Turning A Bedroom Into A Bathroom

In this example we essentially swopped a bedroom & a bathroom around.

However, this was essentially how the rooms were originally laid out and we therefore knew that:

• drainage would not be a problem as the original soil stack was still present that serviced the old bathroom (current bedroom.)
• The space available would be sufficient for the intended bathroom.
• we would not require any special building permits from the council (as you may if you were adding a bathroom, downstairs toilet or en suite where there wasn’t one previously)

Planning

In the bathroom (on the left) we had originally intended to remove a chimney breast in the corner of the room to make space for a shower enclosure but this was later changed to save costs and the hassle of taking out the chimney breast and gaining necessary consents etc.

We intended to remove the adjoining wall between the old bathroom and separate shower room (on the right hand side of the plan above labelled ‘Anne’) to open up the bedroom and make it bigger.

This would involve removing the 2 old doorways and constructing a new angled doorway into the new bedroom, which is what we eventually did.

As we didn’t need the separate shower in the bathroom, the toilet & basin were moved to the opposite side of the room so that we could run the wastes more easily into the soil pipe outside under the window.

We planned to board out one wall to ensure that the 150cm long bath fit snugly between the 2 walls without the need for a small gap at the end of the bath.

This allowed us the opportunity to conceal the basin waste behind this newly built out wall, negating the need for any boxing in.

This bathroom / bedroom conversion (and vice versa) took 2 weeks all in, and involved several trades carrying out the following tasks:

A new UPVC window was fitted and the outside was cemented up and the render repainted with matching masonry paint.

Boarding out the left hand wall ensured a snug fit and a square corner that the bath would fit perfectly as the existing walls were no-where near square in this corner.

The bath was fitted into position under the new window and sealed into place after pipework had been run to the new shower valve position over the bath taps.

In the picture above you can see how the basin waste joins up to the bath waste under the bath and is hidden behind the wall for a neat & tidy finish.

Above you can see the hot & cold supplies to the bath taps, and also where they go into the wall (to re-appear at the shower valve above.)

You can also see how a timber baton has been fixed to support the rim of the bath behind the taps.

All of the wet areas around the bath were then tanked prior to tiling with an all in one tanking kit to ensure that the customer suffered no problems related to moisture ingress.

The bath was then tiled around with large format ceramic white tiles with a matching silicone & grout.

The window cill was also tiled as it would get wet when the shower was used.

A thermostatic mixer shower was fitted with the use of a bar mixer fitting kit.

The toilet was re-instated on a night so that disruption was kept to a minimum and the old bath was not removed from the old bathroom until the new bath was fitted into the new bathroom.

This photo was taken just before all the walls were skimmed, ready for painting.

You can see how the tile trims around the bath have been fitted so that the plasterer can skim up to them, saving time whilst guaranteeing a better tile installation.

After the floor was tiled and the walls were painted with an anti-mould bathroom paint, the basin & toilet could be fitted permanently into place.

A small splashback was fitted above the basin and a large mirror fitted.

Skirting boards were also fitted at this time, as was a solid, vinyl-wrapped MDF bath panel that would not crack or even flex if kicked or knocked.

Pipework was run to serve a new towel warmer / radiator as can be seen above.

As the walls were being re-skimmed we took the opportunity to remove some plasterboard and reinforce the wall behind the radiator fixings with extra timber noggins. You can see where the plasterboard has been cut out (and the timber fitted behind).

In this picture above you can also see that the floor has been prepared for tiling with the use of a cement tile backer board.

After the floor was tiled, the walls plastered and painted and the skirting boards fitted & decorated, the radiator was fitted.

The noggins added into the wall previously ensured that when the radiator was finally fitted, it was securely screwed into the timber noggins behind the wall, and not just into the plasterboard resulting in a much stronger fixing.

A Multi directional bathroom ceiling light was installed to spread light around the room (rather than a simple bulkhead).

Also, an inline extractor fan was fitted to deal with bathroom humidity.

In the other room (old bathroom, new bedroom), we removed the old bathroom suite and the associated plumbing (both inside the room and outside the house.)

We also removed the dividing wall between the old bathroom & shower room and re-build a new angled door frame as originally intended.

We then moved switches and lights, added sockets as required and re-skimmed and decorated the room ready for carpeting.

Both rooms were completed in 2 weeks.

If you have any questions about this article or any others, please feel free to contact me or fill in the red ‘request a free site survey’ box and I’ll call you back.

Many thanks for reading

Chris