Bathrooms

Bathroom renovations on the Costa Blanca, built to stay watertight and calm

A good bathroom renovation is mostly invisible work: waterproofing, falls, drainage and ventilation, finished in materials such as travertine, microcement or handmade tiles. CostaVeyra designs and manages the work, coordinating our selected plumbers, electricians and finishers so that every layer is done in the right order.

Scope

What a project can include.

Design, specification, budget and scheduling by CostaVeyra
Full strip-out of existing sanitaryware, tiles and pipework
New water supply and drainage, including the connection to the stack
Waterproofing membranes for showers and wet areas
Level-access walk-in showers with linear drains
Wall and floor finishes in natural stone, porcelain or microcement
Vanity units, storage and mirror cabinets
Underfloor heating and towel radiators
Mechanical extraction and ventilation
Converting a bathtub to a shower or adding an en-suite
Site coordination, quality checks and progress reports with photos

Bathrooms in many Costa Blanca properties were built for a different era: a bath with a shower screen, small tiles, a single extractor if any. A renovation is a chance to create calmer, more generous rooms, but it is also the part of a house where technical shortcuts show up fastest, usually as leaks into the flat below or damp on the other side of a wall. CostaVeyra manages bathroom renovations so the technical layer is right before a single tile goes down.

Getting the technical layer right

Before choosing finishes, it helps to understand what sits beneath them:

Waterproofing. A continuous membrane under the shower area, turned up the walls and lapped around drains, matters more than the tiles laid on top.
Falls and drains. A level-access walk-in shower needs a consistent fall towards a linear or point drain. That requires floor depth, which older buildings do not always have.
Pipework. Original galvanised or old copper pipes are best replaced while the room is open. The new installation is pressure-tested before it is covered.
Ventilation. Interior bathrooms without windows need mechanical extraction. In humid coastal summers, good ventilation protects finishes and joinery.
Electrics. Lighting, mirrors, underfloor heating and towel radiators must be installed according to the safety zones for wet rooms.

Choosing materials

Travertine and limestone give a warm, Mediterranean character but are porous and need sealing. Large-format porcelain is very low maintenance and can imitate stone convincingly. Microcement gives continuous surfaces with few joints and suits contemporary interiors, provided the installer is experienced. Near the sea, brassware and fittings need good resistance to corrosion, so we specify the finish, not only the colour.

Designing the bathrooms together with the rest of the interior keeps the house coherent, rather than choosing room by room. See our page on interior architecture and design.

Budget and programme

We prepare an itemised budget that separates demolition, plumbing, waterproofing, tiling, sanitaryware and electrics. That makes the cost of each decision visible and variations easier to price against the same specification. Payments follow agreed milestones, and the contractual set-up is explained in writing during project definition, before any work starts.

In apartments, we inform the community administrator before starting and plan around the building’s rules on working hours and lift use. In many tourist municipalities, noisy works are restricted in July and August.

Our article on common renovation mistakes in Spain covers several issues that apply to bathrooms.

How CostaVeyra manages your bathroom renovation

We define the brief, layout and budget with you, coordinate the plumbers, electricians, tilers and joiners, monitor each stage on site, report progress with photos, and handle snagging and handover.

Our speciality is complete property renovations, so bathrooms are usually one part of a wider, fully managed project. See apartment renovations or our approach to villa renovation on the Costa Blanca.

Who is involved

Your project team, coordinated by CostaVeyra.

CostaVeyra project manager

Defines the layout and budget with you, sequences the trades, checks waterproofing and pressure tests before the finishes go on, and reports progress until handover.

Plumber

Works with our project team on supply and drainage, checking falls and connections to the building's stack before anything is closed up.

Electrician

Installs lighting, extraction, underfloor heating and sockets in line with the safety zones for wet rooms, coordinated by CostaVeyra within the programme.

Interior designer and tilers

The designer develops finishes, lighting and joinery with our project team; experienced tilers and finishers then carry them out to a precise specification.

Before you decide

Considerations.

Drainage and levels

In apartments, the position of the drainage stack limits where a shower or WC can move. Level-access showers need enough depth in the floor for falls, which may mean lowering the slab or raising the floor.

Licence route

Bathroom renovations without structural changes are usually processed by a declaración responsable or comunicación previa. Moving structural elements or creating a new bathroom in an extension needs a different procedure. The procedure is confirmed with the ayuntamiento.

Indicative budget

As a broad guide for the Costa Blanca in 2026, allow roughly €12,000–€35,000+ per bathroom, excluding VAT, fees and taxes. Size, finishes, sanitaryware and how much pipework changes drive the figure. Only a survey and an itemised budget give reliable numbers.

Timing

Bathrooms typically take 4–10 weeks of works, depending on how many are done at once. Renovating several bathrooms together is usually more efficient than one at a time.

Questions owners ask

Can I move the shower or toilet to a different position?

Often yes, but it depends on the route to the drainage stack and the available floor depth. In apartments the building structure is the main constraint. We survey the drainage before the layout is finalised.

Is microcement a good choice for a coastal bathroom?

It can be, provided it is applied by an experienced installer over a proper waterproofing membrane and sealed correctly. Natural stone and porcelain are alternatives with different maintenance needs. We set out the long-term care of each option before you decide.

How many bathrooms should I renovate at once?

If the budget allows, renovating all bathrooms together saves on mobilisation, waste removal and disruption, and keeps finishes consistent. In a home you are living in, phasing so that one bathroom always works is a sensible alternative.

Can CostaVeyra manage the bathrooms as part of a complete renovation?

Yes, and that is how we plan most renovations. Bathrooms are designed alongside the kitchen, flooring and installations, so the whole home is planned, budgeted and delivered as one managed programme.