AKICOLJ part 3

[wellinghall]

(1) How much would it cost to remove a bath and supply and fit a shower and enclosure, with associated plastering, tiling, painting, "making good" etc? Only a ballpark figure is needed!

(It's a long story, and the background would only confuse!)

(2) What was the exchange rate between French Francs and Pounds Sterling in 1943? (Or rather, purchasing power of 1943 Francs in 2010 terms?) Again, I'm only looking for a ballpark figure!

(3) Where does the quotation "I am a plain, simple man with plain, simple tastes, and I want to say, plainly and simply, that ... " come from?

Comments

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

(2) Sorry oanda.com only goes back to 1990

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for looking.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Our new bathroom cost us £6000 over 10 years ago - I expect that, depending on the quality of the suite and the amount of plumbing/making good, you're looking at between £2000 - £5000.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

(2) Might this page (http://www.insee.fr/en/themes/indicateur.asp?id=29&page=achatfranc.htm) be useful as an intermediate step?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

That's just what I wanted - thanks!

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

Bathrooms - it depends. Removing the bath and unwanted items is easy, half a day should see that lot gone, plus the cost of a skip for the rubbish. Then it comes down to what the space is like where the shower goes in. Replumbing, moving pipes needs to be factored in. Does the floor need reinforcing for the shower tray? Our plasterer took two days to do all the bits around our house but that included fitting wire reinforcing mesh around corners and some waiting time whist the filling plaster set well enough for the fine skim to be added on top. Tiles and grouting could be an option.

As to French francs, you could either calculate the compound inflation figures for the intervening years or look at the cost of a range of items available in 1943 and see what they cost now, allowing for improved manufacturing/farming techniques. Or you could look at the prices of precious metals for the two dates.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all that.

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Tiling, I can comment on with a modicum of experience... For comparison, completely retiling above my bath took me six days of effort (but these were not all full days, probably more like 3 or 4 full days' work). An experienced tradesman would take less, and you're presumably talking about a shower enclosure with two sides glass and only the two sides of wall to be tiled, so it may be less again. You might be able to gauge the difference in area from my photoblog of it.

I'd expect a competent plumber to be able to do his bit in a day or less, provided there was sufficient pressure of hot water for it to work. If you need a power shower, (complete stab in the dark) allow up to a day of a sparky's time as well depending on how much effort is needed.

Painting ought to be quick and straightforward - a half day, tops - but depending on the construction there may be a fair old area to plaster first, and I've no idea how long that would take. Anecdotally, you can't find a plasterer for love nor money these days; that bit could be tricky.

Have you thought about floor coverings? Removing the bath is likely to leave a gap. What would you want to put in there? (Lino is cheap and quick, tiles are not.)

Bottom line (wet finger estimate): something like 6-8 tradesman days, plus materials (how much do you want to spend...?), plus any applicable tradesman price markup.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that.

[segh.livejournal.com]

Ask my son wsbhopkin@hotmail.com - he did ours very reasonably.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ta

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

The installation invoices I deal with tend to range from about £3k to £15k, depending on the quality of the suite and the size of the room. I assume it involves ripping out the old suite, although that's never explicitly stated.

I have a pile of Manx ones in my in-tray, I could have a look at them for you tomorrow if you like.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

That's good enough for now - thanks!

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

I had half a dozen Manx installations to look at. They generally cluster round £1,000 for the parts and £4,000 (+/- £500) for the labour, totalling around £5k (inc VAT).

Outliers: one went as low as £1,500 for installation; another as high as £5,500; one spent £2,000 on parts.

Messsr Block & Quayle do often have promotional discounts that might bring the costs down. In particular, I think we had 15% off in January, which would cover most of these. Keep checking - I think we have 50% off on some bathroom suites now, which could save £500.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I've emailed you the spreadsheet I used when costing our bathroom installation of a few years ago. Two points - when you're doing a bathroom, the small items really add up to a lot and you'll save a lot of money if you can project manage it yourself and just pay someone to fit the stuff you've bought. Obviously, you'll save even more if you fit it yourself, but that's something far beyond my capabilities or available time. (And for our bathroom, it would have been illegal because we had electrics in the form of a whirlpool bath and underfloor heating.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Not one I've read ...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, that one!

ETA to say: And that is very close to the quotation I'm thinking of; but I'm positive it's not from Monkey.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

15% off voucher for B&Q kitchens and bathrooms

www.diy.com/passiton

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ta