En Suite Addition, Shadwell

This article shows how ukbathroomguru added an en-suite to an existing bedroom in Shadwell, Leeds.

Introduction

This is a case study which shows how we can add an en suite to your bedroom in about 2 weeks for around £7K (in this instance) with everything taken care of from start to finish:

1. Free site survey to assess feasibility of plans
2. Free itemised, written quotation & plans for submission to the council as required
3. Installing the en suite, which consisted of the following trades:

• • Building work – taking down solid walls & relocating the bedroom door to suit the new layout
  • Joinery – for building new stud walls, hanging doors & fitting skirting / architrave etc
  • Plastering
  • Painting
  • Plumbing
  • Wall & floor tiling
  • Roofing – for fitting the sun tube
  • Electrics (lighting, electric towel radiator & extractor fan in this example)
  • PLUS – liaising with building control throughout the process to ensure everything gets signed off

Essentially, everything you need from start to finish, all starting with a free site survey.

Permission

To add an en suite you shouldn’t need to apply for planning permission but you should apply for building regulations approval from the local council. This will ensure that any new electrical wiring, windows, ventilation or drainage all comply with building regulations (though many electricians self certify their work).

At the end of the work you will be issued with a completion certificate which you may need when you come to sell your house.

Feasibility

The existing plumbing & the space available will be the main factors in determining whether you can have an en-suite, but there are other factors such as lighting and ventilation that should also be considered.

Plumbing factors:

1. Running hot & cold supply pipework to the shower, toilet & basin etc
In this example, hot and cold pipes had to be run from the hall:

2. Running waste water away from the toilet, shower, basin etc to the drains outside the house.
This is often THE biggest stumbling block as waste water needs to run downhill (in a fairly straight line) to the nearest soil stack which is normally on the outside of the house.

Pipe runs need to be planned WAY in advance of commencing the work, and is something we can advise you on during our free site survey.

In this instance, the existing external drainage pipework was located on the opposite side of the house which made the job slightly tricky…

We had to replace the cast iron soil vent pipe to make all the necessary new connections……

……and then run the new drainage pipe underneith the floorboards below the house bathroom & hallway to the new en suite:

3. PS As we elected to install an electric radiator there was no need to run / extend central heating pipework.

Space factors:

You can only add an en-suite if you have space, and this example is approximately 1m x 2.6m, which is plenty – especially as the door open outwards. (A pocket door that slides into the wall is an alternative when space is limited but is more costly to install).

In this plan we chose to add a storage cupboard for linen:

……and also a high level storage area in the en suite itself over the toilet.

Light factors:
As en suites often do not have an existing window, lighting needs to be considered at the outset to ensure the room does not feel small & dingy. In this example, we chose to add a Velux sun tube.

Details of the process can be see at the end of this article.

A timed extractor fan was fitted to this en suite (over the shower) to combat any problems that could arise due to excess humidity.

Value

5% is the amount the addition of a well-designed en suite could add to a property according to Nationwide Building Society. This equates to £10,00 on a £200,000 house – significantly more than the cost of installation.

Therefore, adding an en suite could be a worthwhile investment in the long run as well as making your life better during your tenure of the property.

Case study (a few more progress pics)

The space:

The plan:

We removed the old water tank and blockwork walls prior to relocating the bedroom door:

We relocated the bedroom doorway:

We removed the two existing door frames off the hall (1 into a storage cupboard below the water tank, the other into the bedroom) and inserted lintels into the brickwork to support the wall above.

PS One doorway was then boarded over (as the new en suite would subsume the old cupboard) and the bedroom door was moved across to suit the new layout.

When finished:

We ran pipework to & from the new en suite:

We built timber studwork for the en suite, with a new suspended ceiling to ensure a level ceiling.

We insulated & double boarded the en suite walls with low DB plasterboard (for sound insulation) once all the electrical cabling had been installed. You can see the en suite doorframe (centrally) and the storage cupboard doorframe to the left.

We used an old spare door to ensure the en suite door matched the rest of the doors in the house:

Here you can see the storage cupboard behind the en suite coming together with custom made MDF shelves, finished with satin paint to match the doors etc.

We fitted a large, wall to wall non slip shower tray:

Matching the original skirting & architrave was tricky as nowhere sells it anymore so we saved as much as we could….

We skimmed all the new studwork etc:

We prepared & tiled the floor with wood effect porcelain tiles:

We installed the toilet, electric towel radiator & tiled upstands:

We painted the en suite externally with emulsion & internally with a specialist anti-mould bathroom paint.

Above you can also see how light & fan isolating switches, sockets & radiator timers have been fitted, and the custom matched Victorian skirting and architrave is being fitted.

Completing the storage area behind the en suite……

…..with a neat access hatch to inspect / rod the drainage run should the need arise.

We fitted a sun tube that would allow natural light into this en suite from the roof above:

By making a hole in the roof & in the bathroom ceiling……

….then essentially linking them together with the sun tube:

The Finished En Suite

Shower enclosure & shower

View from the bedroom

WC & Basin

Storage Area above the Loo

Anything else?

If you have any questions or thoughts about this article or any others, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.

Chris