Smallish bathroom layout / top tips advice - hate cleaning!!

[Ginola2345]

Our current bathroom is beyond repair so we are having to bite the bullet and pay up to have a new bathroom installed.

House is 1930’s semi, we have two teens who come September will both be at Uni so just DH and myself most of the time. So just thinking shower (man in showroom has suggested quadrant with single door not sure how easy they are to clean), backboards in shower which look a bit industrial with a small piece above the sink which I am unsure about) comfort height toilet, wall hung cabinet and wall hung sink. Wondered whether to
go green furniture or opt for more traditional more widely used grey, bleached something or other flooring and white speckled backboard.

I absolutely hate cleaning, DH spills water everywhere when he has a shower as do teens when they are home and all have steaming hot showers and never open a window so walls are dripping etc.

Please could you comment on plans below (drawn by a local bathroom supplier) and offer any advice (our window is smaller than in photo), tips or things to think about we may have forgotten re the space, suppliers etc. We are in north of England and cost so far is estimated to
be a fraction under 7K including fitting but fitter has still to visit to confirm. The outside walls are the one with the window and the one with the shower on.

Will attach some photos below.

I would swing the loo and basin round to the wall the rail is on. Then you can have a mirror/ cabinet over the sink.
I hate quadrant showers, they seem to lose so much space. And sliding shower doors just seem to get busted really quickly. I'd go for a hinge or pivot any day.

Ignoring your plan, for me, the key features for easy cleaning and maintenance.

1. Water softener (if in a hard water area)
2. Free standing bath. (no bath sealant)
3. Self opening bath trap. (impossible to overflow)
4. walk in shower, with no tray, i.e. wet room.
5. Flat glass shower panels, much easier to clean.
6. 1 meter squeegee
7. Motion activated lights.
8. Humidity activated fan

Obviously needs the space.

@DRS1970 how big is your room and do you have a photo please?

I’m not sure that this is the case. My mums house has just gone on the market and the bathroom only has a shower. It was marketed as a three bed, one bathroom house and sold within a week at £10,000 over the asking price. The fact that there is no bath has not been raised. I have never seen a house advertised as not having a bathroom when it only had a shower.

Ours was done 3 years ago. Have a walk in shower, longer screen but no door, with shower head coming from ceiling. Old shower over bath was like a tsunami aftermath after DH used it, no issues with new layout. Get a non slip shower tray and put the controls on the wall at the entrance, that way the shower is nice and warm when you step under it, rather than an initial blast of icy water.

There's a sheet of glass in-between the shower and the sink area. Water is pretty much confined to that bit. The floor is totally non-slip also.

I'd recommend wall-mounted sink and loo if your budget will stretch. No awkward corners means it's easier to stop it getting grubby.

Thanks @Ihateslugs.

@Aphotoaday your layout sounds good. Not sure why no one has suggested a wet room are they more costly?

Thats nice is the window part of the shower then in your set up @okthenwhat?

@okthenwhat if we go with current suggested layout opting for wall mounted sink with two draws which will jut out slightly more than current sink, can’t really afford the space of a wall mounted loo but looking at a rimless back to the wall one so no pipework on display.

@Dbank some of your list sounds good especially 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Luckily we have soft water.

If space layout and money were all no object fine but no way on this earth do we have any room for a free standing bath in our small bathroom in a 1930’s semi.

Although not sure how expensive the motion sensor lights would be and where on earth to store a metre long squeegee.

Don’t have any showers with doors on rollers-vile to clean. If you don’t want to have a shower bath, a simple shower with a flat screen is better. Also, swap the loo and sink round. It will give you a more spacious feel as you can get away with having the sink very close to a wall-unlike a loo where you have to allow for someone sitting on it. Our fitter advised this and it made a big difference.

Also how wide is your sink unit? You can get 550 or 500mm wide ones which can shave off a couple of inches. We did this in our 1930s bathroom.

You may be surprised some free standing take about the same space.

https://vandabaths.com/en-gb/our-range/freestanding-baths/

We managed to fit one in to quite a small space.

Re the lighting, have look at Philips Hue, different mood lighting at different times of the day, can be controlled by smart speakers. Schedules the fan to run for 30 minutes at 2:00AM to help dry the room over night

No more arguments about leaving the lights on.

Squeegee hangs on the side of our towel rail.

We have a walk in in the en-suite and I hate it as it spits water out. I use the 90 x 100 quadrant in the main bathroom. Our loo is where your cabinet is.

We had the bathroom done 2 months ago. I think it's almost the same size yours (1.7x2.2m)

1. Regarding the cleaning if you like shower panels than that's probably best option. If not, large tiles (so less grout).

(we went for metro tiles so totally opposite to your needs)

1. Radiator: ours is a dual fuel one. 160cmx50cm. You can calculate the BTUs for your room on those websites like bestheating and ukradiators. So it gives you the best chance of having something that will actually heat the room

3.Extractor fan at the time the plumber said at least an extraction rate of 30L/s.
If you chose an 'inline fan' type then you get much higher rates than these. (But depends on loft space)

You can have have some with humidistat, controlled by phone apps. All sorts.
We kept it simple and it switches on with the main light and stays for 15/20min when the light is off.
we also have wall lights by the mirror so we usually use these if we are not going to shower (instead of switching the fan isolator button off) or at night as they are not so bright and actually makes the room cosy.
However, we do have and use the window. 😅

4.Rimless toilet Yes! I love it. Ours is a Grohe and back to wall.

5.the squeegee is definitely a good shout

1. If you can't have a mirror in front of the sink because of window maybe you could put a standing mirror on the window sill? Something cute and make a feature out of it

Thanks all. Have had a couple of fitters round (one will only use equipment from PlumbersMate the other will work with either of the other two suppliers we have looked at) and visited 3 local bathroom showrooms and two local tile shops.

Main priorities practicalities are practical and easy to keep clean as although small will be a main family bath/shower room. For four adults (two older teens at home in the Uni holidays) and occasional showering of dog, cost and longevity.

I think we are going to have to opt for a quadrant shower due to space. Debating whether single door or double doors? Not convinced this will be easy to clean and wasn’t the look I wanted but been backed into a corner. Any words of wisdom?

Back to the wall rimless toilet.

Seen this sink cabinet and matching wall cupboards.

Radiator.

Still thinking probably boards in the quadrant shower area and half height tiles in probably a neutral beige/grey colour greige (to keep costs down, avoid it feeling too cold and incase I get sick of the tiles). What does the collective wisdom of mumsnet think in terms of easiest to clean shiny or matt?

Flooring unsure whether tiles or one of those mock floors suitable for a bathroom in a wood or tile effect? Would really like to get rid of current ridged dust collecting skirting boards.

Don't be pushed into a quadrant shower OP. It will be a nightmare to clean because of the curvy rails and glass. Plus manky door seals. Bathroom showrooms push them because they are expensive and customers fall for it because they look a bit fancy. They're also not great for people with mobility issues.

A walk in shower with a flat frameless screen will be much easier to clean, take up less 'visual space' in the room and be easier for your DH and MIL to use. A PP posted a photo up thread and it's a great example. Wet rooms are expensive to install and if not done properly the leaks a huge pain to fix. Plus it's no fun walking in the dregs of someone else's shower to go to the loo or brush your teeth. Go for a low profile shower tray. It contains the water but is not an issue for someone with restricted mobility to step into.

Gloss tiles shed the water better than matte or semi-matte tiles. But show the water marks more if you allow them to accumulate. So swings and roundabouts really. If you have soft water it's probably less of an issue so I'd go for gloss.

You say the window is smaller than shown in the plan. Can you fit the short side of a walk-in shower beside the window where the cabinet currently is?

Thanks @LikeAPie I think the quadrant showers look dated and look really hard to clean (as I am slovenly) and more likely to have things going wrong on them.

Yet the fitters (the two we like and a dodgy pair of fitters who we really disliked) and both of the local bathroom places have all swayed us against a walk in shower saying we don’t really have the space to guarantee water not coming all over the place especially as we are all tall, need a decent sized opening for one of us and because we have a window directly above the sink area so we are restricted and wouldn’t have any space for cupboard storage space other than under the sink so DH has now completely bought into the idea of a quadrant shower cubicle.

This photo shows the dimensions of our room and I think the latest proposed layout with quadrant shower.

We would like a fairly decent sized shower space so we don’t feel cramped and are all long limbed and one plus/large sized built adult.

Obviously don’t want a really narrow shower and budget is an issue so can’t really stretch a to a specially customised shower tray etc.

Ok, so there isn't enough space for a 800mm wide shower on either side of the window. But you could have one with the long side on the window wall. We've got a window in a very small shower room where it is basically in the shower. It's all tiled and well sealed and the window sill is the natural place for shampoo bottles.
Where's the current soil stack? Do you want to keep the loo on that outside wall? If you can I'd move it to the other outside wall so it's not immediately in front of the door. Then you can have the basin there beside the window with a mirror above. Cabinet on the wall with the door.

Loos, no matter how streamlined, are not things of beauty. If they're not the first thing you see on opening the door so much the better!

@LikeAPie not sure about the technical term soil stack. Everyone has advised us to basically leave the loo and sink where they are.

Unsure about having a window in the shower, but might work.

The soil stack is the big fat vertical pipe on the outside wall. Waste from your loo and basin is piped into it and goes off at the bottom into the sewage system. The top of the stack will be high up and open to the air to allow noxious odours to escape. If it's on that wall it will be very visible if you look out of the window.
If it is, I agree it's much less costly and disruptive to leave the loo on that wall. The basin could be moved to the other wall but you'd have an external pipe going round the corner to the soil stack. We've got this from a shower rather than a basin. It works fine. It's on a side wall we can't see from the garden so ugly pipework doesn't matter.

Another idea...

Instead of a shower unit where the quadrant shower is, build a false stud wall across the short end by the door. Clad with large tiles/panels for minimal grout/cleaning. (You could also incorporate a shallow niche in the hollow wall for shampoo bottles). Fill the long side with choice of screen/hinged door/bifold door.

At least then you don't have curved glass which is a bugger to clean.

Also 1100x800 shower with 3 tiled walls will feel much more modern and solid and last much longer than a freestanding unit which will look and feel a bit rickety after a few years.

Sorry, I may be overinvested in this! I've just redone two tiny bathrooms and spent literally years (it was lockdown so we couldn't get the work done anyway) mulling over the alternatives.