Shawlands, Glasgow Southside
Bathroom renovation in Shawlands
Shawlands is red sandstone tenement territory, and its bathrooms share a recognisable set of problems: a tall, narrow room, a window that is either enormous or non-existent, a timber floor that has been lifted several times before, and a layout that has not been reconsidered since the flat was converted.
Height you can actually use
These rooms are often three metres or more to the ceiling, which is a lot of wall doing nothing. Full-height tiling or wet wall makes the proportion work rather than fighting it, and tall storage above head height is genuinely useful in a flat with no loft. Stopping the tiling at a metre and painting above it is what makes a tenement bathroom look like a rented one.
Ventilation is not optional here
A lot of Southside tenement bathrooms are internal, with no window at all, and the original extract is either missing or a trickle. Getting a properly rated fan with adequate ducting to an external wall is the difference between a bathroom that stays looking new and one that grows mould in the corners inside two winters. It is unglamorous and it matters more than the tiles.
Floors, and the flat downstairs
Timber floors move, and tiles laid straight onto a springy tenement floor crack. Where a tiled floor is wanted we overboard or use a decoupling layer first. It adds a day and it is the reason the floor is still intact in five years. Where there is any doubt, we will recommend a good vinyl or LVT instead and say why.
Working in a close
Practical, but it matters to your neighbours: everything comes in and out through a shared close and stair. We sheet the route, keep the landing clear at the end of each day and take the rip-out away rather than stacking it in the back court.