Small bathroom design help

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abernat

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I'm planning a gut and redo of our downstairs bathroom. The room is small - 6'8" deep and 6' wide - and I'm planning on taking it down to the studs and starting over.

We'd like to put in a toilet, sink, and shower; a tub is not necessary. I've got two rough layouts that I'd like comments on; pictures below. In these, the brown rectangle is the door (currently swings out, could replace with an in-swing), the blue is a window (will replace with glass block/vinyl window combination), and the gray is (I think) a pass-through for the chimney. While the chimney is not strictly necessary, tearing out out would be... extensive.

This is on the first floor of a two-story building, with full basement access. The vent currently runs up the right wall, but since I'm taking things down to the studs I could run additional lines along the walls, under the floor, or along the ceiling. Floor and ceiling joists run right to left. In the current bathroom, _nothing_ is vented; everything just ties straight in to the drain stack. So maybe it's a wet vent... yeah right. Current drain stack is cast iron, 4" diameter.

The first option, which puts tight spacing of toilet/sink for a full-width shower stall. This is in the hopes that my wife and I would get to shower together :) I've gone with a 32" deep stall, which I would be tiling.

B1.jpg


The second option, which drops back to a 32x32 shower stall and has more room for an inswing door. We'd probably put a cabinet behind the chimney.


B2.jpg


Thoughts, please!
 

Jimbo

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I don't think your drawings are to scale, and I see some problems. That is a very small door!. The toilet must be centered in a space 30" wide.

If you wife is as excited about the "shower for two " idea as you are, well......more power to you!!!!!!!
 

abernat

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Roughly 1"/1' scale. The door is 24" wide, so yeah - tiny. Which makes me wonder how they got the current tub in, now that I think about it...

In the first picture, the toilet is centered in a 36" wide space. In the second, 3' 4". Let me see if I can get dimensions...
 

Gary Swart

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I would seriously consider a pocket door. Swinging doors take up a lot of space in a small room.
 

Dlarrivee

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They didn't install the existing tub after your 2' door went in...

Pocket doors suck, but might be your best option.

I prefer not to see the throne from the hallway when the door is open myself.
 

Gary Swart

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While I respect everyone's right to have an opinion regarding pocket doors, not all of us think "they suck". A fairly common problem presented on this forum has to do with finding a toilet that will fit in a small bathroom where the door swings in. A 30" door requires at least that much space to open and nothing can impede the swing. A pocket door is completely hidden within the wall and requires zero clearance either on the inside of the room or the outside. It may not be as desirable as a swinging door in a room that is spacious, and it may not fit your individual preference, but since a great many older homes were not constructed with large bathrooms, a pocket door makes perfect sense.
 

Jadnashua

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The quality of the door hardware goes a long way to determine if people will like or dislike a pocket door! Mine, I opted for a double-roller track, ball bearings, suitable for up to a 200# door...the thing glides smoothly an quietly, all I could ask of the thing.
 

Dlarrivee

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While I respect everyone's right to have an opinion regarding pocket doors, not all of us think "they suck". A fairly common problem presented on this forum has to do with finding a toilet that will fit in a small bathroom where the door swings in. A 30" door requires at least that much space to open and nothing can impede the swing. A pocket door is completely hidden within the wall and requires zero clearance either on the inside of the room or the outside. It may not be as desirable as a swinging door in a room that is spacious, and it may not fit your individual preference, but since a great many older homes were not constructed with large bathrooms, a pocket door makes perfect sense.

You could have just said that you like them... no?
 

hj

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A 32" x 32" shower stall is a "telephone booth". Either go to a 36" x 36" or a 39" x 39" Neo-Angle stall. Move the sink closer to the right hand wall, (possibly making it a corner lavatory), to give better access to the toilet. You could also leave the outswing door and create a 66" "custom" shower with an angled glass door next to the chimney recess.
 
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abernat

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I'm happy leaving the outswing door. Can you sketch what you mean about the 66" custom shower? Larger showers are good :)
 

Cookie

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I would had loved a shower built for two! My husband and I always showered together and it was a lot of fun. But, he kept dropping the soap. :)
 

hj

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Draw a 32" wide, (or even a 34" wide one), by 36" long rectangular shower, then add an angled wall from its lower right corner to the corner of the chimney, and put the door in that section.
 
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