Bathroom Fixtures Edmonton

Any time you decide to upgrade your home with a bathroom renovation or basement development in Edmonton you are going to want to have new bathroom fixtures to install or for your favorite Edmonton plumber and Edmonton electrician to install for you.  Yes, for most of you when you think about bathroom fixtures you are thinking of a toilet, sink, and bathtub, but if you are doing a full bathroom renovation then you will also want to change out your light fixture and if you are going with some luxury you will need an electrician to wire the warm floor you install with you tiles.

Plumbing Fixtures Edmonton

Remember in the good old days when a toilet would last 20 years?  You can still get that kind of life from your plumbing fixtures, but only if you buy these fixtures the right way today.  For instance when you go to one of the big box stores you can get a toilet for $200 while the exact same toilet from a toilet wholesaler will cost you $350.  What??  Why is that?  Are you being ripped off?  NO You Are Not!  In fact you are being ripped off if you buy the toilet from one of the big box stores.

This happens because companies are large enough to have divisions.  Price Pfister has a division that deals with the wholesalers who then in turn deal with the plumbers, Price Pfister has another division that deals with the big box stores who in turn deal with the end consumer.  You would think both of these would be the same product.  Have the same name right?  Why trust what I am saying?  Because I had a client that had a faucet from Price Pfister that broke and needed repairing.  My wholesaler did not carry the parts, either did the big box store he bought the product from.  So I went to the manufacturers rep.  They did not have the part either, said I had to call the other division down in California.

The way this works is the big box stores are large enough to dictate how products should be made so that they can beat the price of us plumbers.  Not really a fair game but it is the one they play.

I then noticed this with a Moen faucet I was installing.  When the product came from the wholesaler the unit was made from brass and metal, when it came from one of the big box stores the unit had more plastic parts, which were painted brass color.  Don’t fall for this, buy quality and get what you deserve with your plumbing fixtures in Edmonton.

Bathroom Sinks Edmonton

There are many sorts of bathroom sinks that you can buy throughout Edmonton.  Unlike my ranting above a ceramic sink is a ceramic sink, so not nearly as big of a deal.  There is less quality but at least these are still ceramic.

Many of the bathroom sinks I install today are under mount sinks.  This is because so many people are buying granite these days that under mount is the way to go.  If you do buy an under mount sink make sure the counter top company you are using installs the sink for you.  The plumbing gets hooked up after the sink is set, which takes about 24 hours.

Other types of sinks that are popular in Edmonton are vessel sinks and other sinks that sit on top of the counter.  Unlike your regular recessed sink these sinks will sit on the top of the counter and be mounted with a bead of silicone.  A vessel sink will have a clickable drain that you click to close or click to open.  You will have to buy this separately as most faucets will not have the drain assembly.  In this case the drain assembly will go through the sink and then through the counter and tighten from below to the counter.  Seems a little strange but this is how vessel sinks are attached to the counter top.

Toilets Edmonton

Same as I mentioned above that toilets are made differently for the reseller of the toilets.  If you want quality you will need to go through your plumber or directly to a wholesaler.  Might cost you more but the cost is worth it in the long run.

These days we have all sorts of toilets on the market.  Regular toilets with a float and regular flapper, dual flush toilets of many different makes and models, gravity assist toilets which use a pressure tank in the toilet to give you extra pressure, and toilets that use a three inch flapper for extra volume.

Remember, you always get what you pay for.  If you want top quality go with a Toto.  This is most likely the most expensive toilet I have ever installed, but the clients love it!

Bathtubs Edmonton

Recently I was at one of the big box stores and saw a bathtub selling for only $298.  This bathtub was super light, and felt flimsy.  That same week I installed a bathtub for a client that he bought for his rental property in Edmonton.  I thought for sure he was going with the cheap one, and I was wrong.  He bought one for about $400, that was heavy and after it was installed it was solid.  In fact it was the most solid bathtub I have ever installed in Edmonton.  Not including a steel or claw foot bathtub of course.

Do yourself a favor and if you are renovating a bathroom in Edmonton you should install a deep tub.  At least 19 inches.  This may not seem like much difference from a 16 inch steel tub, but every client I have ever gone back to has been very happy with their deeper tub.

Other styles of bathtubs that you may be able to install are a drop in tub, or a jetted tub.  For either of these to work in a renovation you will need enough room for the installation and access back to the electrical panel if going with the jetted tub.

Showers Edmonton

Unlike bathtubs, which have a similar size and shape you can go crazy with showers.  There are full showers, shower pans of many sizes, round showers, neo angle showers, partially tiled showers, completely tiles showers, steam showers, and stand alone luxury showers.

If you are doing a bathroom renovation you may not have the accessibility to install a full shower.  Most stand up full showers that you find in a house are installed during the rough in phase of new house construction and would be impossible to get through a door in a finished house.  Some of the sharpest showers I have seen will use a shower pan or shower base and use tile of walls and a glass door.  Or you can go with a complete tiles shower that does not use a shower pan, instead the shower base is made from tile and has a rubber mat below the tile.

Faucets Edmonton

If you are doing a compete bathroom renovation it is nice to match all of you faucets, but for the most part 90% of my clients have not matched their shower faucet, bathtub faucet with the basin or sink faucet.  The one place you will not want to cheap out on is the faucet for your bathtub or shower.  Just imagine if 5 years done the road you have some trouble with your faucets which faucet would you want to replace at that time?  Of course to change your basin faucet would be easy while your bathtub or shower faucets would be much more difficult.

If you are doing any sort of renovation in Edmonton and need an Edmonton plumber please give me a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat