Small shower room in Victorian terrace

Sirrah67

Hi, I'm trying to work out whether it's feasible to add a small upstairs shower room in a Victorian terrace. I don't want to lose a bedroom, but could live with a single.

I can't add images, so I'll do my best to describe the layout.

A pretty standard 3 bed terrace from the era, with the two storey extension on the back, possibly original to the house, and a single storey with kitchen and bathroom extending from that.

The smallest bedroom at the back is 8'11" wide and 11'5" long, with a window on the back wall. The door is to the right as you enter, in line with the stairs.

Could I partition the room, leaving a 6x4 shower room and a 8'11"x7' bedroom, with a short corridor to the bedroom? I know that would be a tight shower room, but the only other alternative is splitting the middle bedroom, which sounds much more complicated!

Any advice or ideas welcomed, thanks!

Doozergirl

We need a floorplan, please. No one knows what the alternative is without the floorplan, unfortunately.

The building industry works in metric, not imperial, so it's worth getting your head around that quite quickly.

It's sounds okay, but is absolutely worth your planning out the layout of that proposed room with the exact size of specific products so that things fit perfectly within it before you start building. You don't want to end up with a spare few cm down the side of the shower or a sink that is impossible to clean. 180 x 120 is an odd size to make things fit, and I've created more than a few tiny ensuites.

Sirrah67

Let's see if I can post a link!

Sirrah67

Still too new!

Sirrah67

https://media.rightmove.co.uk/dir/152k/151073/60977367/151073_698359-1_FLP_01_0000_max_600x600.gif

Sirrah67

Success! I've been looking at shower enclosures and it seems a quadrant would be the best option, and a compact toilet next to it on the outside wall. A small basin and a ladder radiator would be on opposite walls.

The boiler is in the current bathroom, on the back wall.

Doozergirl

Hooray for getting the link up!

Who is the shower room for? My instinct would be to create an ensuite for the main bedroom.

The most space effective of shower rooms takes up 1m (or even 90cm) x 2.5m, with the door in the middle of the length. Shower goes on one side, toilet on the other. Little sink in front of the door, radiator next to loo.

Taking a 1 metre slice from the top of Bed 2 and removing the chimney breast in there would still keep it a half decent size, capable of holding a double bed and wardrobe.

It would possibly involve a Saniflo if your joists don't run the right way to get the waste out, but I think most might prefer an ensuite and to retain decent bedroom sizes than have a rather odd shower room and reduce one bedroom to a study. In that case I'd either just go the whole hog and use where you want to put the shower room as an open study area and make the remaining 'bedroom' into a proper bathroom and bin off the downstairs one into a loo.

Sirrah67

That makes sense, but seems a bigger job! The absolute necessity is an upstairs loo (small children), the shower room would be a bonus.

I'm concerned about drainage from the middle bedroom, would it need a macerator, knowing the sewer is right at the back of the house?

Doozergirl

Sirrah67 wrote: »

That makes sense, but seems a bigger job! The absolute necessity is an upstairs loo (small children), the shower room would be a bonus.

I'm concerned about drainage from the middle bedroom, would it need a macerator, knowing the sewer is right at the back of the house?

I *always* edit my posts as I post on my phone and they get too long to read and edit. You have to wait for me

I don't think a macerator is as much of a problem as people make out. I've had one for nearly 8 years and it has given us a valued second bathroom without having a massive poo pipe down the middle of a double fronted house. Obviously it's not as ideal as a hole directly out of the wall, and the saniflo was changed after 5 years, but it has served us admirably.

For you, yes it would cost more to remove the chimney breast (and add a saniflo, maybe) but it retains value in the house by compromising the space less and adding an ensuite to lovely large master bedroom.

Sirrah67

Thank you, I suppose we could add a separate loo somewhere if necessary, that would take up less space. Lots to think about!

Doozergirl

The kids can use your ensuite while they are little, if they need it. Then they can go downstairs. They don't stay little for long.

We lived in a similar house when our son was 5 and he used downstairs with no complaints. They're resilient little beings

These houses are so common up and down the country and people, in the main, keep the room sizes and go downstairs. Yours is slightly different as you have the upstairs extension which introduces the argument becomes stronger for an upstairs bathroom instead of a 3rd bedroom, but it depends on house prices where you are and the space you personally need.

What you need is a toilet. That will fit sensibly somewhere. A shower room much less so, unless it's an ensuite. An ensuite and a toilet and a downstairs bathroom is overkill in a house that small.