Bathroom wet area back to wall or built in bath advice please?
6 years ago
Hi there, we are getting a wet area in our bathroom (shower and bath next to each other behind a shower screen - see pics) and undecided on a back to wall freestanding or a built in bath. Both have their cleaning difficulties - floor at side of back to wall, and grout lines on front of built in. I’d prefer the look of the back to wall freestanding but the width of the space is 1800mm so we could fit a nice big 1800 built in bath but the back to wall would be only 1580 to ensure enough cleaning at sides. What would you do??
And our plumber and builder do not know how they would slope the floor for drainage if we do the back to wall freestanding as the bath has to be on a flat surface. Does anyone have a similar setup and can tell me how they did it?
And our plumber and builder do not know how they would slope the floor for drainage if we do the back to wall freestanding as the bath has to be on a flat surface. Does anyone have a similar setup and can tell me how they did it?
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6 years agoRelated Discussions
Bathroom advice please.
Comments (6)When preparing a house for sale, it is quite advisable to freshen up (at least) kitchen and bathrooms. Potential buyers are often more interested in buying a house that has these elements already done and then add their finishing touches to living room, bedrooms, etc, instead of having to re-do kitchens and bathrooms (because they always feel these will cost a bomb and they might find issues too). I would definitely recommend that you renovate your bathroom so you maximise your chances of selling at a good price. The trick is not to overcapitalise (i.e. spending more than you will gain when selling). With the bath, I totally second fiona_ab's comment above on pretty much every point she makes. Free-standing baths look great in large bathrooms where they can rally be seen (ideally, we should be able to easily walk around the bath). From the picture I see, your bathroom seems to be a little too small for this. Besides, built-in bath tubs tend to cost significantly less. I would also not recommend to knock down walls to include the toilets, for the reasons given by both commentators above: privacy/practicality and additional costs involved. Changing your tiles (floor and walls!), putting in a new white bath tub, replacing current tapware with contemporary ones and installing a new vanity with a large mirror above it will make a massive change to your bathroom and that could be reflected at sale time. I hope this helps :)...See MoreDesign advice please on small bathroom reno to queen of UNcreativity!
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 MoreDesigners/creative folk..Please help with..ideas for bathroom reno....
Comments (18)Your mockup scheme is similar to our master bathroom we just completed - photo below. I know you mentioned storage being a concern - our mirrored cabinet has offered an amazing amount of storage in a very small space and also helps bounce light around. I was worried about black taps etc too so we kept chrome fixtures but added in a matte black candle and black potted orchid to create a similar effect which we can change out later on. Our floor tiles are dark but because they are semi-polished they actually bounce around a lot of light and don't make the room feel dark if that is a concern. We also have a huge fiddle leaf fig in the corner (not pictured) which adds a really nice feel to the space - a plant like that could help bring in the outside greenery in your bathroom. Instead of the storage tower you have to the left of the vanity could you do say some floating wood shelving, possibly with baskets added for more hidden storage? You could also bring in the 60s theme with what you displayed on there eg. photos as you mentioned? In regards to the window - a previous house we lived in had a window at about shoulder height in the shower - as well as letting in heaps of light it was amazing for storing toiletries etc!...See MoreAdvice re: ensuite bathroom layouts - double vanities / bath?
Comments (32)Kate: - I like the idea of a door at both ends of the new central bedroom doorway - maybe some kind of thin sliding door or a foldable shutter door might be best? - house can’t be knocked down/rebuilt due to location in a heritage conservation area OkLouise: - thanks again for doing this - I’ve loved all of your updates, they are so well thought out and hope to incorporate them all into the build - will send you a token of appreciation when the build is finished! - we have already been thinking about whether to rotate the kitchen island 90 degrees as you have drawn - i think it might look weird? but i’m not sure - theres a lot for us to process with your new updates so we'll need to spend some time thinking about them! - i’m resistant to reducing the size of study 2 as that’s the most important room for me as i will spend a lot of time there and it is doubling as a work productivity office/man cave so really want that room to be fantastic! - i thought the laundry chute was above the laundry but will need to ask the architect Siriuskey - I also think there may be too many bathrooms in the house - due to the good location of the property i think it is hard (within reason) to overcapitalise on the property so believe it will grow well in value in the long run so would rather overdo it than underdo it - FWIW the other houses in the street/adjacent streets are kind of similar to our proposed plan so its not out of keeping with the area - am still wondering about combining the downstairs powder room/adjacent en suite into one big bathroom for a bath - variable number of family members staying but 4 to 11 over 3 generations at various times of the year - the plan for the mudroom is for it to be the entrance into the house that we use most so it can also act as a cloak room too so that’s why its not near the laundry - i don’t want a lift in the house as it seems unnecessary for our needs and fi we ever ended up in a situation where we needed a lift we would just sell and downsize Dreamer: - i think we (parents) might end up living downstairs when the kids get older/noisier - they are in primary school currently Pleased to Bijou design - point taken about number of bathrooms - i don’t really have a good answer Paul Di Stafano & Dr Retro - i can sense and empathise with your professional frustrations :) - thanks for the good luck wishes, I agree we’ll need it - fortunately I’m a lifelong/relentless optimist and things always seem to work out ok in the end (and if they don’t, I’ll take it as a positive learning experience) - thanks for the insights into dodgy busy practice business models mummagabz - thanks for comment about small robes - will look into making them larger...See More- 6 years ago
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6 years ago- 6 years agoWe have same set up (recent reno) and tiler and builder said same about the slope so I went with built in bath. The surround works really well to put towel on while in the shower and for shampoos etc. so can be a useful addition.
if heart set on back to wall then think earlier suggestion of a raised platform could work but will take up floor space.
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- 6 years agoThis is the back to wall bath we’re looking at so it’s really not actually a freestanding, really great for small spaces or if you’re not into cleaning round the back of a bath.
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- 6 years agoThanks siriuskey, it’s this photo I think you’re talking about? I think I understand what Megan means - it would mean the whole shower and bath area is on a slight slope towards the drain? Our builder thought that a freestanding/back to wall bath needs to be on a completely flat surface hence we didn’t think this was going to be possible without water pooling on the floor next to the bath, I’ll need to investigate this further!
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Hi kristymacd, after changing my mind many times we went for a built in 1700 bath! Mostly as builder and tiler thought it would be easier to slope the floor properly and I liked the idea of the slightly larger built in compared to the 1590 back to wall. I’m sure a back to wall would’ve been possible and been fine, it all just got a bit hard and I knew both would look good. And I don’t think a back to wall would be any harder to clean than a built in - with a built in you have the hob and tiled face of the bath and back to wall there is the floor either side of the bath - same same! Here’s a pic of ours, not totally finished yet but really happy with it.
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Hi Susie, would you mind sharing the dimensions of your room? We are looking at doing exactly the same things as you. These pics are going to make it so much easier to explain to hubby. Have you had any issues so far? i'm worried out room is too small to make it work, I really want to ditch our current shower-over-bath set up!
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