Bathroom Renovations Kohimarama

Large white tiles with soft grey veining cover every wall from floor to ceiling. The same tile runs across the floor and on into the shower, so the room reads as one surface. A fully tiled wall also has no paint line at shower height to chip or grow mould.

The bath, the shower and the vanity each own a wall. The freestanding bath sits under the window, the glass shower fills one corner, and the long vanity with a large round mirror runs along the third wall. There is clear floor space to walk between all three.

A tall stainless heated towel ladder hangs on the wall beside the shower door, within an arm's reach of anyone stepping out.

The shower floor is tiled in the room's marble-look tile, with no plastic tray. It falls to a square grate floor waste. The waterproofing membrane goes on the shower floor and walls before the tiler starts, and Nick checks it before it is covered. The work carries our 15-year waterproofing guarantee.

A recessed niche sits in the back wall at chest height, lined in the same tile and edged with a metal trim. Bottles stay off the floor and nothing hangs off the glass.

The glass is a clear corner enclosure with a hinged door on clamp hinges and a round chrome pull. The chrome rail shower has a round rain head overhead plus a handpiece that slides up and down the rail, both fed by a separate wall mixer. Say on the visit if you prefer a door or an open panel, because the glass layout decides where the floor waste goes.

Stills from the finished Kohimarama bathroom. Tap a photo to open it full size.

Kohimarama was subdivided in four waves. Holgate Road and the bottom of Kohimarama Road came first in 1912, Hawera Road and Eltham Road followed in 1913, and Speight Road and Averill Avenue opened along the foreshore in 1921. The largest wave ran from 1949 to 1956, when Allum Street and Baddeley Avenue were built. Sprott Road, where this bathroom sits, was formed in 1953 and extended in 1955.

Many New Zealand bathrooms from the 1950s were small rooms with the shower over the bath and the toilet in a separate room next door. On a rebuild, Nick strips the room back to the framing first. A common new layout gives the bath and the shower a space each, or puts a walk-in shower where the bath was if the room is narrow.

Any home built or renovated before 2000 can have asbestos in its wall linings, ceiling or old floor vinyl. In Kohimarama's 1950s houses the old linings are tested before strip-out, in line with WorkSafe New Zealand asbestos guidance, and the test is listed separately on the quote.

Streets from the 1913 and 1921 subdivisions hold some of the oldest houses in Kohimarama. In an older house with a timber floor, Nick checks the joists under the bathroom for past leaks before any tile goes down. The floor is then levelled so large-format tiles sit flat.

Kohimarama held 1,719 occupied homes at the 2023 Census. Stats NZ splits the suburb into two areas: the southern half, up the hill toward Kepa Road, and the northern half, closer to Kohimarama Beach and Tamaki Drive.

Homes in the southern half average 7.3 rooms. A house that size often has space for an ensuite beside the main bathroom. Price the two rooms in one quote. A single strip-out and one visit from each trade cost less than two separate jobs.

Near the beach and Tamaki Drive, almost half the homes are units, townhouses or apartments. A unit bathroom often sits above or beside a neighbour, so the waterproofing membrane protects two homes, and body corporate rules can limit work hours and lift use. For nearby suburbs, read about our bathroom renovations in Remuera, Parnell and other Central Auckland suburbs.

In Kohimarama, an ensuite or compact bathroom that keeps its layout comes in at $15,000 to $28,000. A standard bathroom stripped and rebuilt runs $22,000 to $40,000. A large main bathroom with a freestanding bath and its own shower starts at $40,000 and can pass $65,000. Prices exclude GST and are a guide. Nick sets your price in a written quote after seeing the room, and these six choices move the number most.