Installing / Re-doing a shower

[dammit]

Hi All

First time post here but I've been searching/using this site as a valuable resource for some time.

I am currently in the process of planning a bathroom renovation for our 20 year old house. The bathroom is a combined laundry/bathroom so space for a laundry tub and the washing machine/linen cupboard is required (unfortunately this impinges on what we would like in the bathroom but theres no other option!)

Currently the bathroom only has a Vanity, Shower which has tiled wall and flooring, and is on a concrete slab. There is a separate toilet in another room so this isn't required.

I was thinking for resale purposes as we plan to sell the house in a couple of years, if we could somehow fit a bathtub in, it would appeal to a greater market than if we just have a shower and no bath in the house incase the buyers have kids...but given the size (measures 2300x2300) and the requirement of laundry things too, this is mission impossible.

I have came down to these options

1) forget the bath, not enough space, just have a shower.

2) combine the bath/shower, the layout would allow for this with either a small corner bath and the shower coming out of the wall, or a long rectangular bath again with a shower head coming out of the wall but I think this design would need a shower curtain instead of a screen which seems tacky?

I've also had a look on ebay and saw a number of 'shower rooms' which appear to have a little bath area in the bottom of them and are a complete room / freestanding unit so I wouldn't need to retile the floor underneath it or the walls (which are really grotty) - being a big plus for a newbie to the DIY world...they are like a thousand dollars but it appears that you just hook them up to the power (they have a light on top and some an exhaust fan) & plumbing and thats all you need to do...I dont know about the quality of these though or what happens if they break...

My issue is, because of the concrete slab it is impossible for me to find any shower base, any shower room etc that will match the exact measurements of the waste drain for the shower (this sits out 47cm from one wall and 58 cm from another wall) strange where it is, but because its not in a 'square' shape i dont know what to do. Is there any way to get around this problem? I don't want to have to cut into the concrete slab to move the pipes, and have to re-concrete or anything...it sounds really hard and costly, I have looked into custom made shower bases so the drain would be in the right spot but I can't really find anywhere online, so I think the only option is to re-tile the shower the way it is, so at least the shower screen can be replaced and replace all the wall/floor tiles etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on what I should do? Maybe i'm missing something or can't think outside the square enough for a solution...I would like to keep it a DIY renovation but if a professional is required then it might just have to be forked out for. I have replaced vanities/sinks etc before so am quite handy with plumbing tid bits but I'm baffled!

Thanx for your help all :)

[juan]

perhaps you could post a plan of that area of the house and show where current underfloor plumbing is in the bathroom. It will help people to make suggestions. There has been much written previously about having the laundry in a cupboard. Seems to me this concept may offer a solution to combining bathroom and laundry in the 2.3m x 2.3m room and still retain a bathroom feel rather than feeling you are in a laundry having a shower.

[dammit]

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. I have attached a sketch of the current layout of the bathroom/laundry. I assume all the plumbing comes straight under the concrete slab from the LHS on the picture where it is the outside of the house. This is how it appears on our drainage diagram. The water supply for the shower/bathroom I believe comes via the kitchen (which adjoins the bathroom wall on the top side of the sketch) because the HWS/mains water is right outside the kitchen, and what appears to happen is these 2 pipes go into the kitchen wall and under the kitchen sink, supply the kitchen sink with water then there is a T join where each pipe splits off and heads towards the bathroom through the walls.

I wonder if I changed the shower to a corner bath/spa, if I could utilise the general bathroom floor drain thats in the middle of the bathroom to use to drain the spa, and just cover up the old shower drain, or does every bathroom need to have one of those drains incase it floods (the tiled floor seem to slope to it)? I'm not sure if that would work or if its the wrong size to use as shower/bath waste..

Many thanks for ur helps :)

[juan]

Firstly let me say that bathroom renovations are a pain in the butt, cost a lot of money even for a DIYer and take a lot longer than you think it will. I am not a plumber and cannot offer any advice in that area.
You have said that you intend selling in about 2 years and the work is to make the house more marketable not to suit your lifestyle now. Real estate people tell me that quite a few houses these days are being built without a bath so I would not get too hung up on the home not having one.

Based on that I would keep it simple as possible and just aim to make it look nice and functional. I think I would leave the laundry tub and washing machine in the same spot but build it into a floor to ceiling cupboard with some sort of louvre doors. I would dispense with the existing linen cupboard and put it all in the one laundry closet.

The shower could stay in the same place and just get a new fancy glass screen after all the wall and floor tiling is complete. Depending on the state of the tapware maybe you could upgrade it all to add some zip. The option I prefer is to install a shower bath where the shower is and extending it out under the window. It could have a hinged(or bi-fold) glass shower screen on the side that folds back against the end wall when not in use.
http://www.stylus.com.au/default.asp?page=view_product&id=12335

A big cost in bathroom renovations is obviously the plumbing and if you start cutting up concrete and moving floor traps and the like then you will add $,000s to the cost without trying. That money would buy a shower screen, new vanity and nice tapware.
There is no legal shortcut you must use a licensed plumber and if any electrical wiring is involced then you must employ an electrician and get Certificate of Compliance for the work. Waterproofing is another area that is regulated and really requires the use of a professional to ensure it is done correctly.
I think if you leave the layout basically the same you could do a most appealing makeover for as low as $6,000 replacing all the bathroom fittings with some good quality fittings and get a plumber in to do the necessary work. If you start relocating everything then think of a figure and double it.

There is quite a bit of cheap bathroom renovation supplies on eBay and whilst I have never gone down that path the feedback from buyers indicates a lot of satisfied customers buying at bargain basement prices.

I wish you good luck and hope others can offer more useful advice. Keep us posted with how it progresses.