DIY Network

Bathrooms: Planning and Budgeting From "Blueprint for Home Building" episode DBHB-207

	In this week's episode host Jeff Wilson discusses the bathrooms in your new home.
	Figure A

The last two episodes of Blueprint for Home Building covered the most expensive room in your new home, the kitchen. This week host Jeff Wilson will discuss the next most expensive rooms -- your bathrooms.

Bathroom Planning 101

• Decisions on what goes into the bathroom need to be made early in the planning process because those decisions affect the early stages of construction. Tubs are usually installed in the first stages of home construction, prior to when the walls and floor are finished.

• If you're planning to have a whirlpool tub (figure A), which is much heavier than a regular tub, you want to make sure the support is a lot stronger. It's important to select the whirlpool prior to the start of construction. There are a couple of considerations:
  1. Framing for the deck to make sure it fits.

  2. Plumbing. When you're about to choose the faucets and hardware for your bathroom, be sure that you, the designer and the plumber all agree on the material because the rough plumbing and the new faucets need to work well together.

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	Figure B
	Figure C

Budgeting

• Many times when planning a bathroom your eyes can become larger than your wallet. Approximately 75 to 85 percent of home builders go over budget in the bathroom. It's not really a question of whether they're going to go over budget -- but by how much!

• The key to keeping on budget is to shop early, make your choice early and "don't" change your mind. Since everything has to be ordered in advance, there isn't much room for a change of choice or plans. For example, one change can mean a six-week delay.

• But before you go shopping, there area design decisions to be made, such as how are you going to generate your hot water? Here are a couple of suggestions that can save you money:
  1. If your bathroom is located far from the water heater, an efficient option you can add to the fixtures is a point-of-use water heater (figure B). This type of water heater is a "tankless" water heater that is activated when the hot water faucet is turned on. The water is quickly heated as it flows to the point of use and will continue to generate hot water as long as the water is on.

  2. The other option is an on-demand circulation pump (figure C). This is when you walk into the bathroom, simply hit a button and it begins to circulate hot water. And as soon as the water arrives, the pump shuts off.

• Another consideration when planning your bathroom is the sound of the plumbing. Always provide for extra insulation for sound purposes whenever you have a drainpipe or a water-supply pipe that's passing through a wall that is a common wall between two rooms.

	Figure D
	Figure E

Bathroom Design Concepts

Here are a few things to think about when planning your bathroom architecturally:

• You may want to think about putting the toilet someplace where it's not visible when you look in the doorway into the bathroom.

• Skylights and glass block walls make a small bathroom look larger.

• Just as a well-designed room benefits from a variety of ceiling heights, a smartly designed bathroom does as well. You want to make the ceiling "higher" in the center of the room, and possibly create alcoves (figure D) over areas such as the bathtub or commode -- just to make them feel more private.

• When making decisions about what to place in your bathroom, consider these tips: 1) You want the sink, toilet and bathtub to blend together and to work together where the design is concerned, which means it's best to buy them from the same company, and 2) Any kind of home furnishings can be great in the bathroom. Lamps, plants, drapery (figure E) are all great for making the bathroom warm and cozy.

Did You Know? In 18th century France bathtubs were sometimes placed in the gardens of wealthy landowners. When they were drained the water fed the vegetation.

In the next segment we jump into the bathing options -- tubs and showers.

GUESTS :

John Holton
Senior Architect
Ibacos
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Al Sain
Homeowner
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E-mail: alsain@zbzoom.net

John Harmon
Licensed Contractor
Specialized Services
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Pierre Abboud
Designer/Sales
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Skip Weahunt
Homeowner
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Regina Zernay
CMTS, Inc.
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Bob Miller
CMTS
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John Owens
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Monroe Makowsky
5357 Lemon Grove
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Lox Angeles, CA 90038
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Tony Ramos
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