Julia Harkola, PE, PhD

See my previous entry for the background of this bathroom design. Once I determined the general layout of the room I sent the drawing of our new full bath to my favorite local shower door company, DB Glass & Shower Door, for a quote. The local Building Official emphasized that the door opening must be a minimum of 22” clear (without obstruction), when I sent him the drawing for review. This was especially important since the sink could potentially keep a swinging door from fully opening. I rejected a rectangular shower because I don’t like the corner pointing into the doorway. Feng sui says it’s a “poison arrow” of bad energy, but I say it’s a waste of space. Especially in my laundry room!

The cost of a 3/16” clear glass “semi-frameless” shower enclosure with Euro header was about half the cost of a 3/8” clear glass “frameless” enclosure. If space and budget were my principal concerns I would have gone ahead with the semi-frameless option, however this room will be the guest room and “powder room”. If this were one of the main showers in the house I would have selected the 3/8” enclosure because I know that it would be of high quality and reliability. However, this shower will mainly be used during phase 3, when the other house shower has been demolished and before the master shower has been constructed. I recalled seeing a prefabricated curved shower enclosure on the internet some months before and decided to investigate alternatives.

Before I describe my internet search, I’d like to clarify shower enclosure options. A “framed” shower enclosure has metal around all of the glass components. The glass is not very thick at 3/16” because it has additional strength from the metal frame. In a “semi-framed” shower enclosure part of the glass is not framed. In the photo the pull side of the door and the top of the door do not have metal edges. A “Euro header” is rounded. A “frameless” shower enclosure is attached to the wall with clips or channels, and may have metal at the top edges of the glass. There are different types of hardware available for attaching the enclosure to the wall, door handles, and optional towel bars, as well as different metal finishes. Visit the shower door company’s showroom to ensure that you understand what you are really buying. DB Glass & Shower Door has a nice showroom so you can touch and look at different components. (photos courtesy of Cardinal Shower)

I found a number of tiny corner showers on the internet that would absolutely not comply with code requirements for interior dimensions or opening size. Buyer beware! I even had an email communication with someone from a company who assured me that their 32x32 phone booth looking unit with double sliding doors would meet code. Perhaps the interior of the glass is at least 30” in diameter, but there’s no way the door opening is anywhere near 22” clear. I found that many of the corner showers that would fit in our space would not meet code and I felt uncomfortable with not being able to assess the quality of such an expensive item. The nearest showroom is in Los Angeles, too far away for me.

That said, I kept returning to the Vigo Industries 36” curved shower enclosure with a sliding door. I typically avoid sliding doors because they seem to require more maintenance and cleaning, but this shower enclosure is very attractive, adds some interior space without encroaching too much into the room, and we’re not going to be using the shower on a daily basis so I’m okay with the sliding door. The material price was less than the neo angle frameless option (with installation), my husband agreed to install the unit, and I decided to take a chance. The material arrived within days and is now sitting in the driveway in boxes, so I’ll have to report back in a few months after installation! I also purchased a shower panel from Vigo Industries, which includes a shower head, hand shower, and body sprays in one unit for much less than the separate components would cost if purchased separately. The installation cost will also be much less because it just needs to be attached to the wall (in the corner, saving space) and only requires one hot and one cold pipe to be connected. (photos courtesy of Vigo Industries)

Here is the drawing of the room with the round shower. I’ll discuss the sink, tile, and light fixture selection in my next post. Don’t need to worry about the toilet!

We are in phase 2 of a multi-phase remodel. Mom, dad, kids, cats, and dog living in the house during the process. Phase 1 is 90% complete: new kitchen in the old screened-in porch (keeping the old kitchen active throughout) and a revamped living room. Phase 2 demo is complete: old kitchen, breakfast room, office (former dining room), and "1/4 bath" (toilet in a room, that's it, no sink).

Just before phase 2 demo my husband proudly informed me that he had salvaged a low-flow toilet from a commercial project. We have a rule in our house to keep it from looking like a junk yard: no salvage unless you know exactly what you’re going to use the material for! I should have seen this coming. My husband could not stand removing “his” toilet by the garage. The other toilets are on the opposite side of the house, which, evidently, is too far to go when you’re tinkering in the garage or yard. Thus ensued a day or so of arm wrestling. My spacious laundry room had to accommodate a FULL BATH! “It will dramatically increase the value of the house,” he insisted. Unfortunately, my realtor friend concurred. My challenge: design a full bath in as small a space as possible, while maintaining my aesthetic standards without excessive budget increase. Oh, and still getting the laundry out of the garage.

Here's a drawing of the room without the bathroom components. Back when it was a spacious laundry room. We own the new window, so it needs to stay in the plan, in approximately the middle of the wall. Luckily, it was selected to go over a countertop, so the sill isn't too low. Hubby suggested putting the toilet across from the door and under the window. I can understand that he would like to feature this fixture, however I prefer to design bathrooms with the toilet tucked behind a wall or even a pony wall (that's a half-height wall).

The toilet needs to fit into the middle of a 30" wide clear space and must have 24" clear in the front. "Clear" means there are no permanent obstructions, although it might be possible to encroach a bit with the shower curb (not the shower wall or glass). A shower must have a minimum 30" diameter circle clear at the interior. Due to the small room size I designed a shower that is all glass.

When I look at the drawing above I see a glaring problem: the width of the room is insufficient to fit a shower and toilet side by side on the wall adjoining the office and meet code. Thirty inches for the inside of the shower plus 30" around the toilet plus something for the mortar and tile on the wall, say 1-1/8", plus the shower curb, usually 6" if we build it with tile. That's at least 67", maybe more, but I only have 62" available.

My first call was to the local Building Official. I wanted to make sure that he would accept the dimensions of the shower interior and the clear space around the toilet as measured from the glass of the shower enclosure, not the curb. We had a nice exchange of emails where we established an agreement. Because it's a remodel. I need to conform to code, but the final definition of code is subject to the determination of the local Building Official.

It took more negotiation, but I eventually helped my husband to come to the conclusion that he needs to move the existing wall of the bedroom away from the laundry room so the laundry room can be a bit wider. Luckily, the bedroom has been prepared for a three foot addition on the opposite side of the room, so it will still end up being larger than the existing.

Here is a drawing of the new layout. I'll cover selection of the shower enclosure, sink, tile, and lighting design in subsequent posts. My husband already took care of the toilet specification :-).