the new plate has to match. It is often possible, but it wants checking before anything is bought.
Brushed finishes, whatever the colour. Polished chrome and gloss black show every water spot and fingerprint, and in a bathroom used by four people that means wiping them daily. Brushed brass, brushed nickel and brushed black all hide the day to day and still look sharp.
Glasgow water is soft, which is one of the genuine advantages of fitting here. Limescale is much less of an issue than it is in the south, so matt black and brushed finishes stay looking right with very little effort.
You need a valve rated for the flow the head wants, and enough pressure to feed it. A large rainfall head on an underperforming system is the most common disappointment in a new bathroom. We check the flow rate before the valve and the head are specified, not after.
Yes, and plenty of people do buy their own. The only thing we ask is that it is on site and unboxed before the first fix, so if something has arrived damaged or is not what the box says, it is found while there is still time to swap it.
Based in Glasgow and out across the city and the surrounding towns most days, so a look at your room is rarely more than a couple of days away. Further afield in Scotland is no problem for the right job.
Send a couple of photos of your current bathroom and we will come back with ideas and a free quote.