Help w/ bathroom design for 1916 home

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Unfortunately a proper shower installation was never done in our bathroom (shower head comes out of drywall, and a mirror serves as one of the walls) and we need to remodel it. I wish we liked the color of the vintage tile better, but even so I can't imagine it would be easy to find a way to match it to extend it up to the ceiling in the shower anyway. We got a recent bid for 31k to completely redo it to the studs. Our house is only worth 250k or so and I don't want to spend that much.

Our top wants/needs:

Properly waterproofed shower enclosure

Exhaust fan installed

Put back in the recessed medicine cabinet style that would have originally been there (recess is still present in the)

Possibly replace the tub with something that would allow deeper soaking

This is our only shower in the house, we do have a powder room downstairs.

Any ideas on how we could hold down cost and do a smart remodel here? Bathroom is approx. 7’7” x 6’2” .

Featured Answer

caligirl5

6 years ago

Yes, every painted surface in my 1915 bathroom tested positive for lead. Literally the inside of the bathroom doors tested positive and the outside of the doors was negative. Contributed to the cost of my remodel, though I'm in CA where requirements are even more stringent than the EPA. So be careful with the demo.

I remodeled my kitchen and only bath together, so we ended up re-piping the entire house. Everything works so much better. Before I was calling the plumber every 6 months for one thing or another. I know you can call the plumber a lot for $31K, just trying to give a silver lining to making the investment.

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Comments (11)

roarah
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Waterproofing is expensive properly done by a tiler. How are you at DIY? The issue with a deeper tub is it is that much harder to get in and out of daily for a shower. Your tub suits a vintage bath in my opinion. I think doing tile demo, tile the floor and replace medicine cabinet your self. Hire out the waterproofing and wall to a pro. My shower water proofing and shower tile cost over 10k alone. If you have a ceiling light you can easily add a properly sized fan if not hire the electrician to add the electric needed.
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Anna S
Original Author
6 years ago
My husband is quite handy so I definitely think the demo could be done by us. Thank you for the perspective on how much the waterproofing and tile could cost. Would definitely want to leave that to the professionals!
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First, the bathroom floor...if you want hex tiles, the only reason you might not be able to use them is if you are planning on using a membrane like Ditra under the tile. Ditra, due to the nature of it's structure, limits tile to a minimum of 2". If you're going over cement board or another smooth-surface tile backer board on your floor, you can use small hex tiles. Simply ask him what his no kidding objections are to the hex tiles. There may be a real world reason why they are too small (like over Ditra) or he simply may not like working with mosaics. Find out why. For the shower floor, I usually stick to 4" or smaller, that way there are grout lines underfoot for traction. Plus smaller tile conform to the slopes of the pan without requiring cut lines at the intersections of the slopes in the pan. 2" squares are probably most common. Some people like the flat stone or pebble mosaic, but if you suffer from grout-phobia, the irregular spacing on those might scare you away. If there is a trend these days, it's toward large format tiles. They can lead you towards a contemporary design, but they can fit other styles as well. If I can steer you towards anything, look at "topical waterproofing membranes" for waterproofing your shower. Topical membranes put the waterproofing between the tile and the tile backer board, so the tile get adhered right to the membrane. It's a better way to control moisture within a shower. Two of the more common trowel or roll-on membranes are Hydroban and RedGard, for sheet membranes, Kerdi is probably the most common one. Probably the best, and easiest way to waterproof a shower these days is with a Laticrete flanged drain and Hydroban. You can wade through youtube videos or visit Laticrete's website to see what that is all about. Remember...unless you are planning on selling, I'll caution you to use tile sizes and patterns that you like, that meet the style of your house. Don't design for the latest fad, unless it's something that you really prefer. If you have trouble defining the tile size, pattern, or style that you do like, it can sometimes help to go to a site like houzz and look over bathroom photos there.
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Agree with Mark. First thank you for the work you do! Problems I see right off the bat: Your kitchen will be dark with no natural light. Additionally the layout is poor with the pantry breaking up counter space and your not having enough prep space. Most prepping is done next to the sink. Bare minimum for prepping is 30" and that's frankly inadequate. It looks like you only have 24" on either side of the sink. How will the hood over the stove vent? Actual usable living room space is NOT 15' x 15' because you need passage space between island and living room and ideally if you have seating at the island counter, you need 60" between the island and furniture in living room. Based on the drawing it appears you'd have about 42". Actual usable space for a sofa as shown would be closer to 10'-11' from the wall. (In reality, the dining room gives you the true space for the living room too.) Are you ok carrying food to the dining room every single night you eat? (Trust me, eating at a counter gets old after a while.) If you and a partner are on different wake schedules, think how having the master bath across the room from the master closet will impact your waking and sleeping schedules. Hanging clothes can't turn corners in closets. Lots of wasted space in the center of that closet. Bedroom 2 will be seen from the dining room anytime they need to use the facilities. So much for privacy. Bedroom 2 is too small for even a full sized bed at 9' 3". A full sized bed is 54" wide. So 9'3" is = 111". 111" - 54" = 57". You need 3' of walking space on either side of the bed. So the drawing they have is way off. And there's be absolutely no way to open the smaller closet door. I assume you won't use bedroom 3 as a bedroom because if you do, it means they'll have to walk through the dining room to get to the bathroom. Your entry from the garage is a narrow dark passage where you also have your laundry room and no, I see no way to create a decontamination room. I see very little storage. Where for example would you store you brooms, vacuum, etc?
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I think the hex would be fine for the floors. You could go larger: 6" or 8" hex. Pick a grout that matches in the middle (not super light/not super dark) of a color in the tile. A coordinating grout will make it look less busy than a contrasting grout. I'd go with coordinating grout in the tub as well. I would do marble-look porcelain, not real marble, for easier maintenance.
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zorroslw1
6 years ago
I think 31K for a bath that size is insane!! DIY as much as you can. You can find great demos on Utube for just about anything.
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rockybird
6 years ago
I dont have much advice except to say 31k seems high! Can you demo yourself and hire subcontractors on your own - Drywaller’s, plumber, tile people?
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sheloveslayouts
6 years ago
If the tub is original, I'd be surprised if you could purchase something that is deeper. We did a whole house gut renovation on our 1948 ranch and the only thing worth keeping was the original tub; I couldn't find anything new that was as deep.
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sheloveslayouts
6 years ago
Do you have another bathroom that has a tub? If yes, you might consider swapping the tub out for a shower so you can get a larger vanity and/or more storage space.

In our house we opted to just have a tub in the master bathroom because really, who takes baths other than mama or little ones being bathed by mama? I'd rather tie up the master with bath time than the main/guest bath.
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User
6 years ago
That mirror in the shower cracks me up.

You should post in the "old house" section since they have experience the with 1916's timeframe. Is the house accurate to the era or has it been remuddled? If it's accurate I'd look into classic black & white style, timeless and appropriate.
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aprilneverends
6 years ago
something to mind-possible asbestos and lead

you don't want to disturb asbestos if there..you want to remediate it properly.

bringing it all up to code-expensive, and you haven't opened the walls yet. the wiring, the plumbing-you don't know what's there yet

it's an old house. Sweet bathroom btw..but not an easy project. check everything before you decide what to do, how to do it, scope of work, what you do yourself and what you delegate

Mechanics of it and big unknows are the major things to consider. Finishes are much easier part, in comparison to everything else.
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cpartist
6 years ago
If it's accurate I'd look into classic black & white style, timeless and appropriate.

It looks like her floor tile is original so the color wouldn't be black and white in this case.

It's a shame you can't keep what looks to be the original tile.

I would keep the floor and the tub as that will save you money, plus they don't make tubs today like the original ones.

Do the demo yourself.

Finding a recessed medicine cabinet to fit or having one made is definitely not inexpensive.
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PRO
Mint tile Minneapolis
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Plumbing alone could be 8k youre gonna find old drum traps and non pressure balanced valves and cast iron galore if it is all original 1916.

Then lath mud walls, balloon framing, jersey mud bed floors. Every single thing about this small BIG job will be expensive. I work on a lot of older homes here in Minneapolis. Always fun.

10% of home value is a very low average master bathroom cost.

Help w/ bathroom design for 1916 home

caligirl5

Comments (11)

roarah

Anna S
Original Author

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zorroslw1

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Help w/ bathroom design for 1916 home

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Anna SOriginal Author

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Anna S
Original Author