We are in phase 2 of a multi-phase remodel. Mom, dad, kids, cats, and dog living in the house during the process. Phase 1 is 90% complete: new kitchen in the old screened-in porch (keeping the old kitchen active throughout) and a revamped living room. Phase 2 demo is complete: old kitchen, breakfast room, office (former dining room), and "1/4 bath" (toilet in a room, that's it, no sink).
Just before phase 2 demo my husband proudly informed me that he had salvaged a low-flow toilet from a commercial project. We have a rule in our house to keep it from looking like a junk yard: no salvage unless you know exactly what you’re going to use the material for! I should have seen this coming. My husband could not stand removing “his” toilet by the garage. The other toilets are on the opposite side of the house, which, evidently, is too far to go when you’re tinkering in the garage or yard. Thus ensued a day or so of arm wrestling. My spacious laundry room had to accommodate a FULL BATH! “It will dramatically increase the value of the house,” he insisted. Unfortunately, my realtor friend concurred. My challenge: design a full bath in as small a space as possible, while maintaining my aesthetic standards without excessive budget increase. Oh, and still getting the laundry out of the garage.
Here's a drawing of the room without the bathroom components. Back when it was a spacious laundry room. We own the new window, so it needs to stay in the plan, in approximately the middle of the wall. Luckily, it was selected to go over a countertop, so the sill isn't too low. Hubby suggested putting the toilet across from the door and under the window. I can understand that he would like to feature this fixture, however I prefer to design bathrooms with the toilet tucked behind a wall or even a pony wall (that's a half-height wall).
The toilet needs to fit into the middle of a 30" wide clear space and must have 24" clear in the front. "Clear" means there are no permanent obstructions, although it might be possible to encroach a bit with the shower curb (not the shower wall or glass). A shower must have a minimum 30" diameter circle clear at the interior. Due to the small room size I designed a shower that is all glass.
When I look at the drawing above I see a glaring problem: the width of the room is insufficient to fit a shower and toilet side by side on the wall adjoining the office and meet code. Thirty inches for the inside of the shower plus 30" around the toilet plus something for the mortar and tile on the wall, say 1-1/8", plus the shower curb, usually 6" if we build it with tile. That's at least 67", maybe more, but I only have 62" available.
M
y first call was to the local Building Official. I wanted to make sure that he would accept the dimensions of the shower interior and the clear space around the toilet as measured from the glass of the shower enclosure, not the curb. We had a nice exchange of emails where we established an agreement. Because it's a remodel. I need to conform to code, but the final definition of code is subject to the determination of the local Building Official.
It took more negotiation, but I eventually helped my husband to come to the conclusion that he needs to move the existing wall of the bedroom away from the laundry room so the laundry room can be a bit wider. Luckily, the bedroom has been prepared for a three foot addition on the opposite side of the room, so it will still end up being larger than the existing.
Here is a drawing of the new layout. I'll cover selection of the shower enclosure, sink, tile, and lighting design in subsequent posts. My husband already took care of the toilet specification :-).
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