A complete bathroom renovation removes everything down to the brick and the floor slab, renews supply and waste pipes, adds a continuous waterproof layer and only then applies tiles or a seamless finish. We coordinate every trade, including authorised partner installers for the electrics, buy the materials if you wish and leave the room clean. You receive one itemised quote and deal with one contractor throughout.
What does a complete bathroom renovation include?
A full renovation is not a facelift. The existing tiles, screed, bath or tray, basin, WC and fittings come out, and the room returns to its structure: brick or block walls and the concrete floor. From there it is rebuilt in a set order.
- Strip-out and debris removal, planned with the building’s access in mind.
- New supply pipes to every outlet and new waste pipes back to the soil stack, with proper falls.
- Electrical points for lighting, extractor, mirror, towel rail and shaver socket, carried out by authorised partner installers.
- Levelling and forming falls in the shower area, and preparation of the walls.
- Waterproofing of the floor and the wet walls as its own stage.
- Tiling or a seamless finish, niches, edges and sealing.
- Fitting of WC, basin, taps, shower, screen, mirror and accessories, followed by a leak test and a final clean.
Whether you also want a new ceiling, a door widened or a window replaced is agreed at the quote stage, so nothing is added silently later.
Why not just retile over the old bathroom?
Tiling over existing tiles is quicker and messier to undo later. It adds thickness to the walls, raises the floor, hides whatever state the pipes are in and does nothing about the absence of waterproofing. In older apartments on the coast, the original pipework is often the real reason for a damp patch on the neighbour’s ceiling.
There are cases where a lighter job is reasonable, for example a recent bathroom with sound pipes where only the finishes are dated. We will tell you if that applies to yours. But if the room has never been opened, a full strip-out is the only way to know what you are building on. The article bathroom renovation mistakes lists the shortcuts that tend to cost owners most.
How do you decide where the shower, basin and WC go?
The layout is set by three fixed points: the soil stack, the window and the door. The WC needs the shortest, steepest route to the stack; the shower needs enough depth for its waste and ideally sits away from the door; the basin is the most flexible piece. Within those limits there is usually more freedom than owners expect.
We draw the options on a simple plan before anything is ordered. Moving the WC to the other side of the room may be possible, but it changes how much floor has to be opened and whether the neighbour’s ceiling is involved. For narrow en-suites, the small bathroom layout guide shows the usual arrangements that work.
What happens to the pipes and the waste?
Supply pipes are renewed from the point where they enter the bathroom, so that no old joint stays buried in a new wall. Each outlet gets its own isolation where practical, which makes future repairs easier. Waste pipes are replaced with correctly sized ones and laid with a continuous fall; sagging or flat waste runs are one of the most common causes of slow drains and smells.
The connection to the vertical soil stack is a shared element of the building in an apartment block. We connect to it with care and, if the stack itself is in poor condition, we tell you so you can raise it with the community. Replacing a shared stack is a community decision, not something an individual owner can order.
How is the bathroom waterproofed?
After the pipes are in and the walls and floor are prepared, a continuous waterproof membrane is applied across the shower floor, up the shower walls and around the rest of the floor where splashing is expected. Corners get reinforcing tape, the drain gets a sealed collar and each pipe that passes through the membrane is sealed individually.
We leave this layer exposed until it has been checked. Only then does the tiler or the applicator of the seamless finish start. Our waterproofing guide explains the full build-up from substrate to finish and what to ask any contractor about it.
Who buys the tiles, sanitaryware and taps?
You can choose either way. Many owners prefer us to source everything, which keeps delivery dates in step with the work and avoids the wrong part arriving on the day it is needed. Others have already chosen a basin or a set of taps they love. Both are fine; the quote shows which lines include material and which are labour only.
If you supply items yourself, we will tell you what dimensions and connection types we need before you buy, so the wall-hung frame matches the WC, the concealed valve matches the shower set and the basin fits the counter.
How do I get a quote for my bathroom?
Send photos of each wall, the floor, the ceiling and the existing bath or shower, plus the approximate floor area and the floor the apartment is on. Tell us whether there is a lift and whether the property is lived in. That is enough for a first assessment by email or WhatsApp.
After a visit we prepare the itemised quote: strip-out, plumbing, electrics, waterproofing, finishes, fitting and cleaning, each with its own description and quantity. If you are also weighing up a bath-to-shower conversion or a walk-in shower, those pages explain what changes in the scope.
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reforma Baños Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
