Top Art Wash Basins

The Top Art™ Collection includes 4 exotic basins & countertops. This colorful range emanates both positive energy and playfulness into its surroundings. Vivid, contrasting colors and oversized patterns and mini-prints in are pieced together, taking inspiration from some of the most hip fashion trends and designer prints of today. These basin will certainly add some exotic style to your home.

These basins can be mounted on a console table or mounted onto an existing surface. As the basin and countertop are sold separately a bespoke and completely original look can be achieved.

Top Art™ Collection can be matched with some fantastic wall mounted basin taps to complete the look

Another benefit of the Top Art™ range is the fact that the basin and countertop are sold as separate items. This enables a bespoke bathroom combination to be created. For example the Zanzibar basin looks amazing with the complimenting countertop, but equally beautiful with the Congo countertop. Alternatively the basin can be mounted onto an already existing surface. The variations possible make for a truly unique bathroom setting.

These basins are certainly well named. Which is your favourite?

Kohler Cast Iron Creatives

Kohler Cast-iron Basins are available in a range of colours. For example the Murraya is available in Iron Cobalt as well as white whilst the Tableau is available in black, vapour green,vapour blue, vapour orange and vapour pink. Adding vibrancy, life and colour to your bathroom.

Another benefit is that the basins are made from 93% recycled and reclaimed materials. So as well as standing out for their sharp design quality they are eco friendly as well. The Cast Iron enamel surface is stain resistant, non porous and resists cracking and chips. The basins can be wall mounted or surface mounted. There are is a selection of very attractive wastes to choose from to complete the look.

Feel free to talk to one of our sales staff or call in if you have any questions what so ever about choosing the correct basin or matching accessories. ?We are hear to help and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Do you LOVE or HATE these wash basins? Let us know.

Kohler Ceramic Wash-hand Basins

A beautiful and elegant alternative to a traditional wash basin. The variety and quality of finish is exquisite. The range looks fantastic in a traditional bathroom or a more modern setting and provides either an exotic look or a modern cutting edge look that stands out purely due to the quality of design. Just look at the designs on these wash basins! There are incredible fabrics and wallpapers available at the moment that would look incredible paired up with these basins. However the designs of these basins stand alone as centre pieces in their own right. Have a look at the wash basins individually in our shop.

The Serpentine Vessel basin is one of 12 ceramic basins in this range. The  range spans from exotic and fun to cutting edge modern. As you can see there are several very different styles of wash basins to choose from. One of the many benefits is that each basin is finished inside and outside. Which means you have the versatility of mounting the basin on or under a countertop. Which is your favourite?

Vessel Basins From Kohler

Nature’s Chemistry Vessel Basins

Inspired from Ancient Chinese washbasins used when running tap water did not exist. The Vessel basin was a beautiful necessity of the chinese customs and culture. Even a century ago, porcelain vessel basins were a mainstay in every home and are quickly becoming so again.These hand made, elegantly formed glass and bronze Vessel basins can become the centre piece in any bathroom. This is a striking collection of glass and bronze vessel basins from Kohler.

Amongst the many benefits of installing one of these beautiful glass basins is the fact that the glass material provides a strong, durable surface that is also very easy to clean. They are handmade by highly trained craftsmen and can be mounted onto a range of countertops. These basins naturally do not have overflows but there is a large selection of wastes available to complete the look. Contact one of our staff for advice on what products would best suit the basin. Basin taps should be wall-mounted or extra tall  basin taps should be purchased to complete the look. Again any one of our staff would be delighted to help you find just the right accessories.

These Vessel wash basins are contemporary, traditional, fun, elegant, even cutting-edge: You will be able to  find a vessel-style sink to fit virtually any bathroom décor. For any help choosing the right basin to complete your look please contact us. Our staff are friendly and willing to help at all times.

1933 – 1934: Kohler at the Chicago World’s Fair

REPAIRING A SMASHED WASH HAND BASIN

We often get calls from clients asking us if it is possible to repair cracked sinks or even broken sinks. Until recently basins with extensive damage could not be repaired. However we at The Bath Business are continualy trying and testing new procedures for all our bath re enamelling work. We can fix all of these problems with a sink or wash-hand basin due to our innovative research and work. Our technicians are highly skilled and the best in the repair & re enamelling business as far as we are concerned. Despite our confidence in our ability to do a good job for our clients we had never had a basin that had been completely smashed. So a smashed wash hand basin was new for us.

I got a call in the office from a chap called Colin Slater. He had bought a beautiful basin and was very excited about getting it home. He was busy renovating his property with his partner (an architect called Singa Govedi) and this wash-hand basin was part of their renovations. They had searched for the perfect basin for their bathroom. Colin worked long hours as a Deputy Head Teacher in a London school. As you might imagine it was hard enough to fit everything in with work and also work on the property at the same time.

The Clayton Sink was perfect for their project and completely in keeping with the style of bathroom they wanted. As well as being a lovely sink it also had a gorgeous cast iron wall mounted frame that it sat in. It was a lovely antique basin. It was being delivered from Yorkshire. Colin was so excited about the basin arriving he was looking out of his window as the van pulled up. To Colin’s horror he watched in slow motion as the package was DROPPED out of the back of the van. The results were not surprisingly devastating. The basin was completely smashed to pieces. Colin was very upset as this was an important part of their restoration work.

By the time Colin had called us he had already spent around 60 man hours putting the wash-hand basin back together. His partner had then spent around about 240 man hours filling and sanding the basin. It was a very labour intensive undertaking but they loved the sink so they wanted to have it saved from the rubbish dump. After all it was an antique and had survived so far.

Colin and his partner had done a great job thus far but they now needed to have the basin re enamelled professionally by a reputable expert restoration company. They wanted to keep the logo. Also they wanted the original colour to be maintained. This meant we would need to do some special restoration work to retain the logo and make the colour of the basin to get a perfect match.

They were delighted with the result on the sink and the fact we’d retained the logo whilst resurfacing the rest of the sink. What do you think?

As you can see in the above photo the basin is fully restored and has the logo retained. Apparently the basin causes gasps of amazement from Colin & Singa’s guests.

This wash basin is a good example of a Victorian basin with cast iron frame. If you would like to purchase an antique basin such as this or any other traditional design contact us at The Bath Business. We can source original antique basin supply quality reproductions, or, if you are looking for something particularly special let us know and we will source this for you.

For more information on our re enamelling and restoration works please contact us on 07967333030.

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Thomas Crapper. Original Lever Taps Fully Restored

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 Thomas Crapper and Co were very well-known for the quality of their products and received several Royal Warrants. It is a name that exudes quality to this day.

There are quite a few Victorian company’s that helped establish and promote high standards and quality of  British workmanship. Within the fine sanitary wear business John Bolding and certainly Thomas Crapper and Co would be counted amongst these. If you are lucky enough to have some Thomas Crapper taps it is well worth restoring them.

Here are some stunning original Thomas Crapper taps. As you can see they were in a terrible state. One of the handleswas completely missing and they were unusuable. 

To recondition and re plate these taps first of all the taps would be taken apart and inspected thoroughly. If any parts were found to be missing or faulty these would be replaced. Then the taps would be put back together again and tested to ensure they worked correctly. After this the taps would need to be taken apart again to be plated. In this instance a lovely silver nickel plate was applied. Again the taps would be put together again and tested before finally being packaged a returned to their owner. Arguably more work goes into reconditioning and re plating the taps than the original construction.

The specialist tap technician has done a fantastic job of restoring the taps so they look absolutey stunning.

If you would like to have some original taps restored contact us at The Bath Business.

We also sell original restore antique taps by Thomas Crapper, John Bolding, Dent & Hellyer, George Jennings to name a few. Contact us if you need to source a particular style or make. If we don’ have them in stock we can probably find them for you.

BABY BATH- RESTORED TO NEW

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Here is a lovely little original Victorian Baby Bath we restored in our workshop.

Baby bath re enamelled

These baby baths were originally used to bathe babies in hospitals all over the country. They are quite lovely. The unusual legs makes the bath an ideal size to bathe a baby in.  However when Hospitals were upgraded most were thrown out and modern bathrooms installed.

So this little baby bath is quite unusual now. As you can see the bath re enamelled inside and out along with the legs restored has put the bath into great condition.

Baby Bath Re enamelled

This bath has beed put up FOR SALE by the client recently. So someone could purchase this for £2500 plus vat.

Contact The Bath Business on 01342324577  for more information.

How Do You Increase the Value of Your Home for Very Little Money

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Having your Bathroom Suite resurfaced should increase the value of your home.  It will help your suite look brand new, clean and fresh. At the very least new bathroom taps can help update and improve the bathroom in readiness of a quick sale.

Like many people, you may be looking to sell up and move house. If so, you’ll want to ensure you give yourself the best possible chance of receiving or even exceeding the asking price for your current property.

Today’s housing market is scary enough for most people. The possibilities of receiving a bid that matches or exceeds the value of your property can be impossible to obtain. If you are offering potential buyers exactly what they are looking for you are in with a chance of reaching your desired sale price. For example, a poorly decorated bath-room or a cluttered bedroom can often be enough to put off many people from considering an offer for your home. You might already be aware that certain areas of your house could benefit from being spruced up, but you simply can’t afford the outlay required to renovate them. As a result, the offending room is often left in its existing condition additional items of furniture or bric-a-brac are utilized to hide the room’s shortcomings. Quite frequently the offending room becomes a storage center.

Unfortunately, this might well end up costing you money & perhaps damaging the potential value of your property. However, this need not occur, especially if the difficulties are being caused by your bathroom.

As the bathroom is the most visited room in the house. Along with the Kitchen it is considered vital that the bathroom most impresses the buyer. If you have lived in your existing property for a number of years, there’s a good chance that your bathroom will have remained the same since you first moved in. Perhaps you renovated it yourself years ago to suit your own tastes.

You might well think that having a pink sink and toilet is acceptable and common. There is nothing that will put off a potential buyer more than dated coloured sanitary-ware in a bathroom! Combine this with a dull, worn peach bath and you may as well wave your house sale goodbye.

Potential buyers have their own ideas with regards to their perfect bathroom. Factors such as flooring and types of storage are important to them. Many want a clean, modern or traditional Victorian white bathroom suite with chrome fittings and ample storage. Resurfacing a coloured suite to white can help achieve the look most buyers are looking for.

Regardless of different tastes the Bathroom must look clean and fresh. Even a nicely tiled and floored bath-room will not impress the buyers if the bath is worn, stained and looks dull or dirty. Even marked taps will put them off a potential sale. Luckily this is something that can be rectified fairly easily and not necessarily expensively.

Taste and style of baths or tap fittings can be as varied as the owners. Generally speaking, as long as your bathroom is clean and fresh looking with bright fixtures and fittings, a potential buyer will go away without having to worry about completely ripping out the bathroom and starting from scratch. By giving them something to work with, you are significantly increasing your chances of selling the property.

Achieving the above is not an expensive task. Resurfacing a complete bathroom suite can cost around £600. Not ripping out the old bathroom and not having to redecorate will save you not only in time and money but also a lot of organizing of different workmen and an awful lot hassle. So it’s well worth doing. You may only need to have the bath resurfaced. In this instance it will only cost around £300 and you can end up with a lovely new looking bathroom. 

Check http://tinyurl.com/2f69lks for a quote and information.

Once you bathroom suite is looking pristine again you can look at investing in some lovely accessories. This need not cost a lot of money and at least you can take these with you once you sell. Lovely luxury towels, some scented candles and other bath time accessories all help your potential buyer paint a picture of themselves relaxing comfortably in your bathroom.

If you’re looking to sell your house over the next few weeks or months, make sure you take a good look around. Invite a neighbour or friend round to gauge their opinion before you put your home on the property market. Get several estate agents around to gauge their opinion also. It is their job to help you sell and a good agent will give good advice.  Do clear out all your clutter. Remember, a pink bathroom might be gorgeous to you, but to a potential buyer, it might not be as desirable.

If at the end of the day if you decide not to sell all is not lost. You will have a lovely luxurious bathroom to relax in. It will not have cost a fortune to accomplish & it will be very likely that your home will have increased in value due to the small amount of renovation work carried out. It really is a “win, win” scenario. A glass of something nice might be in order whilst you relax in your bathtub.

https://www.thebathbusiness.co.uk

Tips on Cleaning Your Bathroom

Most of us like to think of our bathrooms as a luxurious haven we can escape to, even if only rarely. It’s the room we want to have a lovely long soak in and relax after a stressful or busy day. For us to get the most enjoyment from our bathrooms it is essential that they are clean.

First of all make sure you have all the cleaning materials and equipment you will need. There’s nothing more irritating than having to run up and downstairs getting another cloth etc. It’s a good idea to get a little box with everything you’ll need prepared beforehand for each time you need to do the job. If you live in a house with more than one bathroom you can have a small box of cleaning liquids and cloths etc in each bathroom. Bring the large equipment such as Hoovers, mops etc to the bathroom.

Dust down the corners, ceiling, top of cabinets etc. You may need a set of step ladders to reach. Dust any fans or vents. If these have been neglected you may need to give them a scrub with a liquid bathroom cleaner and a cloth. Once up to scratch though they are easy to keep clean.

Get rid of any laundry or empty toothpaste tubes etc. Clear the bathroom of rubbish and nick- knacks to make your job easier.

Bathroom rugs can be shaken out or put in the laundry. If you have a shower curtain this can also be taken down to be washed and put in the laundry. It should be put back up immediately afterwards to dry. The shower curtain can’t be tumble dried. Then spray a general bathroom cleaner on counter tops. Once you have sprayed the bath, toilet etc you can start wiping the surfaces down with a cloth.

If you have an original Victorian cast iron bath be very careful what cleaner you use. Many are not suitable for enamel and will eat and erode the surface. In fact we end up restoring these baths frequently. With original cast iron baths it’s best not to leave any cleaner on it for any length of time.  Apply the cleaner and wipe the bath down right away. Otherwise the cleaner may react and your bath will be damaged very quickly.

A general liquid bathroom cleaner is normally very good for all types of baths. Cast iron, Acrylic etc. This kind of cleaner can also be used on sinks, shower trays etc. Don’t use any cleaners that have abrasive particles in them as these can scratch your bath and over time you will begin to find the bath is harder and harder to clean. If in doubt some warm water, washing up liquid and a good bit of elbow grease will suffice.

If you live in a hard water area then your sanitary wear can be affected by limescale. The limescale can build up causing damage to your bath or wash hand basin as well as leave unsightly marks. Often the damage is such that the only way to resolve the issue is to have The Bath Business come in and resurface your bath and/or wash hand basin. However, once your bath or bathroom suite has been restored by The Bath Business there are some things you can do to avoid limescale building up again.

Sometimes a bath is positioned in such a way that not all the water can drain away from it and there is always a little puddle around the plug hole or waste. In you suffer from limescale then this area will become affected. It may be worth getting a plumber in to re align the bath. If this is not possible as the bath is a solid cast iron bath or moving it would cause redecorating issues the problem can still be resolved.

The first thing you should do when you have finished taking a bath or finished using your wash basin is dry it. Lime-scale deposits come to settle in the bath or basin once the water has evaporated off. If you rinse your bath or basin after using and dry them the limescale will get wiped up with the water rather than being left in the bath to settle.

This can help avoid limescale deposits but inevitably sometimes you may forget, or you have a guest staying over or your teenage son/husband can’t see the point in all this work after a nice long bath. So you may still get some limescale building up on the bath or sink despite your best efforts. The best thing to do in this instance is to dab on white vinegar to the affected area. The vinegar will react with the limescale without destroying the enamel.

Vinegar is a very handy cleaning agent.

If you ever find your cistern or vanity unit seems to suffer from condensation after anyone has had a bath or shower in the room you can use vinegar to resolve this. Put 2/3 water and 1/3 vinegar solution in a spray bottle and spray over your cistern etc and wipe down with a cloth. Next time someone has a shower the condensation should not affect the sprayed area.

How about bathroom mirrors? They inevitably get marked or can look streaky. Vinegar comes up trumps again. The following solution works wonders with bathroom mirrors. If you feel in the mood you can always use this solution on other mirrors or your windows in your home as well.

• Pour Vinegar into a bowl or pan, then crumple a sheet of newspaper and dip it in the vinegar. Apply to the mirror.Wipe the glass several times with the same newspaper until the mirror is almost dry. Then shine it with a clean soft cloth or dry newspaper.

Something in the ink seems to help create a really nice shine on the glass. However wear gloves or your hands will be covered in ink!

As with most cleaning prevention is better than cure. Rather than letting dirt or grim build up it is best to deal with it as you go along. Fortunately bathrooms do tend to have tiles or flooring that is very easy to keep clean if grim is not allowed to build up on them. There are sprays you can purchase which are very good for glass shower screens. If sprayed after each use, mildew etc can be avoided. Some people keep old toothbrushes to help clean tricky areas in the bathroom. These are very good for getting into shower heads and such. However if you have young children it’s probably best not to use these in case one of your youngsters picks up the wrong toothbrush. If everyone in your home rinsed down the bath, sprays the shower screen etc after each use then rather than having to clean the bathroom on a daily basis you may well be able to do one big clean in a week. Off course if you have a bathroom that is used extensively by a lot of people you may not be able to avoid daily cleaning. It’s still worth making sure everyone does clean down the bath etc after each use. At least then your job of cleaning  will be made much easier.

How To Clean A Shower Head

The most eco-friendly approach involves the use of vinegar again. Soak the shower head (removed) in a solution of half distilled vinegar and half water for a couple of hours. Afterwards, rinse thoroughly.

Or, use a liquid descaler and an old toothbrush. If you live in a hard water area, you may have to do this job regularly.

As always, do a test patch first to check that your shower head will not be damaged by chemicals.

How To Clean Taps

It’s worth bearing in mind that some taps, particularly those with gold or brass finishes will be damaged by a build-up of toothpaste. If you can wipe and dry the taps after every use that is ideal. However as discussed previously some family members or guests may not be expected to do this or simply just forget.

The best solution is to clean regularly with a solution of washing up liquid, rinse and dry. Do not use an abrasive cleaner on taps. If you need to remove limescale you can try dabbing on the white vinegar again. You might need to scrub the limescale off with but the vinegar does help break the limescale down and dislodge it. Or you can soak a cloth in a descaler and wrap it round the taps. Do not leave for longer than the manufacturer recommends or your taps could be damaged, and always do a test patch first if you’re not sure. Once finished, rinse thoroughly and dry. Another good way of dealing with limescale on taps is to put lemon juice in a spray bottle. Squirt your taps once a week to help deal with and prevent limescale. An added benefit is the lemon smell is quite nice .

 How To Clean The Toilet

Regularly wipe down the toilet seat with a solution of mild bathroom cleaner or washing up liquid. Don’t forget to clean the outside of the bowl and the cistern on a regular basis also.

You can add a toilet cleaner, normally in the form of a hard block, into the cistern to help clean the bowl. Check with the manufacturer. Some modern toilets have fittings within the cistern that corrodes with these cleaners. If the manufacturer says it’s okay to use these type of cleaners in the toilet then this will clean the toilet to some degree with every flush.

For thorough bowl cleaning, use a toilet brush, not forgetting to scrub under the rim. Rinse the brush with bleach afterwards, and flush the loo over it to clean it off. Some people prefer disposable toilet brush cleaners so once you’ve finished scrubbing you simply flush the brush away.

If your loo has built up limescale this can be really unsightly. It is possible to remove this.  Sometimes it is a matter of draining the toilet down and applying vinegar or another limescale remover to the affected areas and scrubbing it off. Once done however just make sure you keep the loo clean and use cleaners with limescale remover if necessary to prevent build up again.

Another thing you can try if your toilet has reached the unsightly stage is pouring a can of Cola into the pan and leaving it over night. Flush away in the morning. Slightly worrying how effective this popular drink is at cleaning.

My favorite trick for cleaning the toilet are denture tablets. Put one in the bowl and one in the cistern. Leave for 1 hour and flush. You’ll have a sparkling toilet in no time!

Using more than one toilet cleaner at a time will release toxic gases so don’t try that.

The last things you should do is sweep or Hoover the floor and then mop your bathroom floor.

Let us know any tips on cleaning the bathroom you’ve found useful. We might include them in our blog!

https://www.thebathbusiness.co.uk