We will need the actual dimensions drawn in a plan to really help.

Thanks for the quick replies!!

Well, just to address the 1 question of resale. Yes, it will affect your resale negatively if you only have a half bath upstairs where bedrooms are. That is where people get up and clean up to go to school/work, etc. Do you have any pics of the before bathroom?

Durabase 32 in. x 32 in. Single Threshold Shower Floor in Bone

Model # 3232BN

Internet #202041479

Store SO SKU #1000950037

$137.00

what height will the shower head be if you put in a shower? THAT is pretty important. You don't want the shower head to be at a man's chest height.

You do not have room for legally permitted bath in that space. An illegal one would only cost you money twice when you have to pay to have it removed before it can be sold. Any hack that would attempt this without permitting is someone you need to fire. You need to find more room, at the required head height. And you need to get this permitted and inspected.

You need a minimum of 15" clearance from the center of each plumbing fixture to an obstruction. 30" vanity, 30" toilet space, and 32" shower takes more room than you have. The minimum ceiling height has to be 80" in a 30" circle in the shower. You need a minimum of 30"W 21"D of clear space in front of each fixture. Without the ceiling height needed in this room, it may not even be legal for a powder room.

It wasn't legal before either. Insufficient clearance for everything. You have a giant mess on your hands here unless you can find more space. And the previous owners sold you a pig in a poke. That your home inspector should have called out. You need to be going back to them.

Your project needs to be brought up to code. Period.

If you are doing this massive bath remodel, why didn't you just dormer it. You could have had a real bath in there.

Having the bath will add some value, probably even an illegal one. In my area it would be unlikely that they would make you remove it, there is just a lot of unpermitted work around here.

However, it isn't going to add a lot of value. The ceiling height should be 80" at the front of every appliance. In my experience if it doesn't look comfortable to use, people will discount or disregard the bath. I doubt the appraiser will love it either.

By IRC, the ceiling height may be reduced to 60" "where people cannot walk" which means the back of the sink or the back of the toilet, or a shower area taken up by a bench (as long as the 30" hoop/80"is met in the shower) , so right now it appears that the toilet is in a spot that would no longer be permitted. You definitely have the room to get a legal powder room in this space (by international code/your local codes my be more stringent), ceiling height and all. Maybe just not with this toilet location or position.

If you could move the toilet it may help, but moving a toilet is not cheap. The other thing is since you have a hole in the roof already, you may be able to enlarge it and pop up a dormer. Again, not so cheap.

In my location, if the toilet was not relocated and was 12" on center instead of 15" (the old requirement), it would be grandfathered. Actually, that would be allowable in some circumstances now even if the bathroom were completely reconfigured (such as it being the sole bathroom in the house and only having limited room). A toilet in that position may have met a local code at the time it was permitted, or at least passed in your jurisdiction at one time, but currently it could really only be in this general position if it were turned 90 degrees and the Tank was against the knee wall.

Could you draw this in a plan and indicate the various ceiling heights throughout?

Thank you everyone! for all your knowledgeable advice!

I think you do have an opportunity to get something here that meets minimum requirements if you are willing to put in a dormer. I realize that this is an added expense but it will be a much better bathroom to use.

I stayed in an existing tenement-style apartment in NYC, that had the bathtub in the kitchen (and I needed a step stool to get into it) and the toilet was in a tiny closet by itself at the back of the bedroom. (They originally had been accessed from the public hallway and there was still one apartment that had to access their own toilet through the exterior hallway. It was theirs with a lock on it, but they still had to go out in the hall).

So yes, you can live a certain way, and adapt to things, but that doesn't make it much fun. So I would try to put this right since it's already gutted.

@palimpsest

I had a friend who lived in a tenement apt like that!

My other option instead of dormer is to knock down the wall and make the small bedroom next to it, the entire bathroom. Just really poor right now (due to other issues in the house) and stressed and we can't handle much more either way.

Personally, I would stop right now and get bids on a dormer.

It may be a lot cheaper than you think. I would find the money to put in the dormer and then cheap out on all the fixtures before I would put another dime into redoing what was there. A cheap proper bathroom is still going to have a better return than a really pretty concussion farm.

My other option instead of dormer is to knock down the wall and make the small bedroom next to it, the entire bathroom.

Moving the plumbing around will probably cost more than a dormer and you will get less, rather than more, space.

Is this a 3 bedroom or 4 bedroom home? A 3 bedroom becoming a 2 bedroom is not a good selling point. A 4 bedroom to a 3 bedroom can hold up much better on resale. How many people does this bathroom have to accommodate? How many people (babies/children) will it have to accommodate in future?

1. Have you pulled the appropriate permits? Unpermitted renovations have to be disclosed and can be detrimental when you go to sell.

2. Decisions made when you are stressed, short on cash, and feel pressured to get things done fast. If you have another working bath, you may be able to wait a little while to afford what you really want. I once was forced to renovate a bath due to a shower pan failure. I jacked around with that renovation for literally years before I both knew what I wanted and had the money. Waiting even with it demolished was one of the better renovation decisions I have ever made.