Your property questions answered

Redoing a small en suite

I am redoing a small en suite shower room that is very dated looking. As I am going to be fully tiling the room anyway, instead of replacing the shower cubicle I am considering doing away with it and going for the "open-plan" shower look that seems so popular in interior design magazines. Are there any tiles that are not suitable for the job?

What you are hoping to create is one big shower cubicle - that also happens to have a loo and a sink in there as well. Called "wet rooms" they certainly are the darlings of the design world because they look so good - uncluttered and, without the bulk of a shower cubicle, there is the illusion of extra space. However, creating a wet room is not just a case of tiling the whole room and leaving a hole in the floor for shower water to drain down. The room has to be "tanked" - or made water-tight because, if it's not, you run the risk of water damage in other rooms (something that can happen very quickly and with devastating results). This column recently visited a house where the designer-looking wet room - all glass brick and Italian tiling - was leaking so badly that, after two years in situ, major replastering work is now required in an adjoining room. It's a job for a builder who will have suggestions as to have your room can be made watertight, most likely involving using fibre glass to tank the room. Like all "simple" interiors, wet rooms need careful design. Is there enough of a "drop" to make the water exit down the plug hole efficiently? Your plumber will know. Otherwise it will be hanging around on the floor and you'll find yourself brushing your teeth at the basin while your feet slosh around in water. You're also going to want a slight gradient leading to the plug hole so that the water is encouraged to go down and not gather in the corners or head out the door. As you can see, a lot has to happen before you get on to the nice business of choosing tiles but, at the very least, consider going for non-slip tiles on the floor - there's going to be a lot of water sloshing around in there.

Window dressing

We have a new detached house in an urban setting. How would you suggest I dress the windows of a bathroom (upstairs) and a shower room (downstairs) for maximum light and privacy? Both are at the front of the house and have plain glass and roller blinds.

It's a pity you didn't send up a photo or give any idea of your address (they're never published) because then we would have an idea of your house type, distance from the road, size of window, etc, all of this is relevant. It does sound a little unusual that a builder left you with bathrooms with plain glass - at the very least a builder would put some form of opaque glass. There are several glass suppliers listed in the Golden Pages (listed under stained glass) and the larger ones will be able to show you a very wide choice of readily available opaque glass - from decorative Victorian reproduction designs to contemporary looking sandblasted glass. If you are interested in craft you could go to a stained glass artist and have windows specially designed for you.

Or if you are happy with plain glass, thin slat wooden Venetian blinds are a more private option than roller blinds and they look good too.

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Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions received. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.