With all the amenities: Small bathroom in a typical house

Find a non-residential area
So, according to the law, it is possible to expand the bathroom only at the expense of non-residential area. But these are not only corridors – storage rooms, an office, a dressing room also belong to non-residential ones, in a word, these are premises that are not used for finding a person around the clock. Most often, in the technical passport of an apartment, living rooms, wet areas and corridors with storage rooms are indicated. Dressing rooms and offices in the passport of the apartment will appear only after the redevelopment is registered, therefore, with all their “non-residential” status, they cannot be used to expand the bathroom.

It would seem that it is easier – we call one of the rooms a study, we approve our redevelopment. And later we will organize a bathroom in its place. This is unacceptable, and in this case the law protects your neighbors – there should be no bathrooms where the living room is located on the floor below.

Why is the law so strict?
On the one hand, it is not for nothing that the Code of Rules prohibits the organization of wet areas over residential areas: in the event of an accident and water leakage, the damage in the living room will be incomparably great – furniture and other property of your neighbors will suffer. But as an experienced (and already former) victim of flooding from the neighbors upstairs, I can say: if there is a leak over your bathroom, then water will inevitably find its way not only into your kitchen, but also into all living rooms. This is due to the fact that water first collects in the voids of the floor slab and then penetrates into the apartment below – in the most unexpected places. Water can pass through the wall through communications, flood the apartment through the floor. Unpredictable.

The benefits of waterproofing and sills
In new buildings, according to modern standards, the developer is obliged to waterproof the floor of all wet areas. But in the old housing stock (as in my previous house), waterproofing might not have been or it might have been broken by renovations in the style of the 1990s, when the lower threshold of the plumbing was thoughtlessly removed. You probably noticed that in all typical Soviet-era houses, the floor level in the bathrooms is higher than the rest of the floor of the apartment – this is the lower part of the plumbing, which does not allow water to penetrate into the voids of the floor slab.

It happens that the lower level of the plumbing cabin does not cope with its task, and the neighboring apartment is flooded. This happens due to the fault of previous repairs, when the bathroom floors were chased, drilled and other actions were taken with it, destroying its integrity. In this case, you can dismantle the worn bottom part of the plumbing and recreate it again, but at the same level of the floor height.

Modern waterproofing products amaze imagination, since now it is no longer roll waterproofing and bitumen, but special impregnations that make concrete moisture-repellent, which allows you to organize the level of floor rise to a minimum, which is especially important in typical apartments with low ceilings up to 3 m.

Advice: If the bottom part of the waterproofing is well preserved, then it is not necessary to dismantle it. To avoid dangerous situations, you can dismantle the threshold of this part and organize a single level of bathroom floors. But do not forget that in this case there is a risk of compromising the integrity of the waterproofing – impregnation with a hydrophobic composition will be required. Such compositions must be purchased carefully so as not to get a fake, high-quality waterproofing impregnations have a high, but justified cost. In general, I advise you to treat the floor slab throughout the apartment with a hydrophobic compound before applying the screed layer.

Step 1. Two sinks instead of demolishing the wall
Consider a typical situation: a family lives in an apartment with a shared bathroom. A separate bathroom and toilet in such a situation is a justified solution, since it allows the autonomous use of these premises and does not provoke domestic conflicts when you have to wait for the bathroom to be released in order to wash your hands after the street.

And it is with hand washing that the main hygiene problem arises. The typical series of apartment buildings did not include a washbasin in the washroom. In a divided bathroom, the sink is in the bathroom, and this feature of the typical layout has brought up the habit of not washing their hands after using the toilet for many generations. This is a pernicious habit, and it is obviously necessary to fight it. But until now, not a single Code of Practice regulates the location of a sink in the restroom – the implementation of these basic hygiene standards falls on the shoulders of the owners. Therefore, the first thing I would advise to start repairing a typical bathroom with an area of ​​0.8 to 1.3 square meters is to find a place for a small sink (and only then remember about a hygienic shower or even a bidet).

Hence the rule that a washstand is a must in the restroom. Finding a miniature model and connecting it does not require much effort or complex repairs. Such shells are angular (25×25 cm), rectangular (40×22 cm), there are different sizes; the cost of this sanitary ware is quite low – in hypermarkets their cost starts from 600 rubles.

It is necessary to place the washstand in such a way that it does not interfere and is as close as possible to the communications. There is a problem in a typical bathroom – hot water is available only in the bathroom and in the kitchen, and digesting the mains is an expensive operation.

The solution is simple: buy a single-lever mixer for this sink (from 300 rubles) and connect it to the leash for supplying water to the toilet tank using a tee, which you will also find in a hardware store. No need to over-weld pipes and no dusty construction work. There will be a fork from the cold line: to the toilet cistern and to the washstand. But hands will have to be washed in cool water.

In many restaurants and airports around the world, I have not seen hot water in the bathrooms, and you, for sure, also faced such situations. Sanitary regulations involve washing your hands, so it is better to wash them with cool water than not wash them at all.

If you want to wash your hands with warm water, then you will either need to overcook the lines or install an electric water heater. The latter is more accessible. Where to drain the water from the washstand? It is always possible to bring the sewer pipe sleeve, in addition, you can organize the drain from the sink into the toilet bowl, which will save water.

Step 2: working hood
Your bathroom (as well as your kitchen) must have a properly functioning natural extractor hood. If the hood does not work well, you can install a forced fan in the duct. But first – contact the Management Company or the organization that operates your house with a statement to clean the common ventilation shaft of the house. These shafts are most likely clogged, and even installing a duct fan will not correct the situation. Therefore, remember that the profession of a chimney sweep has not been canceled. And that this work is included in the obligations of the one to whom you pay the column “maintenance and repair of common property.”

Important: For these purposes, choose a narrow model of the washing machine (up to 46 cm deep), otherwise it will be difficult to approach the sink, and your toes will suffer. Modern narrow washing machines have a sufficient load of 5-6 kg.

In height, in this case, the sink will be higher than the accepted standard (90 cm from a clean floor), but this is not critical, if your height is more than 165 cm, it will even be more convenient for you to wash at a height of 100-105 cm.

In support of my words, here is a photo of my own bathroom, which is undergoing renovation. I have a sufficient area of ​​the bathroom, but I did not want to put the washing machine separately, but preferred to mount it in a row of cabinets under the sink. And it is convenient for me to wash and shave (my height is 183 cm). Checked on myself, I advise.

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Bathroom layout

YOUR TURN…
What particular features of the planning or redevelopment helped you to comfortably equip the existing bathroom of a small area. Perhaps you did redevelopment in a house of a typical series? Share your discoveries!