Basement bathroom install questions

Kirk911SC · 02-14-2016, 06:57 AM

Our house has a rough-in for a bathroom in the basement and I've decided that after 6 years it's time to take a look at actually finishing it off.

Problem is, my home reno experience with plumbing is rather limited. Framing, electrical, painting, dry-walling is okay, but toilets, etc. are new to me.

The easy way would be to pay a pro....

Room is 84" by 72". I'm assuming the pipes in the floor are toilet and shower drains, and the capped pipe in the wall is for a sink.

Measurements are to the center of the pipes.

Taking a look at the picture where would you start with this project? Floor tile?

Any help would be great!

rwest · rwest's Garage

Kirk,

You're correct that the big pipe is the toilet, small is shower and the stub in wall would be the sink drain.

One way to tackle this might be to go down to your city or county and get a permit and ask if they would come out before you start and give your rough ins a quick look over and give you some guidance so you do the project right.

Some things to keep in mind and your floor tile comment is actually a good one: you'll need to know what your finished wall and floor dimensions are so you can cut the stubs and install the toilet flange and shower drain right.

Good luck,
Rutager

rfuerst911sc · 02-14-2016, 07:25 AM

A couple of things pop out to me, let me preface I am NOT a pro just a regular DIYer. The large pipe on the left of your pic is for the toilet. The pipe in the floor on the right in your pic is probably for a shower drain. The capped pipe on the wall should be a vanity drain but it's in a weird location in respect to the toilet. It's too close in my opinion but the angle of the pic could be deceiving. And I see no water supply lines.
In my opinion you start with what size shower do you want, and what size vanity. Lay out a pattern on the floor/walls to make sure everything fits and is pleasing to the eye. That is not a huge space so it's easy to over power the space. Once you have those two items layed out and happy with them the toilet is next. You may find that you have to go with a round bowl vs. an elongated bowl as an example. Once the toilet is picked NOW you can start with running your water supply lines AND electrical. I'm assuming you want at least one outlet for hair dryer, a wall light over the vanity and a exhaust fan. You also have to figure out do you want just a mirror or do you want a medicine cabinet ? If you want a medicine cabinet do you want flush mount ? If so now is the time to frame for it. And don't forget about insulation, very important to make it user friendly year round. What about HVAC ? Do you want to heat/AC the space ? If so make provisions for it while framing is open.
There is also a possibility you may want to raise the floor with lumber ( 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 ) this would mainly be for ease of running drain lines IF your layout say's nothing is lining up. Take into consideration ceiling height. Hope some of this helps and good luck with the project.

rfuerst911sc · 02-14-2016, 07:47 AM

After looking at the dimensions in the pic a small vanity ( 24 " or so ) would fit to the left of the toilet.

billybek · billybek's Garage

Rough in on the toilet is OK and the flange should be far enough away from the wall when drywalled.
You may have a tough time if you tile that wall fitting the toilet in but you don't have to tile behind the tank.
The drain for the shower may be problematic. You might want to be in the middle but a good tile guy could build a pan and slope to that if you really don't want to move it.
If the layout doesn't work for you you can always bust up the floor and move things around rather than work with another persons poor planning.

dad911 · 08:54 AM

That framing is kind of effed up for the rough. Toilet is 12" from wall, ok, but needs 30" per code side to side. Which leaves 18" for vanity (can fit corner or wall sink, or maybe a small pedestal sink) and 35" for shower. Problem is shower drains are centered, so I don't know of a standard corner or square pan that will fit.

Walls should have been framed to selected fixtures. I'd probably move the walls before chopping concrete.

Make sure vent line(s) are plumbed all the way through roof. I've seen a few that were capped or left open in attic, when 'roughed only'

Edit: too bad floor was painted, would have had a better bond for tile if not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirk911SC

.......Taking a look at the picture where would you start with this project? Floor tile?....

No. Find and install a shower pan, and sink. Take those dimensions to a plumbing supply house and see if they can find something.

Then set the pan, prep for toilet flange, finish roughing the plumbing & electric (make sure you understand GFI & arc fault codes).

Cement board, rough inspections, sheetrock, fight with wife over paint and tile selections, paint, tile, trim, finish plumbing, finish electric, shower door, turn on water, fix leaks, final inspections.

Kind of funny when they do all that in a weekend on TV......

look 171 · 02-14-2016, 08:45 AM

Typ. dimension should look like this (for LA anyway) :

32" width for toilet with 2 feet of space in front. 13-14" center of flange to the back wall.

3'x3' shower is pretty standard, but smaller should be OK.

Doesn't leave you much room for a sink but I know IKEA has really tiny sinks that might fit your needs in that space there.

Check with your building code.

Kirk911SC · 02-14-2016, 09:21 AM

Thanks for the advice guys. Now you can see why I've left it so long!

There is some electrical run already for that room and it's easy enough to move. No water supply yet, but there are pipes close by that could be tapped.

Framing was put in by the previous owner (carpenter nonetheless!), but no possibility to move it due to how things are laid out in the adjacent room.

I suppose I could skip the shower install? Already two other full bathrooms and a "powder room" in the house. Use the shower drain for the vanity? That would free up some room.

rfuerst911sc · 02-14-2016, 09:23 AM

You might want to consider kicking out that left wall framing to give yourself extra room. That would provide extra room for a vanity and you could frame in some storage space for towels, soaps etc. for the bathroom.

908/930 · 908/930's Garage

You could consider mounting the vanity on the left wall, and use two 45 elbows or a long 90 to go around the corner. If that is 2 inch pipe the max length is about 6 feet before needing a vent(check your local codes). Make sure you slope your drain pipe 1/4 per foot.

Wall mount vanity will allow you to tile later without being in the way, but you still need to get tile height correct under toilet flange.

dad911 · 02-14-2016, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirk911SC

Thanks for the advice guys. Now you can see why I've left it so long!

There is some electrical run already for that room and it's easy enough to move. No water supply yet, but there are pipes close by that could be tapped.

Framing was put in by the previous owner (carpenter nonetheless!), but no possibility to move it due to how things are laid out in the adjacent room.

I suppose I could skip the shower install? Already two other full bathrooms and a "powder room" in the house. Use the shower drain for the vanity? That would free up some room.

The 'carpenter' also should have used treated wood on the floor plate. All wood in contact with concrete should be pressure treated.

If you put vanity where shower is roughed, 18" from wall is likely going to be in the toe kick of a standard vanity. I think you could chip out floor and cap it, and tee the sink drain off the verticle pipe, looks like a vent for the shower that ties into the other vent.