Bathroom reno.

[NorthernRedneck]

We had been toying with the idea of doing a bathroom renovation in our ensuite. The bathroom is 9'6" x 15' and currently has a 6ft air tub and a walk in shower, a double sink vanity, toilet and cupboard space. Downstairs under the bathroom is a dropped ceiling making the plumbing easily accessible. When we do the reno, we'll be swapping out the 20 yr old air tub with a new jetted hot tub, and building a new shower. Right now we're discussing where we want things located as right now, when you're laying in bed, you can look right in to the bathroom and watch me taking a dump. So the toilet is going to be relocated. The shower will be twice the size as it is now and will be located where tub is now. The tub will be where the shower currently sits. The cabinets will remain the same but the sinks and counter will be updated.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Here's one option we were considering.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Here's option 2. Go with a corner tub. Move the counter/ vanity to the back wall where the tub currently sits and have a double shower.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Here's the third option. Basically move the toilet over and make a bigger shower.

 

[FrancSevin]

Two things I hate about toilet location. Seeing it from another room and seeing it when siting in the tub.

Our main bath had both these issues. The worst was seeing the toilet when you came in the front door. Unfortunately, the furnace and water heater were directly underneath making relocation impossible. Se we moved walls and doors. Expanded into the hallway making it a little biger. toilet is still next to the Jetted Tub.

The ensuite is currently aroom4'X 6' with only a vanity and a toilet. I'm still trying to get the county toilet me add a 5'X8' extension bump out on the house. That will make the toilet invisible to the bather and currently, not visible from the door.

Your project is exciting. That is a lot of movement and work. I look forward to watching the progress.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Though we kinda like the open concept for the ensuite, we briefly talked about putting up a wall and door to close it off. But with the open ceiling in the basement allowing access to all the plumbing we decided to relocate things since we'll be redoing the tile anyway. The tile is in good shape and looks alright but with moving things around it'll be busted up.

What started all this was cracks forming in the shower floor which allowed water to seep down and start dripping through. So if we're going to bust up the shower to redo the tile, may as well keep going and make it bigger. Which initially meant moving the toilet over a few feet. Which led to the realization that the whole floor would have to be redone. That led to us deciding to swap out the old air tub for a new jet tub. Since we're going that far, may as well move things around and have a layout that makes better sense.

 

[Ceee]

I love this kind of stuff. I hope this makes sense.

I really like seeing the shower from the entrance, especially if you're going to have some nice tile work and glass doors. With that big of a shower, you could use French doors on the shower. Looking at option 3, I'm just thinking here...don't know what kind of measurements are required for everything. Maybe make the tub a corner tub. That way maybe there is room for the toilet to slide down and be in a less conspicuous area, maybe with its own little area. You may have to give up some counter space though.

For what it's worth, I had my jetted tub replaced with a soaker tub. I wasn't broken or anything, I just didn't like it. Something about that water staying in the lines that I didn't like.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We did measurements before going with what you described with a corner tub and it would work with a 5x5' corner tub. Since we're going with a contractor to do the work, we want to see what they say and think is the best option. It's a blank canvas and rerouting the plumbing won't be difficult.

 

[FrancSevin]

Though we kinda like the open concept for the ensuite, we briefly talked about putting up a wall and door to close it off. But with the open ceiling in the basement allowing access to all the plumbing we decided to relocate things since we'll be redoing the tile anyway. The tile is in good shape and looks alright but with moving things around it'll be busted up.

What started all this was cracks forming in the shower floor which allowed water to seep down and start dripping through. So if we're going to bust up the shower to redo the tile, may as well keep going and make it bigger. Which initially meant moving the toilet over a few feet. Which led to the realization that the whole floor would have to be redone. That led to us deciding to swap out the old air tub for a new jet tub. Since we're going that far, may as well move things around and have a layout that makes better sense.

A big problem with renovations is a lot of "you might as well..." creeps in. It tends to expand the timeline and the budget. Good luck with that.

Over the years I have found the old concrete board is best for underlayment. The shower needs an additional water protection fabric before you put down the pan. I highly recommend a pan. Assuming you go that route, you won't have the gutter/splash sides rotting in ten years. A good contractor will know what works and what didn't.

I have never known a tile floor over wood, that didn't eventually crack.

 

[Ceee]

A big problem with renovations is a lot of "you might as well..." creeps in. It tends to expand the timeline and the budget. Good luck with that.

Over the years I have found the old concrete board is best for underlayment. The shower needs an additional water protection fabric before you put down the pan. I highly recommend a pan. Assuming you go that route, you won't have the gutter/splash sides rotting in ten years. A good contractor will know what works and what didn't.

I have never known a tile floor over wood, that didn't eventually crack.

"A big problem with renovations is a lot of "you might as well..." creeps in. It tends to expand the timeline and the budget"

I agree with the above. Sometimes contractors just want to stay as long as possible and make as much money as possible.

Seeing what a contractor says is smart, but just do your own research too.

I hope your contractor talks to you about Schluter/Ditra products.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We plan on doing our homework and getting quotes. We had pretty much decided once the shower floor comes out that yhe end result will be a full reno as we're in our early 40s. The next time we move will be in a box or a seniors home so let's make the investment now for something we'll enjoy for many years.

 

[Ceee]

Oops, I meant Schluter/Kerdi, the waterproofing membrane, not ditra.

I love to see this kind of before/after stuff, so I hope you keep us updated.

 

[Melensdad]

This is a timely thread for us.

My wife and I have a 26 year old bathroom, the design is pretty basic, somewhat modern looking and totally does not fit the rest of our home. It is what was stuck in more as an afterthought than a proper plan. We are NOT planning to move any of our plumbing around, but we are looking to dress it up. New tile, new cabinets, new counter tops, etc etc etc. We'd strip it down to bare walls and rebuild in the same locations with some added design features, one of those being a walled off toilet area as our's is too visible.

Our timeline starts in February? Honestly we believe we will be losing our foster son about February as he will LIKELY be transitioned to an adoptive family (hopefully my cousin) and we will then have time to work on some home projects.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Cool. We can compare notes. Ours will hopefully start around then as well. We're exploring contractors and trying to deside what we want. A lot depends on covid restrictions. We are going into a 2 week lockdown again so that kinda puts a hold on getting anyone out to quote on things.

 

[Ceee]

This is a timely thread for us.

My wife and I have a 26 year old bathroom, the design is pretty basic, somewhat modern looking and totally does not fit the rest of our home. It is what was stuck in more as an afterthought than a proper plan. We are NOT planning to move any of our plumbing around, but we are looking to dress it up. New tile, new cabinets, new counter tops, etc etc etc. We'd strip it down to bare walls and rebuild in the same locations with some added design features, one of those being a walled off toilet area as our's is too visible.

Our timeline starts in February? Honestly we believe we will be losing our foster son about February as he will LIKELY be transitioned to an adoptive family (hopefully my cousin) and we will then have time to work on some home projects.

I did basically what you're planning to do about 6 yrs ago. I didn't move any plumbing, but had new tile installed in the shower, on the floors, on the bathtub backsplash, and vanity backsplashes. I added new countertops/sinks and all new fixtures in the shower, tub, and vanities. The countertop guy was a countertop/carpenter type person, so he framed my builder grade mirrors (just big sheets of mirror on the wall) and hung my new light fixtures. I switched out my tub too from a jetted tub to a soaker tub. New Toto toilet too , love that sucker.

I think I only made two bad choices. I should have chosen different on/off handles for the bathtub and should have definitely added the spray nozzle to the bathtub.

I didn't go all trendy because I need to like it for a very long time. I'll never have the moolah to do that again.

I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what you do too.

 

[Melensdad]

We re-did my daughters bathroom about 5 years ago. Again, from plain-Jane to something fancier. I don't have BEFORE photos. But I have some during & after photos. We did NOT move any plumbing. Just put in new floors, did some wall tile, some wood trim, new lights, granite counter tops. I did add a brand new make-up vanity into the space, with its own lights and power. But we had power in the wall, it was easy to add the lights/outlets by pulling it through the wall from the next room. Nothing structural. Nothing other than a face lift.

FWIW, I did most of the work. I enjoy doing tile. We'd probably end up doing something like this, perhaps a bit more elaborate with either the tile or the wood, but a similar theme/look. These photos are all during the process, some are closer to the end of the project.

 

[Melensdad]

Here are some more. The granite counter expensive, in fact it was one of the most expensive pieces of granite he had. Its really cool. It has a few large quartz deposits in the granite so you can look into the top. The wall and floor tile was all from a big box store and was inexpensive.

I'll have to go upstairs and take some current photos that actually show it done without construction tape, etc.

 

[Ceee]

Ooooh, you can set tile! That's a big labor savings. Thanks for the pictures. I love those undermount sinks and that basket weave tile.

 

[Melensdad]

OK so just got back from a round trip to upstairs and back to my La-z-boy.

The wood is a mix of poplar and cherry. We actually re-used her original vanity base, it cherry and high quality, it matched the style we wanted and decided to reuse it. When I ordered the make-up vanity I went to the same manufacturer but he could no longer match the drawer trim, it is close. The finish is identical.

HINT, if you trim around a mirror and don't want to see a reflection of the back of the piece of wood trim, use a rabbit bit on a router to notch the wood that will overlap the mirror, then paint that rabbited part BLACK. It eliminates the reflection of the backside of the wood trim all the way around the mirror.

These photos are her bathroom in its current state. Including the disarray on her counter tops.

 

[Melensdad]

Ooooh, you can set tile! That's a big labor savings. Thanks for the pictures. I love those undermount sinks and that basket weave tile.

Yes, labor on tile is a killer, especially if you do anything unusual. I also did this fireplace in our house (last year). This took a while to do. All the tiles are handmade and most of them had to be trimmed to a uniform height. Lots more cutting and trimming than I had planned to do. The artist who made these for us was great to work with on the project. The ceiling is just a couple inches shy of 12' and setting those up to the ceiling was a huge P.I.T.A. The photo below was taken BEFORE I had installed the grout. The grout was not installed until after the holiday stuff safety retuned to the storage totes but I ran out of time and energy so last year we hung Christmas decor over the tile without the grout.

 

[Melensdad]

For anyone interested, the fireplace tile was made for us by http://www.pasadenacraftsmantile.com The artist is Cha-Rai Tang, we flew out there and visited her studio to work with her on the design. She was very accommodating of our wishes, we looked at her finishes and talked about the desire for natural/mottled look. She hit it all perfectly, sending us samples for inspection during the process. She did all the layout work for me in advance, based on my specs and measurements so I only had to cut and set.

For the master bath that we are looking to re-do late winter/spring of 21 we are looking at using one of several different tile makers. North Prairie => http://handmadetile.com/happenings.html and Motawi Tile => https://www.motawi.com are both high on our list. Both do semi-custom tiles and both work with custom layouts.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We're going next week to meet with a contractor to plan out what we want for our bathroom.

A bit of success though. We each independently looked at colors and both came to pretty much the same conclusion on what we want.

 

[Ceee]

For anyone interested, the fireplace tile was made for us by http://www.pasadenacraftsmantile.com The artist is Cha-Rai Tang, we flew out there and visited her studio to work with her on the design. She was very accommodating of our wishes, we looked at her finishes and talked about the desire for natural/mottled look. She hit it all perfectly, sending us samples for inspection during the process. She did all the layout work for me in advance, based on my specs and measurements so I only had to cut and set.

For the master bath that we are looking to re-do late winter/spring of 21 we are looking at using one of several different tile makers. North Prairie => http://handmadetile.com/happenings.html and Motawi Tile => https://www.motawi.com are both high on our list. Both do semi-custom tiles and both work with custom layouts.

Beautiful fireplace!

 

[Ceee]

We're going next week to meet with a contractor to plan out what we want for our bathroom.

A bit of success though. We each independently looked at colors and both came to pretty much the same conclusion on what we want.

That doesn't happen very often, so good for you .

 

[Melensdad]

FWIW, I think the details designed into the room, with some minor alterations, can take a room from ordinary to extraordinary. Often without the expense of moving plumbing. It's typically much easier and less expensive to build in a divider, alter light fixtures, etc than it is to move plumbing around, as the bill to move plumbing fixtures can increase the cost of a bathroom renovation by 50%.

Our master bedroom is pretty tight on space, there is no practical way to do much to it. We are going to add a partial divider wall to separate the toilet, something that should have been done when we originally built the house. That will cause us to shorten our vanity top by 2 or 3", but as the top is 8' long we can afford to shave it by a couple inches. Adding in a half or 3/4th wall divider won't cast new shadows, but if we put up a full wall we need to totally re-do the lights in the room. We will put in all new fixtures but the plan is to not have to move the electrical boxes if we don't have to; I will if needed, I just don't think it will be needed as the sinks are staying in the same spots.

 

[Ceee]

You showed me yours, melensdad, so I'll show you some of mine.







All the tile is really like the color of the 2nd pic. The light just makes it look different in the first and third pic's.

I wasn't wild about that bathtub, but I'm okay with it now. I'm still not okay with those bathtub handles. They just stick up too far.

That offset drain in the shower would drive some people crazy, but I didn't want to pay the extra $$ to move it. There was a shower bench to the left of the drain that I had taken out.

 

[Melensdad]

This is the powder room I did a few years ago. It was a simple white room when the builders left. It’s gone through a couple transformations over the years.

It now has the same type of Prairie Style woodwork seen in other areas of our home. I added a copper ceiling. The wall paper border was hand screened paper. The same artist who did the border made a tree picture to coordinate.

After seeing my daughters bathroom and this powder room, you may be able to guess what the upcoming master bath theme may be.

 

[Ceee]

All of your pictures are sideways. How do I rotate them?

 

[Melensdad]

All of your pictures are sideways. How do I rotate them?

turn your computer screen on its side?

 

[Ceee]

turn your computer screen on its side?

I don't know how to do that, so I'll just continue to tilt my head. Thank anyway