Laufen bathroom installation in Windsor
Laufen is a Swiss sanitaryware manufacturer whose SaphirKeramik material gives its basins and pans finer rims and sharper geometry than standard vitreous china, which makes them strong once fitted but less forgiving of a knock in transit or in a tight hallway. That matters in Windsor, where housing splits fairly cleanly into two types: Georgian and Victorian town houses near the Castle and historic centre, often on narrow plots with limited rear access and period staircases, and inter-war or post-war family homes further out, alongside newer developments on redeveloped sites. You source the Laufen sanitaryware, brassware, tiles and furniture; we strip out, first-fix, tile, plumb and snag, from £3,500.
Two kinds of Windsor house, two different fits
A Laufen installation plays out differently depending on which side of Windsor it's in. In a Georgian or Victorian town house near the Castle and the historic centre, the job usually starts with working out how a basin or pan gets from the van to the bathroom at all: narrow plots, limited rear access, and a period staircase all restrict how much can be carried through the building at once, and how big a single piece can be. In an inter-war or post-war family home further out, or on a newer redeveloped site, access is typically more straightforward, with wider hallways and doors and more room to stage materials before they're fitted. We assess which situation we're in at survey stage and plan the Laufen delivery and install sequence around it.
Why Laufen's thinness matters more in some Windsor properties than others
SaphirKeramik is what lets Laufen produce basins and pans with a noticeably finer rim and sharper edges than a standard ceramic range, and that's the main thing we plan around on any Laufen job. In a central Windsor town house with a narrow staircase and tight turns, a thin-rimmed basin gets carried through in its protective packaging for as much of the route as possible, moved by hand rather than trolleyed over uneven period flooring, and only unwrapped once it's in the room it's being fitted in. In a more open inter-war or newer house, the same care applies, but the physical route in is less of a constraint, so the extra attention is concentrated on handling and sequencing once the piece is in the room rather than on the journey to it.
What we install from the Laufen range
We fit Laufen basins and pans you've bought, whether that's a countertop basin for a vanity unit, a wall-hung basin or pan on a support frame, or a close-coupled pan, along with the brassware, tiles and furniture you've chosen to go with them. In a period town house, a wall-hung pan or basin on a concealed frame can also help free up usable space in a smaller bathroom, which is common on narrow Windsor plots. We handle the strip-out, first-fix plumbing, any wall or frame work the install needs, tiling, and the final fit and snagging.
Managing a period staircase without the basin paying for it
A narrow period staircase constrains more than just how a basin arrives in the room; it affects what we can bring in, and when, across the whole job. On Georgian and Victorian Windsor town houses we plan deliveries in smaller, staggered loads rather than one large drop, so a SaphirKeramik piece isn't waiting in a hallway while other materials are manoeuvred past it. Protective boarding goes down on stair treads and landings before any first-fix work starts, and the final carry of the Laufen basin or pan is usually scheduled as its own task, separate from general material movement, so it gets the staircase to itself.
The fit-only process, from survey to price
Every job starts with a paid survey at £125, where we look at the property, confirm access, whether that's a period staircase or a straightforward family-home hallway, and talk through how your Laufen pieces will be sequenced in. From there the job runs as strip-out, first-fix plumbing, tiling, then fitting and plumbing in your sanitaryware and brassware, finishing with snagging. Fit-only installs in Windsor start from £3,500, with the final price depending on the scope of strip-out and how much first-fix and access planning the property needs.
Frequently asked questions
You buy it. We're fit-only: you source the Laufen basins, pans, brassware, tiles and furniture, and we handle strip-out, first-fix, tiling, plumbing and snagging.
Yes. Many central Windsor properties are Georgian or Victorian town houses with narrow plots, limited rear access and period staircases. We plan deliveries and the carry route around that, moving thin-rimmed Laufen pieces by hand and scheduling them separately from other material movement.
Laufen's SaphirKeramik material gives its basins and pans a finer rim and sharper geometry than standard vitreous china. That's strong once fitted and fixed, but less forgiving of a knock in transit or on site, so handling and sequencing get more attention.
Generally yes. Inter-war, post-war and newer redeveloped properties further out from the centre tend to have wider hallways and doors than a central town house, which simplifies getting a Laufen piece into the room, though we still handle it with the same care.
The survey lets us assess access, whether that's a period staircase or a standard hallway, confirm the strip-out and first-fix work involved, and plan how your Laufen pieces will be delivered and fitted, before we price the job.
Yes, wall-hung toilet and concealed cistern installation and vanity unit installation are both part of our fit-only service, and a wall-hung Laufen pan can help free up space in a smaller town-house bathroom.