Bathroom Renovations in Albany

The shower sits behind a frameless glass door with a square black pull handle. The door closes against a fixed glass panel set in a black channel. Next to the shower, a close-coupled toilet sits against the subway tiles.

The bath sits under the window. A black wall spout and a black square mixer are set into the tiles above the rim, so the bath has no taps on its edge and the rim stays clear.

Beside the bath, the vanity, the mirror cabinet and the black ladder towel rail share one wall. Inside the shower, a black rail shower and a recessed niche for bottles finish the room.

The walls use long white gloss subway tiles laid in a brick pattern with charcoal grout. The dark grout lines draw the pattern and hide the grey marks that white grout shows after a few years.

Outside the shower, the tiles stop at about waist height and finish under a thin metal trim. Painted wall runs from the trim to the ceiling. Inside the shower, the same tiles go all the way up on every wall.

This split puts tiles where water hits and paint where it does not. It also cuts the tile area, and the tiler's hours, compared with tiling every wall to the ceiling.

All the tapware and hardware in the room is matte black. These three fittings do the most work each day.

The shower floor uses the same dark grey tiles as the rest of the room, and it falls to a linear strip drain along the wall. A strip drain lets the floor slope one way, so the tiler lays whole tiles instead of cutting them into four slopes around a centre grate.

BRANZ Build magazine sets a fall of at least 1:60 for a tiled shower with an upstand, and 1:50 for a level-access shower. The same article puts the waterproof membrane over the screed, so the mortar bed under the tiles stays dry.

The glass is a frameless hinged door beside a fixed panel. A hinged door swings clear of the toilet and needs no bottom track to clean.

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The four Albany census areas (Albany Heights, Central, West and South) held 11,961 residents in 4,215 occupied homes at the 2023 Census.

Albany is one of the fastest-growing parts of the North Shore. Albany Central tripled in five years, from 525 residents to 1,593, and almost every home there is joined to another.

Albany homes are also drier than most. 12.3% reported damp, against 22.0% in Howick West. With less damp to deal with, more of the budget in an Albany bathroom can go on the finish: tiles, tapware and glass. A townhouse bathroom still needs care, because it shares walls, and sometimes floors, with the neighbours.

Every Albany bathroom is priced in writing after a free site visit. These five choices move the price most in a room like this one.