Master Bath Remodel

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
Well, the time has come, my wife is ready to start the master bath remodel and I've sketched up a few ideas.

Here is what it looks like today.

masterbath.jpg

There's also an additional vanity outside the bath next to the master closet, which we do not use (these were the realtor pics).
masterbath2.jpg

We plan to remove that vanity, remove the wall going into the current closet, and close off the opening to the area with a new door...expanding the size of the master closet.

My wife is wanting to remove the shower and put in a soaking tub. Our last house had one the size of an olympic swimming pool and it was hardly ever used due to the amount of water it took, so she just wants a standard 60" x 32" tub (whirl pool maybe). However the room is 6' wide, so I've been throwing around the idea of how I can still utilize that 12" x 36" space that has to be built out to accommodate the shorter tub.

My first thought is to do some built in shelving...like this. Maybe only the upper one or two shelves though.
Master Bath.jpg Master Bath2.jpg

The shelves would have a slight pitch to help with drain off and use the ditra membrane under it to prevent water leakage, but wondering if it's just a bad idea....Thoughts?
 
Question:

Is you house one or two levels?

The reason I ask, is that I too am facing the dreaded bath remodel. Our bath on the main level will be ripped out and replaced with a 60" shower. No tub what so ever. As the wife and I are becoming more towards the old side, I figure it will be easier to shower walking in, than crawl over the tub sides and take bath or shower.

I only want to remodel this bath room once before I croak.
 
It's a two level house (three really...front/back split). The second bath is under this one and will probably get remodeled eventually. I don't plan to have this house as my final home though I too will be looking at a single level house down the road.

At first you may not notice the problem with the downstairs bath. Overall they did a nice job decorating it, but I can't for the life of me figure why they put the toilet opposite of the vanity other than the vanity was too long, which still doesn't make sense. Probably just didn't want to jackhammer the floor and move the flange.

secondbath.jpg
 
Steve, you got me to thinking (dangerous I know) about re-sell. The wall between the master bath and second vanity as well as the wall between the second vanity and master closet are both non-load supporting. This gives me quite a bit of room to do some rearranging. We've thought that an addition of a guest bath would make sense for resell. I think I can fit it all in with some re-arranging of the space. I think I can do it all without having to do without a bath long term as well, may just have to displace the master closet for a bit. More drawings to come though. ;)

I think I'll still have to utilize the shelving idea in the bath tub area. Would love to hear some feedback on what others think of that...Thanks!
 
Darren if this aint your long term home then think ROI and of the most likely future buyers potential need. I am suprised you taking the shower out. I say roi because from sounds of things this could get out of hand pretty quickly. :)
 
Yep, going to have to see more pics now.

Basement or crawl space?

I'll get some pics this week. The downstairs bath is basement level, the upstairs is adjoining the garage and attic area. I'll most likely remove the ceiling in the downstairs bath and replace with a drop ceiling, same for the laundry room, which is under the master closet. I've been planning to tear down the laundry room ceiling anyway as it's too low and there are some mechanical issues I need to correct on the ducts and wiring above there.

Darren if this aint your long term home then think ROI and of the most likely future buyers potential need. I am suprised you taking the shower out. I say roi because from sounds of things this could get out of hand pretty quickly. :)

Well, it's all going to get updated anyway and it's a shower/tub combo going back in. The half bath would be a bonus as well and make the master bath a true on-suite bath. We're still planning to be here at least another 8 years, so we'll be suiting our needs too. There's been a dozen times we'd rather have another bath and it will still add value to the house. My wife and I talked about it last night and she was excited about the extra space we could gain my taking out and moving the non-load bearing walls. I just have to see where the drain stacks are and route accordingly This idea should allow me to build most of the new bath without affecting the existing much until we have another functioning bath, would just displace our closet for the time.
 
I think I'll still have to utilize the shelving idea in the bath tub area. Would love to hear some feedback on what others think of that...Thanks!

They look fine if you use it as a tub.
If you use the shower, then I'd think that those shelves would be constantly damp from the spray?

What about a freestanding tub? Or have the shelving turned 90degrees to face into the room instead of the shower enclosure? (I know, you'd have to make them shallower for realistic use.)
I dunno, Darren... :dunno:
 
I am not feeling much love for the shelves myself. If you could have the shower head above the shelves, then maybe. I would be worried about a leak in the grout at some time or another.

You could run the shelves towards the commode and do a blind system for towels. Use a door to match the new cabinets and have a roll out/ pull out. I think I would still put my plumbing valves at that end, so I could access shut offs for them.

Just kickin ideas. What ever you and yours decides will be fine I am sure.
 
Yeah, I've had some reservations about the shelves, at least the lower ones, I was thinking the top one might work fine and maybe do some frosted safety glass that either slides side to side or a single piece that flips up (using hardware). I've also started searching the 72" tubs to see if there is one that would work in the space. I think we both like the free-standing ones, but have concerns that they will be a pain to clean around and weight becomes an issue as it's only the floor doing the support at that point. I also can't do the shower ring without considerable alterations to the ring, the ceiling is sloped in that room.
 
Looks like a good plan, Darren. Having been through a master bath remodel recently, it's no fun for a while! Like you, I modeled it in SketchUp. I worked on the layout and details for weeks, but it was worth the effort. We really enjoy the changes we made - wish we had done it sooner!
 
And it's begun...

Was planning to do just the tub this weekend since we're using the bath during the remodel, but things didn't quite go as planned.

Had started to just take up the rows of tile that I needed to remove to set the tub and was going to do the tiles under the toilet later, but after seeing how much mess it was taking up just the tub area I decided to yank the toilet and just git-r-done.

2012-08-19 14.08.55.jpg

Next was removal of the shower and taking down the drywall around where the tub will go.
2012-08-19 14.09.52.jpg

Keep in mind the fake blood was from the 2010 halloween party. :) My wife is wanting it gone by the 2012 party. ;)
2012-08-19 14.10.00.jpg

I found this to be the most interesting part of the previous work done. The faucet has always wiggled a lot and could tell that the valve was loose, but in fact, they just didn't fasten it to anything. :eek: They ran the lines using soft copper, but hot and cold lines are backwards. The part that really got me is the fact they drilled for the line to run over at the lower part, but cut the stud for the valve. The wall is the main supporting wall for the roof, we have a vaulted ceiling on each side of that wall that supports the roof. I'll be adding two new studs, one on each side of the lines feeding to the valve (which is getting replace too)
2012-08-19 15.39.45.jpg

Oh, did you notice the electrical outlet under the valve? Will be moving that a couple of studs over.
2012-08-19 15.39.56.jpg

Since we only have one other toilet in the house I decided to put the toilet back. Couldn't find any linoleum remnants so ended up grabbing a piece of wallboard for $12 to keep the mrs. happy...it's temporary, but necessary. :)
2012-08-19 18.32.21.jpg

As we stand as this point. Will get the wall restructured, outlet moved, new valve installed, tub set, and get ready for tile around the tub this week. Will be picking up materials to start the new vanity and linen cabinet this week too.
2012-08-19 19.15.40.jpg

Probably going to be hurting tomorrow as well as not feeling well since I'm allergic to mold/mildew. Had a slight leak on the corner of the shower apparently, can see the result on that pic above with the dry rot on the floor. I did wear a mask the whole time and got down some mold inhibitor for the couple of areas I found it, luckily it's surface only and didn't do any damage, just looks nasty.
 
Its amazing the things that seem to come out of renos. Looks like you got a good start. The great thing about the housing technology here is how easy it is to do this kind of work here. Consider what that would be like if the walls were all brick and plaster. Angle grinder chisel and more dust than you can imagine. Especially with certain types of bricks. Cost of work just rockets. Was even worse before they brought out the solid core cables that are now allowed to be run along the brick surface and plastered over. But to do that the cable is aluminum wrapped prior to pvc so its still more expensive than what we use here. Still on an alteration you gotta chase the plaster to run the cable in the surface and if the house was relatively new and done that way you have no idea if you gonna go cutting through the existing stuff under the plaster. Simply put its a mess of a system.

I like the barley hops you drink. Would have needed a few after that job. Should help keep the mold bugs at bay. At least that would be my excuse. :)
 
i was gonna say in the earlier pics that i missed the blood stains but i see you showed them finally,, its really enlightening to go to a restroom in a strangers home and see that on the wall,, but you need to look at who your dealing with:) i was gonna suggest you not have shelves where water can collect either,, also what about drawers that would come out for the possible plumbing work in the future like steve mentioned..and also darren you dont want to go to far in this as you want to make money not spend it,,
 
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