Measure it once, measure it right

Would rather we did it? If the room is awkward, or you would simply rather someone else took responsibility for the numbers, we will come out and measure it. For tiling work that is free. For a full bathroom design with 3D renders it is £250 including VAT, credited in full against your project — see our design service.

Send your measurements to: sales@letchworthtilesandbathrooms.co.uk, or WhatsApp them to 07399 928391. Photographs of the room help more than people expect — send those too.

Send us your measurements and photographs and we will have studied your room before you arrive — so your time goes on choosing and designing rather than fact-finding. Do not worry about being perfect.

Bathroom measuring guide — the short version

You need: a metal tape measure, pencil and paper, your phone for photographs, and a helper for longer walls.

Start with a rough plan. Sketch the room as if you were looking down on it from above. Mark the door, the window and where the WC, basin, bath and radiator currently sit. It does not need to be neat or to scale.

• Wall lengths — every wall, corner to corner, at floor level. Measure the two longest walls again at waist height; older houses are rarely square and the difference tells us a lot
• WC waste position — the single most important measurement. Find the centre of the waste where it leaves the pan and measure to it from the side wall and the wall behind. If it is boxed in, photograph the boxing and we will work it out on survey
• Door — opening width and height, which side the hinges are on, and whether it opens into or out of the room
• Window — width, height, floor to sill, and distance from the nearest corner
• Radiator or towel rail — width, height and distance from the nearest corner
• Existing bath or shower — rough size and position, even if it is being replaced
• Everything else — boiler, cylinder, extractor fan, light switch, shaver socket, stopcock and any visible pipework
• Ceiling and obstructions — ceiling height in two or three places, plus any slope, beam, boxing, chimney breast, alcove or step

Photographs — ten is better than three. Lights on, door open, and stand with your back to each wall in turn so we see all four faces of the room. One photograph of each wall taken square on, a wide shot from the doorway, the ceiling and the floor, close-ups of the boiler, stopcock, extractor fan and any exposed pipework, and anything unusual.

Access. Let us know the width of the stairs and landing, and whether there is somewhere to park. It sounds trivial, but it decides whether a freestanding bath or a large format tile can physically reach the room.

The printable PDF above has all of this with diagrams for every wall.

Tiling measuring guide — the short version

Whether you are buying tiles to fit yourself or you would like us to fit them, these are the numbers we need to price the job properly. It takes about ten minutes and saves a great deal of guesswork.

The basics. Work in metres. Length multiplied by width gives you the area in square metres. Measure at the widest points, and if the room is an awkward shape, split it into rectangles, work each one out separately and add them together. A kitchen floor measuring 3.2m by 2.4m gives 7.68 square metres; add 10% for a straight lay and that becomes 8.45, rounded up to the next full box.

What is underneath matters. Almost every surprise on a tiling job comes from the surface rather than the tile. You do not need to diagnose anything — tell us what you can see and send a photograph. Concrete, floorboards, chipboard, existing tiles, vinyl, underfloor heating and bouncy floors all change the preparation, and we will always tell you before anything is added to a quote, not after.

Walls and splashbacks. Measure each wall separately: the width, and the height you want tiled. Deduct windows and doors only where they are large — anything smaller than about a square metre is best left in. For kitchen splashbacks, the gap between the worktop and the underside of the wall units matters most, then the total length of the run, measured right into the corners.

Please also tell us: tile size and finish if chosen, the pattern, grout colour and trims, sockets and pipework in the area, the condition of the wall, whether the area gets wet, parking and access, and any date you are working towards.

The printable PDF has the diagrams, a worked example and a table to write your figures into.