Home Forums Chat Forum 1.5m x 1.5m downstairs bathroom – what would you do?

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  • 1.5m x 1.5m downstairs bathroom – what would you do?
  • TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    Due to some drainage issues (clay pipes ruined by large roots) my downstair bathroom has needed stripping bare. It’s currently 4 walls and a window, bare earth on the floor. Previous was a concrete floor, 700 x 700mm shower, toilet, corner basin and small radiator, as per the left-hand drawing:

    bathroom

    It’s a blank canvas now, and it was always quite a squeeze, so I’m thinking of doing what’s in the right-hand drawing. Can anyone see any problems with this? It’s going to be concrete floor again, and I’m not convinced that hiding the shower waste in concrete is such a good idea (as happened in the previous bathroom) so I guess I need to raise the shower a bit. I’m also thinking of binning the s-trap toilet for one that goes through the wall, for the same aversion to setting pipes in concrete.

    The other thing is the water main stopcock for that half of the house is currently situated between the external wall and where the old toilet used to be, about 1″ above floor level – not ideal if I’m building a wall to hide the new shower water supply behind. Water supply comes up in the bathroom and then heads through the wall to the room to left, I was thinking of adding a second, accessible stopcock in this room and just leaving the original one wide open – am I asking for trouble?

    choppersquad
    Free Member

    If that’s to scale then what you’re planning looks far better.
    Only problem I’d have is if the radiator is a towel radiator, I wouldn’t my towel that close to the toilet.
    Give the wife the bottom rungs.

    timber
    Full Member

    Ours is a very similar size, managed to squeeze a bath where your new shower is and toilet and sink are on wall opposite door which swings towards bath. Only overly tight point is slightly over sized towel radiator that risks burning your knee when taking a dump.

    kormoran
    Free Member

    Similar size bathroom here. We have a japanese style onsen bath which is about 1.20m long and high sided. It has a shower into it but also can be filled up for a hot soak, which is frankly awesome. You can sit up to your chest in water.

    I wouldn’t have the rad too close to the loo either. Splashback/sticky jap’s eye moments won’t go down well I assure you

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    A UFH installation would also help, balls to rad. You can also get a toilet with a basin on top of the cistern lots here https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/toilets/cloakroom-toilet.

    I would run shower tray along the top wall, with shower at left hand end, then you could have a wider shower, toilet on left wall and basin on right wall. use electric ufh pad under small floor area under tiles, then its easy to replace.

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    flybathroomox

    I might also be tempted to just do heath robinson ufh, its such a small area it could be UFH pipe embedded in a screed , tile on top and just put exposed rad valves under the basin and run it off the radiator system. , insulate under it and around the edges of the screed.

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    I’d also be perfectly happy embedding the pipes in concrete, hence no issues with running the toilet waste from the door side of the room.
    If its deep enough, do 100-150mm stone (40mm to dust) compact it.
    set out toilet soil pipe with correct fall.
    then 100-150mm concrete. Soil pipe may not be completly embedded in concrete, no issue.
    possibly set out shower and basin wastes 100mm insulation
    15mm ufh pipes
    60-80mm screed on and around ufh pipes
    10mm tile adhesive
    18-22mm tiles
    =400-520mm depth below finished floor level required.

    ps I’m not a builder, I’m an accountant who became a vp in a services company who manage and maintain lots of properties among st other things and have overseen lots of kitchen and bathroom restorations.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Wet room?

    timba
    Free Member

    ^^ Beat me to it. Make the whole room a wet room, WC at the door end and basin opposite the shower, image halfway down this page “Other options for your bathroom”

    jamiesilo
    Free Member

    wet room doesn’t necesarily gain you any space. but could work. the question for me would still eb stopping water getting everywhere. i don’t like curtains.

    in your new drawing, could you turn the toilet through 90deg so it backs up to right hand wall, and would you gain a little slace that way for eg the radiator?

    alanl
    Free Member

    A corner toilet saves space too.

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    From reading the above and the evolution of ideas, it’s a small space so why fill it with bulky items…

    Wet ufh
    Tiled wet room floor and walls, massive rain shower style shower head
    Heated towel rail, hand basin in the back rh corner
    Completely open space, no division or curtain
    French colonial squat and drop pan, doubling as shower outflow, back left. Easy connection to existing soil pipe.

    kayak23
    Full Member

    What about putting the toilet at one end of the longer shower? Keeps any gentleman splashes contained and it’s somewhere to sit when lathering your feet up. 👍

    breadcrumb
    Full Member

    No personal experience of these other than one I saw in Japan-

    sink/loo

    https://goo.gl/images/9gkutQ

    Saves a bit of space.

    mick_r
    Full Member

    Massive rain shower head in small space just gets everything soaking and wastes and ton of water and energy. Do you really want to stand in the wet room water that comes from around the toilet?

    We have a single small heavily used bathroom – biggest revelation of the last year has been upvc planking / cladding the ceiling (tougher good quality stuff not the junk in B&Q). Plaster ceiling was a constant battle to keep clean and stop paint flaking. Cladding is spotless with barely a wipe needed in the last year.

    aP
    Free Member

    Depending upon how wide your door is I think you’ll struggle to fit a long shower area in, you could look at a narrow short bath but I’d think about putting your towel rail on the back wall next to the door. There are compact wc’s and also small basins – look at the Barbican style which is very neat and doesn’t project out too far.
    If you tile then consider using an epoxy grout – we have an anthracite grout with swimming pool mosaics which looks great (but cost quite a lot). We also have lime waxed T&G dropped ceiling with a shadow gap.

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    Whoa. Quite a lot of input there. Thanks very much people. Lots to think about, especially underfloor heating – I’d not considered that as an option.

    The room is used 99% of the time as a toilet and shower room for me after bike rides, so I think a shower makes more sense than a bath. There is a guest bedroom next to it but that is rarely occupied. Also not sure a wet room would work. I like the idea but it’s such a small space and everything would get soaked.

    Any thoughts on the water stopcock idea?

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    Door is very narrow and I’ll be changing it to open out into the hallway area rather than in to the bathroom. If I redo it with 45mm architrave it takes up 760mm of the 1500mm wall. Either way a 700 x 1300 shower tray should fit.

    hopeforthebest
    Free Member

    I don’t think you’ve got enough space for it NOT to be a wet room, otherwise you’re just going to end up with another micropoky shower and uncomfortable bog.

    Use the design you have on the right, but instead of a shower cubicle, have a fixed screen between the shower head and the toilet that is half the width of the room (ie it runs from the middle of the “north” wall to the centre of the room, in your diagram). Have the basin mounted on the “south” wall, opposite the shower head. Towel rad is slightly further towards the door so it’s not so close to the bog you’ll burn your knees but also doesn’t obstruct the door. Get a REALLY GOOD fan, not a shitty ineffective one.

    I had this exact layout in my old place and it worked well.

    hopeforthebest
    Free Member

    (The screen contains the water spray and stops the towels and toilet getting wet)

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Wet room with macerator in the drain. Saves on toilet space. Literal water closet.

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