Little spaces, outbuildings and basement bathrooms are some of the jobs on the bathroom remodeling spectrum. You have got to plan a lot beforehand with so much happening in this little space. Not only do you have to ventilation and route plumbing, but you have to consider the space you’re building in. Is it a hundred-year-old house with a rock foundation that might be a design wow? Or is it a modern building with a construction? You also have to consider what’s happening on each side of the door, which impacts, well, everything.
Gina Bon
Be bold. The typical strategy for a bathroom in a basement would be to hide it, but occasionally there is simply no way to pull this style move off that isn’t dull. The reason: Basement bathrooms will need to compete for space with the furnace, water softener, hot-water heater, stairs etc.. And occasionally after I lay out the bar, bedroom and whatever else makes the space awesome, there is no place awesome left for the bathroom.
In this instance it is often best to run hard in the other design management and observe it in plain sight, make the bathroom component of the plan along with a bit of their experience. Celebrating “undesirable” things is one of my preferred design tricks.
Fischer & Frichtel
Always vent. Among the most crucial parts of a bathroom in a basement would be a sufficiently powerful ceiling fan to evacuate the moisture — not letting it move in the ceiling or utility space, but outside. Like, where the sky is. While you’re showering, steam is a tiny cloud. But the water falls back to the baseboards and turns back into water, when you’ve left. Then it becomes that gross stuff you do not wish to wash.
A vent fan is your way to get the moisture from the house. I repeat, out of the house. Don’t get me started on how many times I’ve seen bathrooms beamed into the attic or a different hidden area. Your attic might be cold or hot, but it is still technically inside. Get that moisture out!
Paul Welschmeyer ARCHITECTS & energy advisers
DiGuiseppe Architect
Expose the construction. A basement bathroom offers abundant opportunities to use the present raw construction of the house. Rubble foundations, for instance, are basically constructions. Cover their looks that are powerful with shingles?
And consider the plumbing, also. While drain lines and electrical services aren’t all that cool to look at, aluminum distribution lines (water lines) can be gorgeous. If you’ve got an open structure, it is sometimes easiest — and awesome-est — to make the most of what you’ve got.
Exposing pipes can be a cool way to make a basement space sense industrial or like a person cave. It’s also far easier than building soffits and bulkheads to hide everything. If you’re a building geek like me, it is best to design a space where you can see the working parts.
Krause Construction Denver Colorado
Boost solitude. Many builder-grade homes include hollow-core doors. These doors have a real-looking timber grain but are composed only of 1/4-inch-thick components, and are basically cardboard and air inside.
While hollow-core doors can be OK for certain rooms, I try to use solid-core doors for the bathroom to help keep the bathroom experience as much of a one-person affair as possible. Solid-core doors deaden the sounds generated in the bathroom. So if you’re having a book club meeting or down poker night there, a good door and insulated wall framing that both deaden sound are fine for everybody.
HomeTech Renovations, Inc..
Build up. Small-space remodels can often be more challenging than big-space overhauls. So much must happen in such a tiny area, it is like dancing on the head of a pin.
So when I move into a small area, I’m constantly thinking about how I can use it smartly, use it and make everything seem like it is supposed to be there.
Jim Burton Architects
Be one with nature. Basements aren’t always underground. When designing or constructing a bath, take into consideration the approach from the outside, as well as the windows, egress and view, from inside and outside the john.