Bathroom renovation in apartment - advice needed please
Hi all,
I'm looking at renovating the bathroom in my apartment as it's close to 20 years old and think it could do with a nice facelift.
I was looking at swapping things a little as I think the current laundry is a waste of space when the shower area is so small.
What are people's thoughts on the following:
- knocking down the bathroom/laundry wall to open up the space to be more functional for two people
- Moving the washing machine to where the shower is and have a walk in shower along the 1660 wall?
- I was thinking to then have a 1200 vanity left side mounted to line up with the blue star waste at the bottom of the pic (the other stars are wastes as well)
Some questions I have:
- I'd ideally like to be able to hide the laundry, would it be possible to hide it behind doors in the shower area if I do move it there?
- how important is a small sink next to the washing machine in an apartment?
- should I be looking at a different layout?
Finally, I've been told not to over capitalise on the renovation given it's in an apartment but I don't really know how much it should cost. I could potentially project manage this as I've got flexibility with work but am I going to be asking for a big headache if I do this?
Is anyone able to give me an idea of what one could expect to pay for such a job please?
Thanks all :)
(blue star = waste from the sinks, black star = those big overflow wastes that are open in the floor)
Comments (13)
7 years ago
PRO7 years agoBathroom renovations in apartments are always tricky to negotiate if you are needing new wastes, such as in your relocated shower position. If you have an apartment below then you will need to their permission to get access to their laundry for your shower waste to be fitted. You may need to get body corporate permission, and all new work will have to comply with the regulations for acoustics and fire where pipes pass through slabs into somebody else's apartment.
All of this costs money, but often the expense can't be seen in the finished work. To minimise the risk of overcapitalising you should spend your money where it can be seen, not introduce new wastes, and probabley keep a similar arrangement to your existing layout.
Do spend some money on getting your new bathroom properly drawn up in plan and elevation at a large scale (such as 1:20) and designed to make the best use of the space. With small bathrooms the accurate planning and details can make a huge difference, don't leave it to your builder to make design decisions.
Boring but cheap and cheerful.
Best of luck,
Dr Retro
of Dr Retro House Calls
BUILD Architecture Award 2018 · More InfoRelated Discussions
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Comments (26)hi we have about six months ago now, re done our bath room , similar size to yours, and , i can take some photos and email them to you , we have maximised space, and walls , put in a white stone bath under the window , it is a metre in width , with a cool water spout coming off the centre under the window we pu t afalse ledge in to sit , candles etc on , , we tiles floor to ceiling, off white , wall mirror cabnit with three mirrors , inset into the wall so its only sits out a we bit from the wall tiles , floating bath room vanity , so that it makes the floor space look bigger , . matching stone square basin sits ontop of the vanity to one side so plenty of room to sit all your bath room stuff when need be , seperate shower all tiled as well , with inset , shelves for shampoo etc, also , when you open the bath room door and walk in when you close the bath room door behind it next to the shower is a very narrow floor to ceiling shelvec for towels, now the hole is there we jaust havent got the shelves put in yet. , we gt loads of comments as the bth room dosent look small evn though it is , , most expensive item the sqwat extra wide stone bath , made to order basin / tap ware and shower spray thing ,oh and the white stone vanity which we had made to order as well , due to the sizing ....See MoreNeed help with bathroom renovation
Comments (7)Bath v shower. If you go for the shower and no bath, make the space big enough to retrofit a bath in later. Bath is normally less than 900 which is preferred shower width however, If u plan on being there 10 years then can’t loose either way. Talk to your plumber about the most cost effective layout options, for example they may suggest rehanging door to swing other way or moving door to open up other layouts, I agree about corner cabinets, my sister just replaced hers with straight and there is more space not less and much more modern look....See MoreNeed bathroom layout advice please!
Comments (20)thanks siriuskey, have attached more of a floor plan. i am leaning towards (hubby needs convincing) putting bath in master en-suite (new addition) as the bathroom we are renovating would be more of a powder room or bathroom to service the study if that was ever changed into a bedroom. As you can see the guest bedroom has an en-suite off it and 2 other bedrooms in another section are serviced by a bathroom. Ceiling is currently at 2700mm all round, no sloped walls Don’t know why it puts my photos upside down 😩😩😩...See MoreBathroom layout advice - what needs to shrink, what needs to grow
Comments (18)Forget that comment. I see siriuskey has already changed it to avoid that happening. In my bathroom reno at previous house, I had the mirrored storage cabinets above the vanity and toilet and they were so useful. Highgrove bathrooms has some lovely ones IMO. Make sure you buy an off the rack one and then get the wall frame/studs designed to hold it. It works out so much more expensive, getting a customer made mirrored cabinet to fit into a wall cavity. Because the mirrored overhead cabinets were put in the wall cavity, there was no issue with banging your head when you leant over to brush teeth, wash face etc. If the mirrored cabinets went across the whole section of toilet and vanity, you would hold a lot of things in it and it wouldn't matter how small the vanity was because you will be able to store so much in the overhead cabinets. Just be sure that it is deep enough to hold toilet rolls etc. I also got a wall socket fitted into the cabinet so that I could charge things like toothbrush etc whilst they were in the cupboard. It gets more complicated when you are trying to fit powerboards into drawers (well it was for me, so I didnt end up doing it)....See More- 7 years ago
- 7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
subject to confirmation by a plumber your new layout should be ideal with just enough space for a stacked washer and dryer and skinny tub and wall shelf for the laundry (i'm assuming the old shower position also has taps and floor waste) and a 1500 wide vanity with storage for linen and mirror doored medicine cabinet but what is the triangular space?? there could be wall thickeness to use for stacked doors for the laundry instaed of the bifolds btw a floating (wall hung) vanity is usually more expensive, creates problems hiding the pipes and will lose valuable storage space for towels and linen
i would expect a full reno with modest quality fixtures and tiles and no surprises to cost at least $20,000 but suggest that a bathroom company that could take responsibility for organising demolition, plumbing, carpentry, waterproofing, tiling electrical, painting and sourcing the tiles, taps, screens, lightfittings, tubs, doors etc may be worthwhile and save you trying to juggle the trades who are less likely to be dependable for a single customer although with available time you may be able to save some money by removing old tiles and carting away rubble and finding the tiles. taps, vanity etcs and having them ready on site but coordinating all the trades can be a problem especially if you don't have an alternative bathroom although it's always good to be on site to supervise the work and answer any last minute questions
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLooks like I have a similar idea trying to keep existing plumbing, not sure what that angled area is but it could be dirty linen storage.
The shower can be a shower wet room with 2 shower heads so that 2 people can shower at the same time, great for getting to work on time
I have combined a large vanity with an under bench washer dryer with mirrored shaving cabinets above.
If possible I would turn the toilet longways so you don't get a door slammed into your knees while you are contemplating cheers
- 7 years ago
- 7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
check out Nik Star she and husband have just done a bathroom reno for $6000 by doing most of the work themselves, you will need to pay plumber and electrician and possibly a tiler. The floor plan I have worked with keeps most of the wall between the exisiting bath and laundry and adding a glass door or not, this will save on cost. I have combined the under bench washing machine and a large vanity for any hand wash or soak, this could also just be the laundry without doors if you build it all in to look good which I think is the better way to go.
The linen cupboard will give you plenty of storage and only needs to be approx 40cm deep, but you could just keep the vanity in this spot.
And as mentioned the angled Wall? can be used for dirty linen etc cheers
- 7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
- 7 years ago
Hi Siriuskey, I was able to mark the pipes behind the toilets as there's a small access panel from the wardrobe but I haven't punched a wall into the triangle area yet so I'm not too sure what's behind there.
Unfortunately, this bathroom doesn't have any windows. The different walls can be seen in the following image:
Thanks also to everyone for their input, it's great to see the different ideas. I hadn't actually thought of an under-mounted washing machine as I've always had top loaders so I guess my mind has been fixed on that thinking. - 7 years ago
Alistair McLean