Most bathroom work happens when the owner decides the time is right. Accessibility work does not. A wet room conversion is very often being done because somebody is coming home from hospital on a known date, or because getting in and out of a bath has stopped being possible, and the timescale is fixed by circumstances rather than convenience. Our Maghull skip hire service supports a fair amount of this work and we understand the deadlines behind it.
Why the timing matters more than usual
If the work is being funded through a disabled facilities grant or arranged after an occupational therapist assessment, the specification and the timescale are already set by the time anyone thinks about a container. The builder has a start date and a finish date and there is often somebody in temporary accommodation or in hospital waiting on it.
That changes what we need to get right. A skip that turns up a day late on an ordinary refurbishment is an irritation. On this kind of job it can push out a discharge date. Tell us what the deadline is when you book and we will treat it accordingly, and if the programme is tight, a shorter hire with a firm collection date is often a better fit than a standard hire period.
The other consideration is that somebody frequently still lives in the house while the work is going on, and it may be the person the adaptation is for. Where the container sits, how much of the drive it takes and how long it stays all matter more than they would elsewhere.
The floor is the part people underestimate
A level access shower needs the floor to fall towards the drain, and in most houses that means taking the existing floor down rather than building it up, because building up creates the step you were trying to remove.
On a solid ground floor that means breaking out screed and sometimes part of the slab, which is heavy, dusty, noisy work and produces a dense load from a very small room. On a suspended timber floor it means boards up, joists notched or trimmed and a new deck, which is lighter but more disruptive.
Either way, this is where the weight in the job sits. Our page on skip size versus weight limits explains why a small room can still fill a container’s weight allowance.
What comes out of the room
The bath is usually the first thing, and if it is an older cast iron one it wants breaking in place rather than carrying down a staircase. A blanket over it, a heavy hammer, eye protection and patience. Cast iron has a scrap value, so keep the pieces separate.
Tiling comes off next, and where tiles are on render rather than board the wall covering comes with them. Any plasterboard has to be kept out of the general load, which our page on plasterboard disposal and building waste separation explains.
Then there is the old floor covering, the boxing in, the airing cupboard if it is going to make room, and frequently a section of wall where a doorway is being widened for a wheelchair or a frame.
Adaptations elsewhere in the house
These jobs rarely stop at the bathroom. Ramps replace steps, handrails go in, doorways get widened and sometimes a stairlift comes out or goes in.
A stairlift being removed is electrical waste and often has a battery pack, so it does not go in a container. Our guide to sorting electrical waste before your skip arrives covers what needs pulling out. Second hand stairlifts also have a resale value and there are firms who will remove one for the value of the unit.
Old concrete steps being replaced by a ramp produce another dense little load. Ramps themselves are usually aluminium or timber and light by comparison, and aluminium is worth keeping separate for the scrap value rather than putting in the container at all.
Sizing it
For a single wet room conversion a 4 tonne midi skip is usually right, and its smaller footprint is an advantage when somebody still needs to get a car or a wheelchair past it on the drive.
Where the work extends to widened doorways, external steps or several rooms, an 8 tonne builders skip is the better choice. Tell us the scope and we will size it rather than you guessing.
Access and placement
Think about the household, not just the builder. Leave the front door approach clear, keep the container off any route that somebody with limited mobility needs to use, and if there is a carer or a delivery arriving daily, factor that in.
Maghull sits within Sefton borough, so a skip on the road needs a permit from Sefton Council at £36 per month. Most properties around here have driveway space, which is generally the better answer on this kind of job anyway, and it avoids both the fee and the wait for paperwork at a point where the programme has no slack in it.
Local coverage
We cover this area regularly, running Lydiate skip hire and Melling skip hire jobs alongside Maghull, and everything comes back to our own recycling centre for sorting. Our environmental and recycling page explains that side.
Ring us on 0151 909 6399 with the dates you are working to and we will fit around them. Our contact page is there if the builder or the case worker would rather deal with us directly.
