My Bathroom & Laundry Room
The hallway leading to the laundry room is about 34” wide. On paper it may seem wide enough, but trying to squeeze through while carrying laundry baskets is a total pain. There is absolutely no storage in the laundry room. If it wasn’t so awkward to put the laundry in, it wouldn’t be so bad. We weren’t able to get the washer and dryer backed up to the east wall because there was not enough room to maneuver and the floor is in bad shape (we had parquet hardwood flooring but while we were overseas, our careless tenants destroyed it). We had linoleum put in after the installer tried to patch the floor with some kind of water powder, but the powder crumbled and the linoleum ripped when the new washer and dryer were put in.
The guest bathroom was the only one in the house that did not have carpet installed. The toilet alcove is so narrow that most of my family members cannot even fit into it to sit on the toilet. I can barely squeeze in but can barely move my arms.
There is an old light above the recessed medicine cabinet mirror. It has a single 2-prong outlet but it is not a GFCI outlet.
The shower is too small for the family member who would use it the most. The bathroom area is currently being used as a storage closet, and an opossum that comes in through the cat door used to hide in it before he/she decided to really make himself at home. (We’ve named it Earl and it likes to eat cookies and sleep in a cat bed on the kitchen floor).
There used to be a utility sink in the southwest corner of the laundry room but it was removed. The drain and water supply lines are still there. All of the sinks in the house have S-traps. I’m assuming that they were all done before S-traps were banned by plumbing codes.
I am currently trying to figure out a plan to remodel the area so that we can have easier access to the laundry and a bathroom that can actually be used. At first I considered finding a way to turn the whole area in to one large room with the toilet in its own compartment, but I couldn’t find a satisfactory layout. With the aid of some helpful Houzzers I realized that it might be best to tear down the west and north walls of the bathroom and swap the bathroom with the laundry room. My house is up on blocks and is just open underneath so I would not have to worry about concrete, ceilings, or having to notch floor joists. Since the floor already needs to be replaced down to the subfloor, we are free to re-arrange the fixtures and pipes. The main obstacle would be getting the plumbing vents done properly. There was only one vent for five fixtures (assuming they were all tied in to it) and the toilet was the closest fixture to it. The main vent stack is in the south wall of the bathroom (the north wall of the laundry room) about a foot away from the exterior wall. If we swap the rooms, we might even be able to fit a shower/tub combo in the southeast corner. I have spare siding from when the siding was re-done on the house so I could patch up the current hole for the dryer vent and move it over. I could probably tie in to a lot of the existing water lines, and both rooms are very close to the circuit box, so re-wiring would not be so difficult.
I could use the existing archway in to the laundry room for a door, but it would have to swing outward to fit building code rules about not swinging in to hit a person that is using the vanity. So long as I have the toilet a minimum of 15” from its center to the bathtub (I would probably try for at least 18"), I think I could put the toilet on the north wall of the laundry room sort of in the middle. I am considering the possibility of having it on the south wall next to the vanity and then mounting the toilet paper holder on the vanity, but that would require more adjustments in vents and such. So I could probably just build a space saver that fits over the toilet and has a toilet paper holder on the side.
I’m still not sure what to do with the washer and dryer. I could either put them on the south wall of the bathroom facing northward or I could put them on the east wall facing westward. East wall would make it so that I could probably hook the washing machine up to the existing pipes for the vanity.
Update June 9, 2014: I finally got a few images of the plumbing under the house. It's worse than I'd thought. PVC hooking in to ABS, fixtures that are not vented, pipes zigzagging all around and not making sense, no P-traps for shower and standpipe, PVC for cold waterlines instead of CPVC, potable waterlines too close to waste lines, etc.. It's a mess.
south side of sill
hole where old sill wsa rotted away
old sill removed & this was under it
old sill
old sill
old sill
old sill on the left side-- it was rotted
old header & jack stud-- header was two 2x4s with a gap filled with spray foam.
old jack stud on south side with view of dangerous electrical exposed
Old jack stud on south side.
Header & cripples temporarily removed
Old door with busted out pet door & rotted on bottom. Vines grew up from there.
Old door and trim removed.
Clearly Secure 23.25 in. x 34.75 in. x 3.125 in. Frameless Wave Pattern Vented Glass Block Window
Some view of the plumbing with washing machines hidden.
View of previous sketch with machines hidden
Plan modified to have acrylic/plexiglass cover over machines extending to wall.
Zenna Home Double Curved shower rod
My sketch of Sterling performa with moen Monticello tub spout & Delta Lahara shower trim
sterling performa
Sterling performa
Sterling performa
Sketchup view from the north
Sketchup view from the top
Another skethcup view form the north
Sketchup view from the south
Sketchup view from the west
Vanity Light sketch
Portfolio 3-bulb vanity light
South view in sketchup
Vanity & mirror (without sink) in sketchup
Vanity and mirror (without sink) in sketchup
West view of bathroom in sketchup
Drawing of bathroom from the south
Drawing of bathroom from the north
HoldRite bracket & stubout
Euro style vanity
exterior of house from east side
Details of Sterling performa shower & tub
Doorway between laundry room and bathroom
MSI antique mahogany LVP
attic access in ceiling
dryer specs
NO-PEST VENT, Exclusive Dual Door Dryer Vent Cover Outdoor 4 inch or Bathroom fan, Made in USA w Highest UV Resistant Plastic in any Outdoor Vent Cover (White, 4 inch W/O Duct Tube)
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