Minimum ceiling height for a bathroom

kmmr

Hi,

I am looking at a house that has a very low ceiling in the bathroom. It seems to be an Victorian design 'feature' as all the bathroom in the block are slightly smaller than they should be.

The ceiling is about 6foot 5. So you don't bang your head, but at the same time it's too low for a shower (in my opinion). Is there is building regulation requirement around minimum ceiling heights for bathrooms?

From a practical point of view what do people think? Could you live with a lowish shower at that height? After plumbing I would estimate the shower head would be around 6 foor 3ish at best. If you add in a bath or a shower tray you lose another few inches as well.

The alternative is to remove a nicely tiled floor and dig down into the concrete, and hope their isn't a problem with the plumbing.

Any ideas for resolving this problem are welcome!

Thanks

ormus

old houses were built when there were few, if any, regs.
and most/all new regs are not retrospective.
also some old/victorian houses had additions, such as bathrooms installed at a later date. in all sorts of rooms.

surely you can fit an electric shower?
unless you are 6ft 4ins?

kmmr

Thanks Ormus,

I know it doesn't need to comply, I am just wondering what the 'normal' height these days would be. We are looking to renovate and if we dig down I just wondered how much would be required to make it a standard height.

Do you know if you fully renovate a bathroom do you then have to comply with BR's? I'd presume not, in some cases you simply can't change the dimensions of the room.

ormus

the "normal" height of a room is about 8ft 6ins.
generally, if you look at any standard door of 6ft 6 theres about 2 ft of wall above it.

jkpd

7'6" - 8'ft is normal in new build has been for last 30 -40 years,if you have a concrete floor has it a 2" sand and cement screed on top of concrete? take a big hammer and drift to the edge of floor if so the screed will come away from the concrete. how about tray you inset into the floor and tile onto?pricey and can be tricky for drains.

southcoastrgi

a normal shower cubical is 1950mm 6'4" so with the tray i think you would need a specalist cubical which is gonna be more expensive plus not alot of room above it to let the steam escape so you may have to put an extractor fan above the shower to prevent mould

kmmr

This relates to a flat we are looking to buy, so I can't do too much analysis at the moment. It's frustrating as they have re-done the bathroom in the last few years, so it looks nice, but with this low ceiling. On the second viewing we confirmed they don't have a shower set up - just use a hand held thing in the bath.

The bath is a few inches above the floor already. My height estimate may even be generous. A tall person almost touches the roof while standing on the floor, and would probably hit the roof standing in the bath. I can't decide if this is an unsurmountable problem.

If we had to re-do the bathroom and dig down, any estimate on cost? If I could negotiate it off the price then it may be worth it.

peachyprice

Might a wet room be a better idea?

kmmr

Might be a silly question - but what is the real difference? It's all fully tiled, and I appreciate it would need better waterproofing, but it doesn't really solve the height issue.

Do you mean basically just have a shower where you stand directly on the floor? As it's a 2 bed place, I really want to have a bath as I want to appeal to families with kids. This is a buy-redevelop-sell type project.

I guess I could extend the room slightly and have both... but a lot of work to make the room big enough for shower and bath.. hmm..

With a wetroom, does the roof/ceiling need to be tanked as well?