I just removed my bath and replaced it with a shower cubicle. Adding 20mm of insulation board all round robbed the room of some space but it is much warmer in winter with less condensation.
Small Bathroom Design
- Thread starter MacB
- Start date
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OP
OP
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
This is exactly what I have mapped out in my mind, the toilet/waste position wouldn't need to really alter, just move toilet closer to side wall. Currently door is central on long wall with toilet to left against external wall, wash basin dead ahead and shower cubicle occupying the right hand side. So door would go where shower cubicle is, toilet squeeze over and then bath along wall that currently has door and washbasin at the end of the bath to the side of the new door.
This would mean that you open door into a space with washbasin to left followed by bath then a 500mm 'corridor' to toilet at the far end. I'm worried that 500mm is just too narrow both as a space to move around in and for comfort when 'enthroned' on the toilet. I reckon that I could increase width to 1400mm giving me a 700mm corridor instead which seems like it would be more suitable.
Oh and a bath is a must, I do like to wallow in my own muck, think hippo at play.
Sara_H
Guru
We've got a short bath. We could've fitted a standard one in at a squeeze if we'd chiselled walls a bit, but didn't bother.How about a 1200 long bath, Al? They were rare once upon a time, but seem to be loads available now. Stick your legs in the air if you want to lie down, or get an old folk's one, with a door in the side perhaps? Ideal Standard used to do a 'Space' range, with corner toilets, flat-sided basins etc - there will be an answer...A foray into the world of wet room should extend as far as peeing on the floor in a sleepy or other state. 'Tanking' is best done in the pub, not the bathroom.
It's ok for me at 5'4" but OH at 6'2" doesn't bother with it as its so uncomfortable.
Sara_H
Guru
We've got a short bath. We could've fitted a standard one in at a squeeze if we'd chiselled walls a bit, but didn't bother.How about a 1200 long bath, Al? They were rare once upon a time, but seem to be loads available now. Stick your legs in the air if you want to lie down, or get an old folk's one, with a door in the side perhaps? Ideal Standard used to do a 'Space' range, with corner toilets, flat-sided basins etc - there will be an answer...A foray into the world of wet room should extend as far as peeing on the floor in a sleepy or other state. 'Tanking' is best done in the pub, not the bathroom.
It's ok for me at 5'4" but OH at 6'2" doesn't bother with it as its so uncomfortable.
OP
OP
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
Yep has to be full length and if I had more space it would be longer, I'm actually now thinking if I'm moving walls anyway I may increase space to allow for a bath at 1800x800.
I'm also looking at a loft conversion to add one or two bedrooms so shrinking the lower bedroom a bit more wouldn't be so bad.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Keeping the existing waste pipe, hot and cold feed pipes and ventilation extract will make the replacement a lot cheaper to do MacB. There are some really goo fittings around so depends what so of look you want.
The options for putting in a bath have already been discussed by with a 1200 wide space but with a conventional 1700 x 700mm bath you will just make it feel cramped and tight to use so I wouldn't do that. The door position is critical and I would leave it where it is on the long side as an end door will just increase the sense of narrowness which you want to avoid. You need a clear width of at least a 800mm to fit a wc ideally 450mm [500 or 600 is better] off the wall to the centre line of the wc to avoid a cramped feeling.
The alternatives are a deeper tub bath to fill that end of the room but never seen one 1200mm wide.
If I were you I would keep the existing arrangement and go for a really elegant 1200x 900 walk-in shower tray to fill one end with a glass screen arrangement - you can get some really sophisticated screen arrangements now to avoid splashing. The wet room idea is great if it is well ventilated as Reg says, but don't go for an open shower area as the water will go everywhere and the main problem with a timber floor and timber studs is that you can't effectively tile the floor and walls without them cracking so the tanking at the floor/wall is critical as Aperitif says.
Line the existing walls and floor with marine grade ply to make the whole area more rigid and to provide a good fixing backing.... but add additional floor joists and wall studs at critical load points if the existing ones aren't under the wc and bath/ shower locations, especially if you are tiling, and use a paint-on tanking solution to seal the ply/wall/floor junctions after you have fitted the drainage before you lay tiles to avoid any risk of leaks. Any plasterboard in the bathroom needs to v=be moisture resistant, any existing plaster needs to be sound and sealed.
The wall hung toilet pans with concealed cisterns hidden behind 300 deep wall hung cupboards and inset counter top wash basins look very neat and hide all the pipework you v=can incorporate towel shelves and floor to ceiling storage in such a big space so think about colours early on as you can integrate everything together.... cherrywood looks good against stainless steel and chrome fittings..... just make sure you go for a back to wall wc with easily replaceable cistern fittings as access is difficult. Put the wc on the short side and the basin on the long side opposite but offset from th door which can open back against the shower end. Inset lighting to the ceiling must be bathroom fittings - again LED ones are great.
Mirrors ned to be bathroom sealed ones so the condensation doesn't get into the mirror backing and make sure you get an electric heat mat fitted behind the mirror which you can have operated off the extract switched circuit. Bigger the better to make the room feel bigger.
Extract needs to be fast and large enough tho cope with the high condensation levels.... if possible go for one in the centre of the ceiling over the shower so that it is removing as much of the water vapour as early as possible. You only need to insulate external walls.
You can lower the ceiling with the extract duct and lighting concealed to make connecting to existing points simpler and it reduces the room's volume to quickly lower the humidity.
Radiators come in all sorts of shapes and sizes now but use the BTU/kw calculators you can access on line to get the right size.... ladder ones are great for drying towels but get a dual electric/CH one so it works in summer.
Using back to wall wc with wall cupboards allows you to lay a simple linoleum or tiled flooring which has no cut-outs for toilet fittings so easier to fit.
Finally, if you're not doing the work yourself, get a plumber who's been recommended by people, ideally with OCD as they are particularly obsessive about getting everything right.
The options for putting in a bath have already been discussed by with a 1200 wide space but with a conventional 1700 x 700mm bath you will just make it feel cramped and tight to use so I wouldn't do that. The door position is critical and I would leave it where it is on the long side as an end door will just increase the sense of narrowness which you want to avoid. You need a clear width of at least a 800mm to fit a wc ideally 450mm [500 or 600 is better] off the wall to the centre line of the wc to avoid a cramped feeling.
The alternatives are a deeper tub bath to fill that end of the room but never seen one 1200mm wide.
If I were you I would keep the existing arrangement and go for a really elegant 1200x 900 walk-in shower tray to fill one end with a glass screen arrangement - you can get some really sophisticated screen arrangements now to avoid splashing. The wet room idea is great if it is well ventilated as Reg says, but don't go for an open shower area as the water will go everywhere and the main problem with a timber floor and timber studs is that you can't effectively tile the floor and walls without them cracking so the tanking at the floor/wall is critical as Aperitif says.
Line the existing walls and floor with marine grade ply to make the whole area more rigid and to provide a good fixing backing.... but add additional floor joists and wall studs at critical load points if the existing ones aren't under the wc and bath/ shower locations, especially if you are tiling, and use a paint-on tanking solution to seal the ply/wall/floor junctions after you have fitted the drainage before you lay tiles to avoid any risk of leaks. Any plasterboard in the bathroom needs to v=be moisture resistant, any existing plaster needs to be sound and sealed.
The wall hung toilet pans with concealed cisterns hidden behind 300 deep wall hung cupboards and inset counter top wash basins look very neat and hide all the pipework you v=can incorporate towel shelves and floor to ceiling storage in such a big space so think about colours early on as you can integrate everything together.... cherrywood looks good against stainless steel and chrome fittings..... just make sure you go for a back to wall wc with easily replaceable cistern fittings as access is difficult. Put the wc on the short side and the basin on the long side opposite but offset from th door which can open back against the shower end. Inset lighting to the ceiling must be bathroom fittings - again LED ones are great.
Mirrors ned to be bathroom sealed ones so the condensation doesn't get into the mirror backing and make sure you get an electric heat mat fitted behind the mirror which you can have operated off the extract switched circuit. Bigger the better to make the room feel bigger.
Extract needs to be fast and large enough tho cope with the high condensation levels.... if possible go for one in the centre of the ceiling over the shower so that it is removing as much of the water vapour as early as possible. You only need to insulate external walls.
You can lower the ceiling with the extract duct and lighting concealed to make connecting to existing points simpler and it reduces the room's volume to quickly lower the humidity.
Radiators come in all sorts of shapes and sizes now but use the BTU/kw calculators you can access on line to get the right size.... ladder ones are great for drying towels but get a dual electric/CH one so it works in summer.
Using back to wall wc with wall cupboards allows you to lay a simple linoleum or tiled flooring which has no cut-outs for toilet fittings so easier to fit.
Finally, if you're not doing the work yourself, get a plumber who's been recommended by people, ideally with OCD as they are particularly obsessive about getting everything right.
Last edited:
OP
OP
MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
Archie, good stuff sir but the door moving and the bath aren't optional, it's a one bed flat with en-suite. I want to end up with a 2/3 bed flat and central bathroom. So the door has to move to hallway rather than accessed via bedroom. I would also have door opening out into hallway rather than into the bathroom.
I did consider a new bathroom as part of the loft conversion but felt it was cheaper and easier to do where the existing pipes and waste are located.
I did consider a new bathroom as part of the loft conversion but felt it was cheaper and easier to do where the existing pipes and waste are located.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
In that case move the partition just enough to get a combination bath/ shower unit with screen in at the and and recess the side wall enough to get the wc and whb to the side wall leaving ideally 750mm clear from the end of the wc pan to the opposite wall.
GM
Legendary Member
- Location
- North of the river
I would use Hardiebacker, instead of marine ply, and a timber patress behind where needed. I think that's the regs now, could be wrong!
U
User6179
Guest
I was going to use one of those toilet basin combis for a small bathroom but in the end I extended the bathroom into the bedroom and put a bath in the alcove .
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Never come across Hardiebacker TGM... wherever you need a really good fix without lining timber studs with ply full width noggins between studs are fine.
[Edit: Hardiebacker looks OK for lining in lieu of plasterboard but never heard of it before- would have to be careful cutting with stills- HSE may have issue with dust in confined space.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
