Bathroom
renovation
in Dartmouth Park, NW5
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A Dartmouth Park bathroom may sit in a villa's closet wing, under a mansard or inside a mansion flat, and each brings its own route for water and air.
Camden's energy guidance for the area says bathroom extract fans take moisture away at source and must discharge to the outside.
We settle that route, the waste falls and the floor structure before anyone chooses a tile or a basin.
Source: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Bathrooms in the closet wing
Behind Boscastle Road the closet wings rise three storeys, and their uniformity adds to the group's architectural value, the appraisal says.
On Laurier Road west the houses have three-storey rear extensions with a curved parapet.
A bathroom in a closet wing has a short run to the soil stack at the back; we keep its window as built and take the extract through the wall below the parapet.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Bathrooms in divided houses
Most flats in the area are in larger estates on its edges or were made by converting houses in the central streets.
LEASE advises that a leaseholder must consider other occupiers, keeping noise down and common parts clear.
A lease clause against cutting external walls would prevent new openings, even for pipes.
Moving a bathroom over someone else's living room changes the sound and leak risk for them, so we raise it with the freeholder before drawing.
Sources: Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020), LEASE: Alterations and home improvements
Mansion-block and estate bathrooms
The Lissenden Gardens blocks of 1900 to 1906 have deep returns between pairs of flats to bring light and air to the inner rooms.
On Bramshill Gardens, Nos 32 to 38 were built as flats after the First World War and sit below street level.
Camden Council manages many of the blocks in the area.
In a block we trace the shared stack from the flat above to the flat below and agree access with the managing agent before the old suite comes out.
Where an old cast-iron stack serves several flats, we renew only the length within the flat and leave the joints to the neighbours' sections where they can be reached.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Air, damp and condensation
The 2012 guidance says retrofit work often makes a house more airtight, so ventilation has to be deliberate to keep the air clean and condensation down.
Approved Document F asks for existing bathroom fans to be kept or replaced, and checked, when bathroom work is done.
Where the room had no ventilation before, none has to be added, though more may be needed in practice.
We fit a fan sized to the room with a humidity control, ducted to the nearest outside wall.
Sources: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012), Approved Document F, Volume 1: Dwellings (2021 edition)
Pipes on the outside
Camden's Home Improvements guidance keeps new pipework to side and rear elevations where possible.
For conservation areas it warns against new external pipes on a wall or roof slope that faces the road.
Where rainwater goods are renewed, the Dartmouth Park guidance asks for black painted metal.
Sources: Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021), Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Floors, voids and leaks
Suspended timber floors leak air into ventilated voids below, Camden's guidance notes.
Underfloor heating that passes into a landlord-owned floor or ceiling needs the landlord's permission.
Under a wet floor we lay a level deck on the joists and a tanking membrane turned up the walls, with access kept to the trap.
Sources: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012), LEASE: Alterations and home improvements
Hot water and the boiler
Installing a bath of more than 230 litres must be notified to the water supplier under the 1999 regulations.
Camden's guidance asks for heating sized to the house's actual heat loss.
Condensing boilers need a condensate drain connected to the drainage.
Sources: The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, regulation 5, Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Bathroom windows
Multi-paned sashes, as on the west side of Brookfield Park, the west end of Croftdown Road and the Croftdown Road mansion flats, rarely copy well in double glazing, so Camden recommends secondary glazing.
The cottage blocks of Croftdown and Kingswear Roads and some St Albans Road houses have timber casements; single panes can take double glazing, multi-paned ones may need secondary glazing.
Obscured glass can go in the inner secondary pane, so the outer window keeps its clear glass.
Source: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Bathrooms in the roof
Several streets, Laurier Road and Dartmouth Park Avenue among them, have mansards or pitched roofs with flat areas, according to Camden's 2012 guidance.
Any rooflight over a new bathroom must be conservation grade and flush with the slope.
Under a sloping ceiling the bath goes along the low side and the shower where the headroom is full; the extract runs between the rafters to a vent on the rear slope.
Sources: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012), Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Building regulations
GOV.UK says new plumbing in a bathroom and electrical changes near water may need building regulations approval.
Approval can come from Camden's building control or a registered private approver.
Source: GOV.UK: Building regulations approval
Bathrooms in listed houses
Listing protects the whole building, inside and out, later additions included.
Policy DC2 lets work to a listed building proceed only where its design is of a high standard led by the building itself.
In a listed house we keep old boards in place beneath the new floor where we can and run pipes along existing voids.
Sources: Camden Council: Listed buildings, Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
If it is your only bathroom
We agree a temporary toilet and shower arrangement before starting, and order the work so the water is off for as short a time as possible.
Tiles, fittings and glass are on site before the old suite comes out, so nothing waits on a delivery while the room is bare.
Questions about bathrooms in Dartmouth Park
Can I move my bathroom in a converted flat?
Possibly, but the lease may require the landlord's consent and may forbid new openings in the outside walls.
Does the extract fan have to vent outside?
Yes; Camden's guidance says fans must not discharge into a loft or garage.
Can the soil pipe go on the front of the house?
Camden steers new pipework to the side and rear, especially in a conservation area.
Can a multi-paned bathroom sash be double glazed?
Rarely convincingly; Camden recommends secondary glazing instead.
Do I need building regulations approval for a bathroom?
Possibly, where new plumbing or electrical work near water is involved.
What does a bathroom renovation in Dartmouth Park cost?
A bathroom in a villa's closet wing, one under a mansard and one inside a mansion flat each bring a different route for water and air, and that is where most of the cost sits. Camden's energy guidance expects extract fans to discharge outside, so the duct run matters early, followed by the drainage fall, the floor and the finishes. A flat's lease may add conditions of its own. We visit, agree a scope and specification with you, then issue a written quotation.
Sources: LEASE: alterations and home improvements, LEASE: Alterations and home improvements, Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012), Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021), GOV.UK: Building regulations approval
Related pages
Sources
- Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
- Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
- Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
- LEASE: Alterations and home improvements
- Approved Document F, Volume 1: Dwellings (2021 edition)
- Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021)
- The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, regulation 5
- GOV.UK: Building regulations approval
- Camden Council: Listed buildings
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