The old avocado suite in a Bickerstaffe semi has finally had its day. A bathroom refit in Bickerstaffe produces heavier and more awkward waste than most people expect, and we handle these jobs regularly. The new bathroom is sitting in boxes in the hall and the plumber is coming on Monday. Now somebody has asked where the cast iron bath is actually going to go.
Bickerstaffe sits in open farmland between Ormskirk, Skelmersdale and Rainford. It has a mix of farmhouses, cottages, council-built semis and newer detached homes. That spread of property ages matters, because a 1930s bathroom produces very different waste from one fitted twenty years ago.
What Comes Out of a Bathroom
The obvious items are the bath, basin, toilet and shower tray. Ceramic sanitaryware is heavy for its size, and an old cast iron bath is heavier still. It often needs two or three people just to get it down the stairs. Then there are the wall tiles, which come away with adhesive and chunks of plaster attached. The floor tiles may also have a sand and cement screed beneath them.
Add boxing-in around pipes, old timber panelling, the vanity unit, mirrors and the cistern. Then come lengths of copper and plastic pipe and the packaging from the new suite, and the pile grows quickly. The tiles and screed are the weight. The boxing and packaging are the volume.
Bathroom Refit in Bickerstaffe – Choosing the Skip Size
For most standard jobs, a 4 tonne midi skip is enough for a bathroom refit in Bickerstaffe. It will take the suite, the wall tiles from a typical bathroom and the bits of timber and boxing without trouble.
The picture changes when the floor is coming up as well. Floor tiles bedded on screed, or tiles from floor to ceiling, can push the weight well beyond what a midi can take. Heavy material like tiles and plaster hits the weight limit long before the skip looks full. You may be taking the room back to bare walls, lifting a screeded floor or adding an en suite. In that case an 8 tonne builders skip is the safer choice. We would rather talk it through with you before delivery than see a skip we cannot lift.
Check the Bath Panel and Cistern First
In older homes, some bathroom fittings are not as harmless as they look. The HSE lists bath panels and toilet cisterns among the places asbestos can turn up in buildings built or refurbished before 2000. It also names textured coatings such as Artex, boxing and partition boards, and areas around boilers and airing cupboards. The HSE guidance on where asbestos is found shows each of these.
Your bathroom may have an old moulded cistern, a panel that looks like board rather than plastic, or a textured ceiling. If so, have it checked before anyone starts breaking things up. Asbestos can never go in a skip. It needs a licensed route, and our guide to asbestos and skip hire explains what to do instead.
Plasterboard Needs to Stay Separate
Plasterboard turns up on almost every bathroom refit in Bickerstaffe. Many rooms have plasterboard boxing or dry-lining, and moisture-resistant board is common behind tiles. The Environment Agency says gypsum waste must not go into landfill cells that take biodegradable waste. It must be separated for reuse or recovery, with no percentage tolerance. In practice that means keeping plasterboard out of the general mix and stacking or bagging it on its own. Tell us about it when you book so we can advise.
Other items need thought too. An electric shower unit, extractor fan or heated towel rail is an electrical item and cannot go in a mixed skip. Our guide to what you can put in a skip covers the rest. If you are unsure, call before it goes in.
Permits and Placement in Bickerstaffe
Many homes in Bickerstaffe have a driveway or yard. If the skip sits on your own driveway, you need no permit. On a drive, think about where the bathroom waste will come out of the house. A shorter carry from the back door saves a lot of effort with a cast iron bath.
If the skip needs to go on the road, Lancashire County Council issues the permit as the highway authority, not the borough council. Only registered skip companies can apply, and the fee is £42 per 28 days. We must give two working days’ notice, and a skip on the road needs cones and lamps at night. We take care of the application. The Lancashire County Council skip permit guidance has the detail, and our article on skip permits explained covers the general rules.
Working With Your Plumber on a Bathroom Refit in Bickerstaffe
A bathroom refit in Bickerstaffe usually happens in stages. The strip-out comes first and produces almost all the waste in a day or two. After that, the plumber’s first fix, boarding and tiling add smaller amounts of offcuts and packaging. Ideally the skip arrives the day before the strip-out. Then everything goes straight in, and the old bath never blocks the landing.
It helps to load sensibly. Put heavy tiles and rubble in the bottom and spread them evenly, with bulky items like the bath and boxing on top. Never load above the sides of the skip, because we cannot lift an overfilled container safely. We have seen the same pattern on coastal jobs too, as our piece on bathroom refit waste in Southport shows.
Bickerstaffe and the Surrounding Area
We are based in Ormskirk, just up the road. We work across Bickerstaffe and its neighbours every week, including Rainford and the edges of Skelmersdale. Every load comes back to our own yard for sorting. We separate metal from old pipework and cast iron baths, timber from boxing and hardcore from tiles and screed. None of it goes off as one mixed load. Our page on skip hire in Bickerstaffe has more about how we work locally.
Tell us what your bathroom refit in Bickerstaffe involves and whether the floor and walls are coming back to bare. Also say where the skip can sit. We will then tell you plainly which size fits. Ring our team on 01695 769123 or use our contact page.
