Laundry/bathroom layout and reno advice please

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hi Houzzers,

We are doing a budget renovation of our laundry. We want to keep costs as low as possible, so don't want to move around plumbing or do anything structural, where possible. We want to add a shower to the laundry, which already has a toilet in it, so it becomes a second bathroom/laundry. The sliding door and the external door makes it difficult. If possible, we'd like to keep that as is and work around it. We would consider either moving the sliding door, or blocking up the external door, but fear it will be too costly?

Here is the current floorplan:

One option is to remove one of the small walls in front of the toilet, to fit the shower there. However the sliding pocket door only gives us 720mm width for the shower - is this too narrow?

For the vanity and washing machine, we were thinking of something like this as a space saver. It will be functional for our needs, particularly as we never use a dryer.

Would love some advice on layout, things we need to consider, and any cost and functionality efficiency hacks we can consider!

Featured Answer

Yvonne

4 years ago

@AAB That Ikea one looks like it has good dimensions from above, but I think you'd find 20cm too shallow to double as a useful laundry tub. If you could find one that was twice that depth…

I did encounter such a sink in a long-stay apartment hotel I stayed in recently. The bathroom was fitted out with a combined washer-dryer unit and the "basin" – while styled aesthetically like a bathroom basin and oval in shape as well as rounded in cross-section – was really big. You could have washed a large baby in it! So clearly that kind of thing is available. It did require a fairly deep vanity to mount it in, but that was there to accommodate the depth of the washer-dryer anyway. The only thing with a deep vanity is you absolutely need to mount the mirror on a cabinet to bring it forward, not directly on the wall. If you don't do that anyone who is short and/or short-sighted has a hard time using the mirror for practical purposes such as shaving, inserting contact lenses, or applying makeup. (Yes, I discovered this during my hotel stay too!)

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Comments (19)

siriuskey
4 years ago
any drainage points
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AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
I'm not sure? Sorry - haven't much knowledge or experience! As far as I can tell, the only existing drainage point is for the laundry tub. Is there anything else I can look for?

It's a brick veneer house, on stumps, if that is relevant.
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Save the pink bathroom! The original floor and the pink bath are beautiful! And obviously appropriate to the era of your house. http://savethepinkbathrooms.com/ To give you a more spacious feel, have the door replaced with a cavity sliding door - it gives you an amazing amount of extra space, we did it in our bathroom I would replace the vanity, which is obviously not original, with a custom laminate vanity with cupboards underneath in pink (top) and grey (cupboard doors/sides) or even a boomerang pattern for the top (http://retrospaces.com.au/retro/images/laminates/Renovation/FirstLadyPink.jpg) have a skilled tiler repair any areas that need repairing and have the tiles professionally cleaned and re-grouted and re-do all of the silicone, Then replace all the tapwear with new chrome taps but in an appropriate style (like these for example http://www.caroma.com.au/bathrooms/taps/retro/retro-wall-top-assemblies) and a new glass shower screen. A really fresh coat of white paint (use the bathroom product), better lighting - put a light in above the mirror (http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/00255303/) and a fan/heater/light in front of the vanity exactly above where you'll stand when you get out of the shower. If the mirror isn't in good shape (or it may be mirror doors on a cabinet? I can't tell) then think about replacing the mirror too. You'll save a heap of money over completely re-doing the bathroom and importantly you'll be in keeping with (and preserving) the midcentury design of your home.
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Hi again QBENGA Oh yes. Very alike. We approach total strangers and drive slowly through new suburbs. I know what you mean about suspicious. We never did those things before we started designing our own home. I think your dingy bathroom is very easy to fix. I hope so! LED lights - so bright and cheap to run. Our designer has also told us about a kind of skylight. Probably the same thing oklouise is talking about. They don't actually bring light all the way from the roof through to the bathroom. Instead, there is a solar panel on the roof, connected to a lighting panel on the ceiling of the bathroom. When the sun hits the solar panel, it turns on a light in the bathroom. When the sun goes down, the light turns off. Instead of having a large tube that goes through the ceiling into the roof space (which interrupts your ceiling insulation), you only have to have a small cord pass through your roof space. I believe you can buy them from Bunnings.
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Thanks and sorry for not providing that information. This is a new room ensuite, not a renovation. So there is some flexibility in the window placement. On the wall facing the sliding door the single window is 1m wide x 1.3m high and is 1.5m off the ground. On the wall with two windows the windows are 1m wide x 0.5 and they are 2m off the ground. The floor will be tiled. Many thanks!
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How much is a "moderate" budget? Moderate means different things to different people depending if they are involved in the renovation industry or outside. With your concrete slab and solid brick walls I would anticipate a moderate spend would be in the range of $15K to $20K. "Floating" cabinetwork and a wall-mounted toilet pan will push this over your $20k due to installation. Under $15K you are probably not spending enough. Always pay for quality tapware sanitaryware and fittings when doing a bathroom renovation as the labour is so expensive to replace them if they are cheaply made, they fail and need to be replaced. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits
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oklouise
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
your floorplan looks good but i think the most economical version would be to leave the toilet as is, try to reduce the impact of the pocket door and use an acryliic shower base and walls with a curtain or adjustable width glass door(available diy on line) rather than attempting to create drainage and waterproofing for a walk in shower with tiled walls ...depending on the exact size of the pocket door it's possible to reduce the width of the opening by preventing the door sliding fully open from the laundry side (so you can add a narrow covering wall over part of the door opening to increase the depth of the shower from 720mm) and then have the cover plate to remove the door changed to the other side..(you can test this theory by putting a nail in the door to stop it sliding inside the wall further than you want) having said all that, we've successfully used a 60cm deep shower in an awkward space but avoiding tiles and structural alterations will be the biggest savings
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AAB thanked oklouise
siriuskey
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Do you have a full floorplan that you can post to give us a better idea of what might work, what climate to you live in, could you have an outdoor shower
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AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Thanks oklouise, some very helpful suggestions there. I put the walk in shower option in because I thought that might make the tight space more manageable, but agree that an acrylic base is the more economical option. Will have a look tonight to see what we can do about limiting the sliding door. I'd imagine if we can limit the opening to about 750mm for the door, it'd give us the extra 100-150mm or so for the shower which makes it quite decent.

Siriuskey - floor plan of the house is attached. We are in Melbourne, so outdoor shower is not an option in winter, especially for the kid!
siriuskey
4 years ago
certainly not, you could look at using a barn door which would free up space by making the doorway opening wider to wards the exterior wall. I did ask but it appears that there aren't any floor drains within the space. OK I had another look at those acrylic shower bases before, but you would still need a floor drain?.
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siriuskey
4 years ago
If the doorway is reduced to 750 and using a Barn Door it could work as a euro style bath room, you would still need to sort a drain and if there's no slope on the floor you might need to add a brick height retainer across the end of the glass shower.
AAB thanked siriuskey
AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
Barn door is a great idea too, thanks.

From what I understand, we have to add a drain wherever we put the shower. Hopefully it isn’t too much of a hassle or too costly to do.

Generally in terms of layout, it seems like shower in that corner is the way to go. We moved the direction of the washer/vanity combo so we can add a mirror or medicine cabinet to the wall, which wouldn’t be possible in the current position because of the window.
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siriuskey
4 years ago
I did mean to run wall cabinets along the wall starting above the WC ending with mirrored shaving cabinets next to the washing machine and sink. more cost effective to keep things as they are, Are you doing a total on this room ie:: changing tiles etc
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AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
Not sure about the tiles etc - to be honest it just comes down to what we get quoted for the different jobs and whether we have the budget for it. I imagine there would be some degree of re-tiling required based on putting the shower in. We want to change the toilet, but i think that should be doable without changing floor tiles? And we want to swap the laundry tub for a proper bathroom vanity/ sink, with a bench top that continues over the washing machine to give us more usable space.
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oklouise
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
the problem with the drain for the shower is not the location of the shower and the hole in the floor it's the waterproofing and slope for drainage of a triled floor
oklouise
4 years ago
we've seen this house before and probabaly suggested that any renovation include plans for the whole house rather than doing small changes without considering the rest eg do you want a proper 2nd bathroom or a laundry with a shower/toilet, do you want external access from this room or would you consider having external access from the family room or elsewhere..any renovation that has to be redone is too expensive and there will be better suggestions with more information including the correct dimensions of all the rooms
Jo Cochrane
4 years ago
haven't checked dimensions, but we did a small ensuite like this, stole room for a nook for basin into adjacent room (laundry) and made the whole ensuite a wet area. still requires drainage, waterproofing and I did full height/floor tiles and you'd have to modify the WIR. just thinking outside the box...
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AAB thanked Jo Cochrane
C P
4 years ago
I like Jo's idea. More expensive but better bang for your buck.
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AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks guys, a lot of really good suggestions there.
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Yvonne
4 years ago
Make sure that your vanity "basin" will function properly (primarily) as a laundry sink/tub and isn't just suitable for hand washing/shaving, otherwise you'll be stuck should you need to hand wash clothing, soak or dye items, wash pets, or do any heavy duty cleaning (not necessarily of clothing) that requires a decent-size laundry tub.
AAB
Original Author
4 years ago
Very good point Yvonne. We are thinking about using this one from Ikea, or anything similar if others have recommendations?

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/S29253775/
Kate
4 years ago
Ceramic is great. The trend for flat bottomed sinks with small radii is not very practical. They take a Lot more water to get any usable depth and are not easy to flush out when brushing teeth etc. if you go that way get a pull out tap to help flush sink.