Getting started
A bathroom you have just inherited rarely needs a renovation; it needs four parts changed, in an order that makes each one easier than the last. The first purchase on this list is the least interesting object in the catalogue, and everything after it depends on having made it.
Four changes, and the order is the argument.
The Ibergrif angle valve is the cheapest useful thing in this catalogue and the one that makes everything below it a twenty-minute job. Two of them, one per supply, and the rest of this list stops needing the mains turned off.
If your basin already has them, open and close each one now rather than the day you need it. A valve that has not moved in ten years is the one that will not move when it matters.
The Neoperl screen threads into the end of the spout and is the cause of weak flow far more often than the tap is. It is also the smallest purchase here that reverses a complaint people have lived with for years.
Take the old one out and measure it before ordering: M24 male and M22 female cover most European basin taps, and the two look alike online.
The GROHE head is the cheapest part of a shower to change and the part that changes it most. The thread is G1/2 on everything, so it fits whatever you have.
One thing to do before deciding it is weak: look in the inlet for the moulded flow restrictor and read whether the maker designed it to come out.
The LOBENSWERK seat is the most replaced fitting in a bathroom, and the one most often returned — for a reason that has nothing to do with the seat. Take the old one off and measure three things: hinge hole spacing, length from those holes to the front of the pan, and width.
Anything that means opening a wall, and anything volumetric — a bath, a tray, an enclosure. Those belong to a renovation, and all four purchases above will still be right when that renovation happens.
Angle valve · 1/2 in wall connection · 3/8 in hose outlet · DIN standard · chromed brass · rotary handle
The plain, correct angle valve: both threads stated, brass body, and the DIN standard named — which is all this part has to be.
Best for: A standard basin or kitchen tap replacement on 1/2 in wall connections, which is almost all of them.
≈ £5 / 6 €
Aerator · M24 × 1 male thread · chrome plated, seal supplied · 13.5 to 15 l/min at 3 bar — stated with the reference pressure · ten supplied
A ten-pack from the manufacturer that invented the aerator, and the only listing here whose flow figure means something.
Best for: Replacing aerators on good taps where the original specification matters, and where the flow should stay as designed.
≈ £16 / 14 €
Hand shower · three modes on a rotary control · 8 l/min stated · full performance from 1.0 bar · SpeedClean silicone · drop-protection silicone ring
The only hand shower here that states the pressure it works properly at — 1.0 bar — which matters far more than the saving it advertises.
Best for: A gravity-fed or low-pressure system, where most water-saving heads simply feel thin.
≈ £20 / 29 €
Toilet seat · urea duroplast 2.0, antibacterial and UV-resistant · 25° fast-close · two mounting systems · quick-release · 150 kg to DIN 19516 · 120 000 cycles
A seat that publishes a soft-close life of 120 000 cycles — eight times what its nearest rival states — with a template, a video and two mounting systems.
Best for: A busy household where the damper will be worked hard, and a pan whose fixing type is not yet known.
≈ 50 €
Because they turn every later job from "drain the building" into "close two valves". A tap change, a hose change, a filter, a bidet seat — all of them stop being events once the valves are there.
It is the reason most people think they need a new tap. A blocked screen drops the flow and sprays the stream sideways, and it unscrews, soaks in descaler and costs a euro or two to replace.
Because it is the part you hold, it changes the daily experience most, and it costs a fraction of a column. If it does not fix the complaint, the complaint was pressure, and that is a different page.
With leaks, then sealant and grout. Those two fix the causes and give the biggest visible change for the least money.
Fresh sealant and clean grout, by a distance. They change how a bathroom reads more than new fittings do.
A shower head, accessories and cleaning. Anything fixed needs permission, and the tenancy usually addresses it directly.
Bathrooms have specific electrical rules for good reason. This is work with regulations attached, not a weekend job.
Almost always moisture. Improving ventilation addresses the cause, whereas repainting only postpones the same problem.
No. It will not bond and it traps whatever was underneath. Removing the old sealant completely is most of the job.
Taps, shower systems and mirror cabinets swing by fifty euros or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
