Thread: small bathroom reno

Hi Rob,

I assume the door is on the short wall opposite where u plan to put the bath. It is very similar in size to our existing bathroom and layout is also very similar except the vanity and toilet are swapped. It worked well for 90 years in this house but I just wanted to get an upgrade and a separate shower.
I like the layout for a small bathroom and with some nice modern fixtures it should look great.

Cheers
Juan

Originally Posted by jags

Hi All

I'm about to commence a small bathroom reno and was after a few peoples opinions and ideas .
Firstly
the bathroom is 2300 long and 1650 wide the layout currently is as show in the pic

my plan is to put the bath /shower along the short wall it is 1650 long and 750 wide

then next to the bath put the toilet in the gap of 650 this would allow a minimum of 150 either side of the toilet

then the 900 by 350 recessed vanity which i think will help not box the toilet in because of it's shallow depth .

Do you think this is doable .

i am adding the toilet so any advise on how one would do this would also be helpfull . I was planning on tapping into the other tiolet pipe in the adjoining room if possible .i have the plumber coming on saturday and am not looking forward to the quote .

thanks
Rob

personally i would have the vanity parallel with the bath to give you more usable floor space

Try this, Rob. We just did up a bathroom and this planner was very useful. Be prepared for a big job....

http://www.tradelink.com.au/consumer/designyourown/

We have a similar size bathroom and have had the same issues. Our bath has a small shelf at the end wall so we are making this into a larger shelf (300 wide, 300 high. Top of shelf is width of bath plus 300mm and we will put a cube basin (300x300) in. So similar to yours but toilet on other side and don't have a vanity (will upgrade the old recessed wall cabinet). Both builder and draftsman have doubts if it will work but after many calculations, and discussions on this forum, it is the cheapest and most practical, especially as we have two young children and use the bath a lot. Let us know how it goes and I'll do the same.
Cheers
McBlurter

Hi all

Thanks for the replies

Well had the plumber come over on saturday and he said my layout and to add the new toilet is possible but i will have to remove the slab set out all the waste pipes and then replace the slab .
I have tried to get under the house to see if the slab is suspended but can not see as the room seems to be boxed in with limstone foundations .

My plan to remove the slab was to start at the door with a jack hammer and work my way to the far wall . i was thinking of cutting down the side of each wall with a angle grinder or similar to free up the wall from the concrete floor .
Is this advisable or is there a better way ?

thanks again for all the help it is greatly appriciated

I will attach some pics as i progress .

rob

hi all , thanks again for the comments .

The bathroom is coming along well . I was able to remove only one half of the concrete slab so i can now use the other half to get my levels when i reconcrete the floor .

I have been going over the floor plan in my head as the plumber is coming to lay the pipe work on Monday and due to the amount that the toilet will stick into the room . I now think that putting the toilet in the corner is the better option (is this what you ment arms ) as the vanity is only 35cm deep and the tiolet will be 665 cm .

What is the minimun distance i can get away with on each side of the toilet ???

Taking into consideration that on the vanity side your knees should be unintruded because of the shallow depth of the vanity .

If possible i would like to make the vanity a little bigger than 900cm ?

thanks again

We are doing a similar layout.
I had planned for 180mm from the outside of the rim to the wall, but will turn out to be around 135mm and this doesn't feel too cramped. I'm 6 feet tall and it feels fine, mind you I'm not of the beefy variety! Mind you we have only just over 1000mm to work with, hence a small basin 325x325. Although the plumber is thinking we could go a little larger. Both builder and plumber were initially sceptical but now our old vanity is out and the toilet can be placed in the space, that it actually works okay.
Cheers
McBlurter

Thanks Mc blurter hope your bathroom is all going to plan ...

it' funny the things you will do to see if a plan works ..I've just been sitting on the crapper for the last 5min with a tackle box that is 350cm long and i but it at 900cm high ....

i think it is doable but the shoulders and elbows might get a little bruised from time to time think i will stick with a 900cm wide vanity ..

i also looked at the small basin but sometime treat the basin as the shower so went agaist the idea ...

rob

I like the idea of moving the toilet away from the bath. They don't make for good scenery when having a soak.

well when you think all is going well something always comes and smacks you in the back of the head .

i was going to put a bath /shower in that was 750 wide but have been rethinking this after seeing how thin it is . There is another bath that will fit that is 820 and because we will be using the shower on a daily basis i think this is now a better option . But the bathroom will be even tighter now .

Also i have been told that rather than leaving half the floor slab to use as a guide i should remove it because if the new slab moves /drops it will put a nice crack line in the tiles. This is something that i had not throught of but make a lot of sense.

has anyone experienced either problem .
Thanks
Rob

Hey Jags,

I've done a few patched slabs - they don't usually drop or move if done correctly , but it is common that a small crack opens between the old and new concrete as it shrinks.

If you are tiling over the jointed slab just run a length of duct tape over the concrete join then cover the duct tape with the waterproofing membrane. this way the tile wont actually be fixed to the concrete slab and won't crack.

I've tiled over 12 mm wide cracks in concrete slabs this way (the cracks were filled with sikaflex first) - 10 years later no damaged tiles whatsoever!

Re your fitout design --- Do you really need a bath tub? I think the room would look and feel much bigger with just a shower head on a hose and a floor outlet. and maybe a sheet of glass.

Doog

Originally Posted by jags

i was going to put a bath /shower in that was 750 wide but have been rethinking this after seeing how thin it is . There is another bath that will fit that is 820 and because we will be using the shower on a daily basis i think this is now a better option . But the bathroom will be even tighter now.

We have a show over the bath and I've just measured it at 730 wide (so adding in the thickness of the tiles, it's probably 750 wide). I think it is fine. Our bathroom is 1850 x 2700 and the bath is along one long side and the twin basin vanity on the other long side. What we find (1 couple household) is that the limiting factor is the space between the vanity and the bath when there are two people in the bathroom (particularly when the dog wants to come in as well). The space between the basins and the bath is 580 or 800 from the vanity to the bath (the basin's are oval and stick out further than the vanity).

Our other bathroom has a 800x800 shower with preformed shower and that doesn't really feel any bigger because it's square (in the bath, you get less width and more length).

Get a bath with a flat bottom. I don't know if they still sell baths that don't but I've used bathrooms with showers over old baths with round bottoms and it feels like it would be easy to fall over if you weren't 100% with it.

A pocket sliding door would probably be good (which we don't have).
Some cabinets in the wall cavity are good (which we do have).

You could have a 900x900 shower in the corner opposite the loo and have a longer vanity for more storage (unless you absolutely need a bath).

Hi Rob,

Not sure how far into it you are but why do you need the toilet in the bathroom if you already have a main seperate toilet? Is this bathroom an ensuite?

I am about 3/4 of the way through my own bathroom reno (1700mm x 2600mm - my first ever DIY, what to way to begin!! It is very similar to your first design; 1400mm x 820mm bath along end, in the space where your toilet was to go I am placing a shower head on hose with floor waste, 800mm then a glass screen seperating the wet area from a 900mm vanity. (I know , I know it doesn't all quite add up)

We're keeping our toilet seperate toilet. To be honest I've never understood what it is with Aussies and dunnies in the bathroom.

Good luck and I hope it all comes together for you.

hi all

Thanks for the continued replies i will update this thread till the reno is finished because im finding out more helpful information as i go and hopefully it will get done quicker ..

the bath debate comes down to the misses wanting one and resale and the size issue is that i feel that 750 would be a little cramped if you use it every day and im not the smallest person 10 cm either side of the shoulders is a bit tight .

Adding a toilet is for conveniece and resale the bathroom is next to the bedrooms ....and two is always better than one .

As the plumber is coming tomorrow i had to deside on the taps and placement after about 3 hours of pissing off the guy in the shop i bought the bath spout and then went next door and brought the rest. He wanted $420 for the bath...

i went for

a phoenix vivid mixer for the shower $179

a wattle ceb H/ shower $140

a vessel wall swivel bath spout $85

a phoeenix vivid mixer for the bath $179

a phoenix vivid basin mixer $179

a decina prima 1650x 820 bath $365


i thought the mixing for the bath was a great idea and easier to use than taps and by using the old vanity hot and cold pipes and seperating the bath water from the shower i can easily reach the the mixer to fill the bath . the bath spout is on a swival so that when you use the shower you will not hit it with your leg .

The other thing i found out was that the grip thing on an acrylic bath is a bit of a myth and you do not need it and makes the bath harder to clean .

im sure this will bore some people but it maybe useful to other .

Rob .