Horrible bathroom, blank slate - layout help needed!!!
Hi! This terrible bathroom is getting re-done in the coming months (we just bought the house and have yet to move in). My problem is design ideas for how to incorporate a free-standing pedestal soaking tub, stand-alone shower, and new sink into this awkward space. Can a bathtub go where this ridiculous vanity just takes up space? The wall would have to come down but is this a plumbing nightmare. What tricks are used to put a bath tub in where there are currently no drain lines? We don't want to disturb the foundation, as it's solid concrete. Also, I have no idea what tile or flooring would be good. Any ideas appreciated!
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Create closet space if it's needed in the space on the left that currently just has the countertop vanity.
The waste for the toilet is the trickiest thing to move, so if you don't want to be digging up the floor leave that where it is. Also ensuring you have an adequate drop for drainage from the bath may be a challenge. You could raise the height of the bath's plinth to allow for this like the bathroom in the picture below I found.
I think however, you may be forced to compromise, either no bath, but amazing shower, or by putting your shower above the bath. I have an amazing shower about my bath (see pictures of project mid-way through) which I am very happy with.
With your concrete floors, another option would be tank the room to create a wet room, which would free you from shower enclosures and curtains if you like that look...
I would remove the little divider walls between the shower,wc and sink.i would guess since they are so short, they are not loadbearing.I would put tub along the back wall, using shower drain as tub drain. This will give you more elbow room around toilet as well. Keep sink. If shower would fit into funky non sink vanity space, I would put shower there.
For flooring I would suggest white penny tiles. Timeless and affordable. Would make the space look bigger and uniform.You can always go crazy with shower curtains, towels and accessories. If you do not need the closet and interior walls are not load bearing, you have so many more options. Good luck!
Since the closet is roughly 5ft. x 5ft (each square tile on the floor is a 1x1) a soaking tub will likely take up all of that space. The little vanity area will be a new closet (albeit, small). and I'm making peace with that. We actually considered making the hall bath the master bath, and making the front room the master bedroom, but the whole idea made my mind melt and my "fear of change" was a total roadblock. No real reason to object except I like the master bd/bth to be in the back of the house, as much as possible anyway.
So, shower - tile of glass? I had my heart set on 3-sided tile, open to the bath area, but in such a small space maybe it needs to be glass. Thanks for the ideas everybody. I really appreciate your expertise & advice!
It would be a lot better not to have the closet door in the bathroom. Too much humidity, especially if the shower vent fan is not operated long enough to clear the air. You can put the shower vent fan on a timer.
Closet space in a master bedroom is important to most people. A new long closet along one wall might work out for you.
You asked about flooring. If you get tile in the shower, it's fairly inexpensive to do the floors as well at the same time. Choose a standard tile, not a designer tile, to keep costs down. Grout in a medium gray or tan will show less dirt. Designer tiles can be used as accent stripes or trim. Continue tile into the closet if the entrance stays in the bathroom.
Last, a reminder to get permits for the work, even though the work is being done by your DH and FIL. In the US, if the work is not permitted, it will cause problems when you sell, and you may have to remove tile and sheetrock to show a building inspector that the plumbing and electrical work were done to code.
Great point about the closet and humidity. That is definitely a concern. I like the idea of putting the access door in the bedroom and walling off the closet in the bathroom. What a great idea! Solves the moisture problem, increases hanging space. Thank you!
Another option would be to switch the rooms - make the master the kid's bedroom and vice versa. You could remove the closet in the kid's bedroom to make way for the master bedroom. It's hard to say without dimensions. I think that you are going to have a hard time fitting both a tub and a shower in either bathroom - it just doesn't look spacious enough to me. If you really enjoy taking baths, a better option might be to put a nicer tub in the existing family bath. That would be your most cost-effective option. Most people think they want a tub, but for the amount of use it actually gets, it is usually better to make more efficient use of your space. Also, if you are on a slab and are putting in a drain, obviously you are going to have to tear up the floor.
One more comment: as a space planner, I see that there is a lot of space lost in the hall areas of this house. I really do think it would be worth the money to get someone to give you a couple of ideas. I think it could be much better organized, you would gain floor space in the actual rooms, and then the tub might fit more easily.
The family bathroom would be a bit smaller, but only in that the entry area would be outside the bath rather than in it. Just another idea!
That way you are in the back of the house and still get a decent sized closet, which could be supplemented with a wardrobe perhaps. The kids should be fine in the front and they will still be nearby. Come to think of it, every bedroom I had as a kid was in the front of the house (4) and most of the ones I have had since (5 out of 8). Even if you are on a busy road (2 out of 4, and 3 out of 5) it should be OK , esp. with the windows shut.
If the office doesn't feel right to you, don't put your bedroom there. It may be silly, but you don't want to feel uncomfortable in your bedroom. My grandparent's ranch house had all the bedrooms in front and never had a problem, and had the living room in the rear to take advantage of the view. It was unusual at the time but made perfect sense. They were also among the very few circa 1960 that had double sinks, but now everyone wants them.
If you are taking down walls and moving plumbing, wiring, etc.. you need a building permit, even in the country.
I bet that hallway partition could be eliminated to make the living room bigger, and you will still have a hallway between the two end bedrooms.
You could move the door to the back bedroom to the edge of the current closet and put the entrance to the bath there. Not ideal and makes a bit of a hallway in the bedroom, but possible. The bathtub could be against the wall to the bedroom to make room. I guess you are saying that a door on the other wall isn't possible if you run the plumbing on the surface to drain in the shower. I wonder if it would be possible or desirable to raise the entire floor of the bathroom area and have a step up into it. Then you can run all the plumbing you want, and have easier access to fix anything, depending on the flooring you pick. Sort of like a mini-crawl space. You might be able to create a cathedral ceiling above for a bit more room, or illusion of room, and box in the beams. Probably be too pricey though.
Isn't there already a bathtub in the other bathroom? It is labeled half-bath, but I see one in the plan. I grew up in a household of 5-7, and we managed with one bathroom. I liked long baths, so I always took them late at night after everyone else was done.
If you run a few inches short of space when framing out the closets, you can turn the 2x4s sideways.
I would use a clear glass divider as was suggested between the tub/shower and toilet. This would open up the space visually.
If the workarounds are too complicated or costly, at least find out how much it would cost to do what you really want to have, then you can make a more educated decision.
Thanks so much for your ideas! I'm considering all these options. :)
Don't forget to pitch the floor 1/4" per foot toward the drain for proper drainage.
One more thing I can see. This doesn't affect the bathroom so much as the bedroom, but it MIGHT provide space for a bigger closet down the road. If you bring the wall of the closet all the way down, you could make your bedroom door open right at the end of the hall, and the bathroom door would be just behind it (in a straight shot). While it may not be the ultimate location for the BR door, what it allows is a whole, uninterrupted wall in the bedroom (by taking that bathroom door off of that wall). Since you are giving up so much closet space, this might be a place, as I said, to add closet space, or barring room for that, to at least put additional dressers, etc. This is not something that must be done at the same time, but it's probably worth thinking about.
Thanks for all the input - I like the idea of moving the door to the bedroom to create a more usable space! I'll brainstorm on that! :)
You may want to check out our latest uploaded project which features a stunning master bathroom for material ideas. As to yours, the most important thing to me would be to rearrange how you get to the closet. Isn't it better to have it outside the bathroom space? I switched the closet to the area where you previously had your sink and vanity.
Have a look at the attached sketch.
The bathroom could then be accessed via dramatic sliding doors. You could extend the material you use to tile your raised flooring to the shower area (ex. tiling/ marine plywood planks/marble mosaic). Make sure to waterproof this shower area well by applying a dampproof membrane at least half a meter along the wall should you go for this option. A linear drain could be easily inserted along the back of the shower.
Good luck! I quite like your existing floor tiles by the way, you may want to keep them at the lower level
Annemarie
The idea of making the hall bath the master and making the back bathroom the kids'/guest bath is kind of appealing, since we would gain some closet space and each fixture would have it's own drain. Tempting! Thanks for the ideas. One more question:
Does anyone have ideas on effective wood flooring in a bathroom? I'd rather have bamboo of some kind than tile, but maybe that's just because I'm sick of tile, and since this house has so much concrete I'm looking for places to put wood floor down. The bathroom might not be the best place, but is it, sometimes???
We have done many projects were we used slatted timber floor as part of the shower. The trick is to fix them in such a way that they can be lifted up so that you could clean beneath.
There are proprietary products available such as these oil impregnated hardwood slats by Aco:
http://www.trendir.com/archives/005130.html
I hope you can see what I mean. This would make your bathroom very long and narrow, but you would have a tub that drains into the adjacent shower plumbing and a nice window.
I would take out the built in closet in the kids room, so there would be more light. You could do a dresser instead.
I'm sure your head s spinning by now...but hope you find this discussion still beneficial!
Sorry forgot to take out/ redscribble a wall on my drawing, there would obviously be no wall between the shower and the tub.
Our second bathroom has a tub and if I want to get in the tub, I do. It really isn't that bad. Also, try to re-think your master location. Our master is at one end of the house and the kids' rooms are at the other, so there isn't anything at the "back" of the house. The bedrooms are technically lined up at the front of the house, at least two of them are, anyway. I have been in a lot of homes that have the master at the front and the extra rooms at the back. I grew up in a house that had three rooms the same size all grouped together and my mom was forever switching the master bedroom around between rooms when she got bored. She was ambivalent about which one she liked more, and you probably will, too.
We are on a concrete slab and I suggest you investigate vinyl plank. We put this down in our house and I am very pleased with it. It looks just like wood and it is textured like wood. It is insulated and much warmer than wood or tile. If you go to a flooring store, it will be called vinyl plank or resilient flooring. Installation is very simple. We put the sheet version in our tiny baths and laundry room and they just rolled it out, cut around the toilets and everything and that was it! There was no glue! It is easy to maintain and clean. While the floor is not as warm as carpeting, it is much warmer than concrete or tile.
Good luck with the house! Have fun with this! I recently remodeled this fall. We remodeled the ENTIRE inside of the house and it was stressful, but fun. Houzz was such a big help and I totally understand having a hard time with the big picture. I was so afraid that all of my samples, etc. were not going to come together when they actually hit the house, but you will find that everyone you work with will try to stop you from making a huge boo-boo and will tell you if they think this or that will work or not. I carried my measurements, paint samples, counter top samples, flooring samples, and a hunk of scrap wood stained the color of my bathroom vanities for about 5 months! Hang in there and be blessed!!
I think we have explored the idea of re-arranging rooms, omitting the hallway, etc. and decided that although it may indeed increase floor space, the arrangement of the rooms will likely stay the way they are, mostly due to budget and time constraints but also because I'm comfortable with the rooms the way they are. I'm astonished at the ideas presented in this discussion and I'm totally grateful for all the input!!!!! :)
I was warned by a friend of mine who used the same product in her house to make sure that any joins in boarding were covered, as after a few years these can start showing through the vinyl. The fitter recommended a thin latex screed to do the job. The stuff in her house still looks immaculate almost 10 years down the line.
Amtico is pretty expensive off the shelf, but I was lucky enough to find the right amount to do my floor on EBay (and probably enough to do my mother's bathroom in her house!) and the guy I bought it from threw in the tub of adhesive with it so I managed to do it without too much expense (about £200 including fitting). I recommend measuring how much you need and setting up a search on EBay. Alternative high quality products we have in the UK include mFLOR, Vusta, Karndean and Polyflor - I don't know whether they supply in the US though.
Anyone have experience with interceramic hardwood tile?