Converting sink to shower x-post with bath forum

11 years ago

I posted this in the bath forum, but this is also a design forum so you might be able to help me. Below is what I posted in the baths forum. TIA.

I know this is not technically a bathroom, but it involves bath plumbing so I think you guys can help me.

Our laundry room is dysfunctional and I want to make it more functional. I want to utilize the space better as well as add a spot to rinse off messy kids/dog/spouse/self after being outside. We live on a dirt road in the country and it's easy to get messy outside. The laundry is right next to the garage entry door which we use all the time. This entry is not near a bathroom.

Here is a scale layout of the room currently.

This is what I would like to do.

The current 24" sink would be converted to a 34"x30" small shower/tub like in this picture. The shower can be converted to counter by sliding out the extra countertop (hard to see in picture). Since my W/D will be stacked, I'd add a flip-up counter to achieve the same result.

Traditional Laundry Room design by Burlington Architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

And for reference, the wall doors to master closet will be something like this.

Now to the bath question. How do I go about converting the sink to a "shower"? What does it involve? DH is handy with carpentry but we would have to hire a plumber for this and I would like to have a handle on what the project would involve before I talk to a plumber.

Forgot to mention: the area under this room is the mechanical room and the ceiling and walls are completely open there. Reaching the plumbing will be easy. And on the other side of the proposed shower wall is the master bath shower.

Thank you!

This post was edited by geokid on Wed, Feb 6, 13 at 14:17

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Comments (3)

beaglesdoitbetter1
11 years ago
I considered that same shower when I was designing my dog room. The quotes to create it were VERY costly because the whole thing needed to be built, waterproofed, etc. Even building a shower pan is quite in depth. Here is a link that explains one way to do it step by step: http://www.ontariotile.com/showerfloormud1.html

We ended up buying a prefab grooming tub and tiling over the back. I don't think this would be what you are looking for since it is only for the dogs, not for us to rinse off in, but this was what we did:

Are you planning on having your dog crate built or are you going to use a regular dog crate that slides in? We just used standard crates and sized our cubbies above them to fit so they slide underneath but I wanted to be able to replace the crates over time if I needed to:
geokid
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Beagle! Would you mind telling me where you purchased the grooming tub? I think it would still work for us since I'm not planning on creating a complete shower, just a spot to rinse messy feet so they are clean to walk through the house to the real showers.

The dog crate will not be custom. Just a standard wire crate slid under a countertop. Nothing fancy. Have to save the budget money for other projects!

We've lived in this house going on four summers and I know this will get used a lot. I'd be willing to spend the money on the shower.
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beaglesdoitbetter1
11 years ago
Sure. It was from ProGroom: http://www.progroom.com

I contacted them via email and they sold it w/o the legs (which I did not need) which took I think $100 off the price. I had it done as a custom color so the front would not be metal. I believe the total cost was around $900 shipped which was significantly less than the cost of having a shower built from scratch.

If you used the grooming tub, then I think your process of conversion would be very simple and easy since the grooming tub has a drain just like a sink (we put a hair trap in the drain).

Converting sink to shower x-post with bath forum

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beaglesdoitbetter1

geokid
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Converting sink to shower x-post with bath forum

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beaglesdoitbetter1

geokidOriginal Author

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geokid
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