Bathroom for River Otter (how best to contain the splash!)
We are remodeling a former (small) master bathroom that will now be used by the resident River Otter. I wanted one bathroom with curbless shower in the house and this one got the nod. G.C. says he's done the prep work, but now I'm starting to rethink the curbless part due to tendency of River Otter to soak everything in his path.
Sorry I don't have exact measurements, but here's a rough sketch, not to scale. I'm heading to the property in a bit and will get exact numbers. In the meantime, wondering whether to go glass for the shower, or shower curtain, or a bit of both (one glass wall, one curtain at entrance facing toilet). Obvious concern is whether there will be enough room for a glass door with that toilet so close.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Comments (8)
Mittens Cat
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Finished Bathroom Pics (two bathrooms!)--very pic heavy
Comments (41)Wooo!!! Cat, I am stuck at home because of the snow storm so wandered around here not looking at anything in particular and came upon your thread. I totally agree with you on the shower curtain choice. Regardless of whether I have the money to spare or not, keeping those suckers clean is a nuisance over time. We have a glass shower door that was installed back in 2003 and I can't tell you how much I hate cleaning it. Not that the door is all that dirty, but a shower curtain is way easier, and you can change the look/style whenever you feel like it. Can't do that with a pricey shower door. Anyway, everything looks lovely as usual, including the "prom" dress :-) Love, love those circular tiles, and the floor tiles that look like fabric. Gorgeous. What colour is that again? It looks greyish on my monitor....See MoreClaire de Luna's Vintage Inspired Bathroom
Comments (41)Mommielady, I'm in Love with the curbless shower, even a year later! Not only does it have the appearance of making the room seem more open, with no curb to step (or trip) over on the way in/out, it's easy access. My Dad had problems with his hips in his old age, my mom has problems with her knees, and I have at times been physically handicapped enough to know that a shower you can simply walk into is much easier than one you step into. With aging and genetics being what they are, I was going to make it as easy on myself as I could. (If I'm ripping out the rest of the bathroom, well then why not?) Also, water does sometimes go beyond the opening, and a curb would make it seem more of a problem than if I expected it to stay within certain boundaries, especially since there's no door on the shower. I don't plan on being in a wheelchair, but I know how easy my shower is to access for anyone (even to bathe the dog). I would do it again in a HEARTBEAT. Is the end result of going curbless worth the headache of removing pre-existing concrete? It was for me, absolutely. If your contractor doesn't have experience with this however, I would find someone who does. Removing the concrete seems less problematic to me than getting the right slope on your mudbed so the drain will handle the water in the shower. You absolutely need someone with experience at this, so pick your tile guy carefully. Yes, the drain is off-center. Being centered, especially with two straight and a bowed wall didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is the slope of the floor which allows the water to drain. The only way to get that is to build it from scratch. No, it wasn't hard for my tile guy to get the slope, although he had experience. They did have to tear out to the sub-floor so there'd be enough room to run the heated floor into the shower. I particularly love this because it dries the shower floor and I've never had an issue or mold or mildew. Again, setting a heated floor mat into your mud bed can be tricky so you really want someone who is experienced and will assume some liability with the company who manufactures the floor mat (I used Sun Touch). That way if there are problems, you have someone who knows where the problems can arise, and which path to take. What I saved on keeping the shower doorless (by not purchasing a frame-less glass door) allowed me to use the savings on the heated floor. I'm sorry, I couldn't back up enough in my small bathroom to get a picture of the entrance with my camera! It's very small, which is why I love so much having the feeling of even a little more open space. I hope this helps you....See MoreUpdate - bathroom is finished
Comments (62)Hiya sheesh, can't believe I missed this posting! It looks really nice, great job. I've been working on our upstairs hall bath and I am just doing a couple of tweeks before the "reveal". Have you looked for pretty soaps at TJMaxx? I am now totally hooked on them. They even organize them by color! I've been buying them to put in glass jars in the bathrooms. They are wrapped in gorgeous papers, and as long as you have some sort of common color, they all look great mixed together. You could also consider a bowl with some natural sea sponges, that would look pretty too. Glass jar filled with cotton balls looks kind of fun too. Great job! -bee...See MoreBathroom:Take a look at this-please tell me if Im missing anythng
Comments (16)Not to worry about any side conversations up-thread. I enjoyed reading it, and it reminded me that electricians are people too. I purchased my GFI recepticles plus the Decora switches and cover plates at Lowes because I was very specific in what I wanted on the exterior. I didn't buy anything that goes into the wall. The can lights I purchased were expensive, and I bought them for what they looked like. 5 inch cans aren't really "standard" so I thought that it might be easier for me to present the cans and the baffles to my contractor rather than have him run back and forth to HD or Lowes. But the cans went back anyway.... So the only material I had for them was the light fixtures, glass shades, and Decora switches and cover plates, and GFIs, plus the Broan vent light unit (which is fabulous). As a homeowner, I am very very specific about placement of various "improvements" during a renovation. I've drawn on graph paper the wall itself showing the exact placement of the light fixtures, how many inches from the soffit, above the inset medicine cabinet mirror, where the outlet boxes are located with respect to the backsplash, etc. I have found that in writing everything out, at least I've told the tradesmen once and then it's written down, so I'm covered there. In the case of this bathroom, the vanity is 55.5" wide and will have two sinks, two light bars, two inset mirrored medicine cabinets, and two outlets. It's a very tight space with a lot going on, so every inch matters. I've approached my contractor and his electrician more humbly because of your posts. Of course, the fact that I know almost nothing abut electrical work is very obvious, I'm not pretending that I'm a pro, nor will I quibble over a few dollars. The working relationship is more important than that. Now about the other electricians, my contractor's own bid came in the lowest, and only one other company showed up in time to get a bid in before we had to get the work started, but this company couldn't do the work in time anyway. Another company failed to return my call, and a third company called too late. All in all, since we have not had lights in this room for years (except the Solatube which was added last summer-and the toilet/tub room has had lighting, so we're not in the complete dark anyway), so this will be a magnificent change for my family. Thanks again for everyone's ideas and suggestions!...See More
Nancy in Mich
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoIs the bathroom almost done, or not started yet? What a river otter craves is a wet room! That is a bathroom with a floor drain, tiled walls, and waterproofing under all of it. Then you may hose off anything in there. A squeegee and large microfiber wiping cloth will allow you to keep it looking spiffy.
Really , it is not as big a deal as it sounds to do what I propose. I put in a floor drain in a house with a basement when my handicapped shower went in. When you don't have a curb, you may get overflow from any one of several mistakes or accidents. A floor drain protects the home. My contractor simply used the Kerdi system and got the foam shower floor pieces that will slope the floor toward the floor drain. He used a foam ramp inside the bathroom door to go a little uphill, so then the rest of the room could slant downhill to the drain. It is a small height difference that does not trip me up. My walker will roll toward the door if I park it right inside the door, but it has become a natural thing to cope with it. Here is a photo, the drain is that tile-covered square about 18" in front of the vanity leg:
My shower is made of solid surface (similar to Corian) so things just roll off the walls, which we squeegee most times we shower. Your river otter could be a messy guy and easy to clean up after if you had this kind of set-up with a wall-mount cast iron/porcelain enameled sink without a vanity..Why does the little guy not want a tub? No room? In a wet room, where the room is essentially a shower, it can sit right next to the shower area.
If your bathroom is pretty much done, you can consider something called Caregiver Shower Doors that allow you to reach over the low doors to stay dry and still use a hand-held shower head to spray your otter. You may even be able to towel dry him over the doors, or at least wrap the towel around him.
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You use a short curtain over the doors to contain splashes, but to be able to still reach in.Mittens Cat thanked Nancy in MichNancy in Mich
3 years agoOh yeah, dimensions might help! My bathroom is not all that big. It is an 8.5' x 5' rectangle with the shower itself being another 38" x 63" box on one of the long sides. My shower is by Transolid and it is the largest one I could find without going to a custom ($$$) set-up. I have a 36" pocket door.
You may need to click on each photo because Houzz crops and shrinks them.Mittens Cat thanked Nancy in Mich
Lee Baer