Service
Bathroom carpentry and fitted vanity units
RGS Carpentry builds bathroom joinery for homes across Surrey: vanity units, removable bath panels, pipe boxing and fitted storage. Bathroom carpentry is a materials problem as much as a woodworking one: anything built from the wrong board in a room that gets steamed twice a day will swell at the bottom edge within a couple of years.
- Lead time
- 3–5 weeks
- Board
- Moisture-resistant throughout, edges sealed
The anatomy of a vanity unit.
Every failed bathroom unit failed at an unsealed edge. Usually the underside, which is the one nobody paints.
Our own setting-out drawing, not a photograph. Numbers key to the notes belowalongside.
Carcass held off the wall
Wall-hung or floor-standing, the back is kept off wet plaster and the fixings are into solid grounds rather than into plasterboard alone. A basin full of water plus someone leaning on it is a real load.
A removable back panel
Every panel we build over a trap, valve or isolator has a removable section. Boxing that has to be destroyed to reach a leak is not finished work, and a plumber will charge you for the demolition.
Plinth set back
A recessed plinth keeps the board itself clear of a floor that gets mopped and occasionally flooded. The plinth is the sacrificial part, and it is the cheap piece to replace.
Bath panel that lifts out
The trap and the overflow both sit behind the bath panel. Screwed-and-sealed panels are quick and mean cutting one out the first time something drips.
Every cut edge sealed
MR board is only moisture resistant where it is sealed. The face gets painted and the exposed edges get sealed — including the underside and the back, which is exactly where cheap units start to swell.
What you actually get.
- Vanity units built around the basin and waste you have chosen
- Removable bath panels, so the trap stays reachable
- Pipe boxing and cistern housing with access panels
- Fitted storage in the awkward space above a stair bulkhead or behind a door
- Moisture-resistant board throughout, sealed on every edge
- Coordination with your plumber and tiler on sequence
What it is made from, and why.
The question that decides how a piece ages, and the one almost nobody asks before signing.
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- The green-tinted board. It resists moisture; it is not waterproof, and it only performs at all where the cut edges are sealed. Standard MDF in a family bathroom will swell along the bottom edge inside two years.
- Marine or WBP plywood
- Where a panel is genuinely likely to get wet rather than just steamy — a shower bench, a wet-room boxing. More expensive, considerably more tolerant.
- Solid hardwood for the parts you touch
- Door edges and handles take fingernails and cleaning products. A hardwood lipping outlasts a painted MDF arris by years.
- Water-based eggshell, or a two-pack finish
- Eggshell is fine for most bathrooms and easy to touch up. A two-pack lacquer is harder-wearing and is what a bought vanity unit has, but it cannot be repaired on site.
Why two quotes for “the same job” differ by thousands.
Nobody else in Surrey publishes this. It is the difference between a number you can plan around and a number you have to take on trust.
Guide prices
- Fitted vanity unit, MR board, painted
- £900 – £2,200
- Removable bath panel and pipe boxing
- £350 – £900
- Full bathroom joinery package
- £1,800 – £4,000
Indicative 2026 figures for Surrey, including materials and fitting. A guide, not a quote. Your quote is fixed, in writing, and comes after we have measured.
- Unit size and whether it is wall-hung or floor-standing
- Moisture-resistant MDF versus solid timber or plywood
- How much pipework has to be boxed and how many access panels are needed
- Whether we are working around an existing suite or a full refit
- Whether the basin is countertop, inset or semi-recessed, which changes the top entirely
- Tiling sequence: boxing before tiling is neater and needs the tiler booked around us
From the first visit to the last adjustment.
Design visit
We measure and, crucially, look at where the waste and the isolators actually are. Bring the basin and tap details if you have chosen them — the tap hole centres and the waste position drive the top.
Drawing and fixed price
A section as well as a front elevation, so you can see where the access panels fall.
Sequenced with the plumber and tiler
Boxing normally goes in before tiling, so the tiles finish onto it. Getting this order wrong is the most common cause of a bathroom looking unresolved.
Fitting
Carcasses in, held clear of wet surfaces, doors hung and access panels made and fitted.
Sealing and finishing
Every cut edge sealed, faces painted, and the silicone line run last after everything has been offered up.
When not to call us
If you want one basin unit in a standard size, a bought vanity from a bathroom retailer will be cheaper than we can make one for and perfectly good. Bespoke is worth it where the space is an odd width, where you need to work around a soil pipe or a window, or where you want the storage to run right up to a sloping ceiling.
The things people ask first.
Will it warp in a bathroom?
Not if it is built from the right board and sealed on every cut edge, including the underside and the back, which is where cheap units fail first. Moisture-resistant MDF is resistant, not waterproof — the sealing is what does the work.
Can I still get to the pipework?
Yes. Every panel we build over a trap, valve or cistern has a removable section. Boxing that has to be destroyed to reach a leak is not finished work.
Should the boxing go in before or after tiling?
Before, almost always. The tiles then finish onto the boxing and the junction is a tile edge rather than a silicone line. It means booking us and the tiler in the right order, which is worth the coordination.
Wall-hung or floor-standing?
Wall-hung looks lighter and makes the floor much easier to clean, but it needs proper grounds behind the plasterboard to fix into — that has to be planned before the walls are closed up. Floor-standing is more forgiving and better where the wall construction is unknown.
Can you build storage into a sloping ceiling or over the stairs?
Yes, and bathrooms in loft conversions are where this pays off most. The space under a slope is useless for standing in and ideal for storage, and nobody sells a cupboard that fits it.
Bathroom carpentry across Surrey.
Each town page describes the building stock we are actually working with there, which is what decides how a job like this is detailed.
Tell us what you are trying to fit, and where it has to go.
Four quick questions, no essay and no obligation. We will come and measure, and you will have a drawing and a fixed price within a week.
Every enquiry answered within one working day.