Any architects that can help with a bathroom design question?

[Falcon1]

We're doing a loft extension and currently the floor layout is as per the picture. We're trying to work out if we have the space to have a shower with just a screen rather than a full enclosure with door, as opening it will encroach on the space and I find them a bit claustrophobic. We're not sure this will be possible however without water going everywhere. Because of the sloping ceiling it's likely that the shower screen couldn't be much more than 600mm. Making the bathroom a bit bigger is a possibility but creates an issue in the bedroom with the space between the bed and window too small (all beds seem to be about 220cm in length so we'd only be left with about 85cm clearance). Any advice would be much appreciated!

If you move the door into the ensuite further up the wall, the you might be able to fit the loo and the sink along the bottom wall. Which might mean you can just make the whole top bit of the room into a huge walk in shower. Obviously depends on what the head height is in the room and you might end up needing a smallish sink.

Am I right in reading that it's 4.1m long? If so, you can move up the sink and wc and rotate the shower. 2m is ample for a sink and wc, so you could have a 2m long shower that you enter through the end of. I was in a hotel that had one and it was fab, zero claustrophobia.

Thanks both. We’re slightly restricted by needing access to the loft space hatch (between the sink and toilet). It could work though I think?? The other option is having a bath with a shower in it instead, which is what I’m used to anyway. But obviously not as luxury hotel looking

What distance exactly from the perpendicular wall is the loft access hatch? And how big is it?

I’d be tempted to rotate the shower room to the bottom wall and have a full ht space throughout
The fitted wardrobes can more easily accommodate sloping ceilings and if the wall to the shower room stays can be a walk in wardrobe
This will reduce the room size perception but you’ll have a less restrictive en-suite and a walk in wardrobe

You can get a shower screen with a hinged flipper screen on the open end, that's unlikely to feel claustrophic? A walk-in shower is a nice compromise between a shower enclosure and a more wet room type arrangement. You've got the screens retaining water in the shower area without it feeling like a phone box (or however a cubicle strikes you!)

I'm considering a bathroom refurb myself and am keen to replace the unused bath with a walk-in shower, preferably without a shower tray and with just a couple of screens preventing water spray going everywhere.

surely the shower could just be a bit wider - 800mm rather than 600mm. that makes a big difference to how it feels.

@CatherinedeBourgh (great name btw), the loft access could be anywhere along that wall, although it's best nearest the roof pitch (which is currently to the right of the sink on the existing plan. @DrPrunesqualer yes we considered this. But we were concerned we wouldn't have enough storage space in the walk in wardrobe.

@ShodAndShadySenators We looked at the flipper screens but currently haven't seen any that don't look a bit naff. Maybe we're looking in the wrong places!

@CatherinedeBourgh IN terms of flipping the angle of the shower,I think this would leave a long line of wasted space on the other side - due to the ceiling height, it wouldn't be very accessible.

It looks like you're really limited on headroom? The part with less than 1.8m won't really be useable as a shower. I'd want 2m ideally though obviously it depends how tall you are. Hence why it might be worth moving things around.

concider
How high will the ceiling be above the toilet
will it be high enough for someone to stand
?
You. Need a shower ht 2/2.1m min

Do you have a right/left section through the space

I'd just include it all in the shower. So have a large waterproof open area with the sloping roof and the showerhead on the side that's perpendicular to the sloping roof (iyswim). If it's far enough from the sink and toilet you can just leave it open, and not have an issue with the bathroom getting wet.

Kind of like a wet room, but I like to have a slightly raised edge to mark the limit of the shower area.

Kind of like this, but the showerhead on the far wall

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%2Fid%2FOIP.Ij42KHLNkMBSZGfQZhf_AgHaJa%3Fpid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=25335734c2c24efe14d19d1e6b5c994699c6c30ef52fd1838f7be12a75a8af03

or this
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%2Fid%2FOIP.vzKnY1CU0rzVQ3NtnWLsdQHaLI%3Fpid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=302f81d364d5f96052d3d51e3f4f765bbd26e5a196fbb08e7e608ea9a9004b32

Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve taken on all your comments and thought about how we can change the layout. What do people think of this? We’d put an extra window in the bathroom and move the main bedroom window along a bit. it mean the bed isn’t facing the window which is what we were keen on but also means no compromise on the bathroom

This is much better. Now you have a full ht space for the shower room

Your bedroom door needs to be opposite the final stair riser and not adjacent ( ie not where FD30 is indicated )

Thats for building regs purposes as you can’t have a door right next to a riser and of course the door needs to open into the room.

You might not be able to move the toilet waste that far away from the original planned location so might need to swap the walk in and ensuite?

The only small detail comment I’d make is that it would be neater to have the WC and whb combined and on the right hand wall of the shower room directly opposite the shower. It will give you more manoeuvrability especially if the WC is furthest from the door.

@DrPrunesqualer Good thinking, we'll have to see what size vanity unit will fit in that space. I had hoped for double sinks but think that might be unrealistic. Not sure what you mean about the door - we'll have a little square landing after the step and before the door, which I think is ok?

@Geneticsbunny The builder thinks the toilet waste would be ok. He's more concerned that we'll find the bedroom too small but we're seeing the space for the first time tomorrow so we'll be able to mark it all out.

The door
On your plan I can see text next to the opening that leads straight to your bed
I can’t read it exactly but it does say FD standing for fire door
You can’t have a door at that location because it’s too near the last stair step for building regs
You need to use the other opening which you’ve indicated.

So it's not clear on the drawing, but the door will be directly in front of the top stair so you walk in in the direction of the walk in wardrobe, not to the side of the bed. Is that compliant?

I prefer the first plan tbh. I think the second one could feel a fit claustrophobic. The walk in wardrobe will feel dark tight, I’d much rather have wardrobes round the edge of a larger bedroom like in the first plan, and I would want to lookout of the window from bed and when entering the room.

I would probably move the wall between bedroom and bathroom slightly forward to give the bathroom more head height space. I don’t see the shower screen issue? The bathroom is 1.6m wide (or more if you move the wall as I suggest). You need about a 600-700 mm opening to walk through, unless you are very large. So you can have a 900-1m shower screen ? It will probably need to be a bespoke triangular one to fit with the sloping ceiling but that’s ok. And as pp say it can be wider, as wide as you like up to the edge of the sink or loft hatch whichever comes first.

All good then 👍

Ah sorry I see the screen issue!

I think I’d still prefer the first layout and would go for a wetroom/raised tray approach to solve the shower issue as a pp suggested