Small bathroom remodel - 4.5 ft tub. Help!

 I've got a question regarding small bathtubs and bathroom layout
planning. We're looking at completely updating our bathroom (built in
1954, hideous sky-blue fixtures). The bathroom is very small, about
5'x7', and a lot of the floor space is currently taken up by a large
boxy vanity and an 18" deep bite out of the bathroom for a hall
closet. The tub is smallish - it's 54" long and I think regular width,
but replacing it could be hard because it's fitted in an alcove
between the back wall of the bathroom and the back of the closet. This
means that there's not really much scope for moving fixtures around,
which is fine (keeps costs down), but we want a deeper bathtub and
aren't sure how to fit it in.

We're planning on removing the vanity with a pedestal sink and putting
in a smaller toilet, which will open up a lot of floor space so the
room doesn't feel as cramped. The nasty vinyl flooring will be
replaced by ceramic tile, and we'll be putting ceramic tile on the
walls and shower backsplash instead of the current cheap plastic
surround (ugh) but we're scratching our heads over the tub. What we'd
really like is to put in a deeper (not necessarily longer) soaking
tub, but all I can seem to find are standard 60" models. Neither of us
is really tall, so the extra 6" of length isn't a huge deal. Could I
possibly fit a 54" clawfoot tub in the alcove and would it be a good
idea to do so? That would give us depth without the extra length, plus
they are a nicer shape to soak in. Would we need to build a deck
around it to keep water from splashing on the floor? Or do they make
54" soaker tubs that are deeper than the standard  54" models?

The obvious route is to knock out the closet to extend the bath for a
60" tub, but we don't want to do this for the following reasons:

1) it's a small house, closet storage on the main floor is at a
premium
2) removing the vanity storage means that we want to keep the closet
space
3) walls are lathe and plaster. knocking out the closet and replacing
the wall will be difficult

I've done an ASCII floor diagram here ...does anyone have any ideas on
replacing the tub, or should I just suck it up and replace it with
another 54" standard depth drop-in?


|----------------|
|{ }--|   |      |
|{ }--|   |      |
|         |      |
|----     | bath |
|    |    | 54"L |
|    |    |      |
|sink|    |      |
|    |    |__ __ |
|    |    |hall  |
|   /     |closet|
_____    _________

thanks,

- ScorpioChick

  Scorpio Chick wrote:

<SNIP>

  |{ }--|  
  |{ }--|    Is this the toilet?  Or 2 toilets??

  Anyway, go to Kohler's site:
http://www.kohlerco.com/  
and have a peek.

One space-saver is a deep corner tub.  Or, if you can go to 59",
there are more choices in deep conv tubs.

Consider a corner toilet (45 degree) also to free up floor space.

Jim

 
<snip>

Thanks Jim. Sorry about the crappy ASCII, that's one toilet. Although
it's ugly enough for two. :-P

What is a corner toilet? I've never heard of one. We might be able to
knock out 5" of the closet, but it'll still be a royal pain. I'd
rather go with a corner tub if we can fit it in and move the fixtures
around. How difficult are corner tubs to install?

- ScorpioChick

 Scorpio Chick wrote:

Eljer makes a corner toilet:
http://www.paulsupply.com/categories.asp?intCatI1
It will require moving the location of the soil pipe flange
in the floor.
A small one-piece toilet, like the TOTO, also fits snugly
in a corner (fab a triangle shelf behind it).

For a corner tub, you will no doubt need to move the
drain location, maybe the H/C supply too.

A job like this one needs *lots* of planning and
scale drawings, maybe models too.   Take your time and
make it what you want.

Jim

 

Thanks Jim, that's helpful. We're now toying with the idea of just
refinishing the damn tub to make it white and changing the plastic
surround to tile, since I'm reluctantly deciding that it's really too
tight for a clawfoot/pedestal tub(wah). We're going to be putting in a
new luxury bathroom in the basement next year, with an oversize custom
shower, but for now this is it for the bathroom, and I don't want to
make it too complicated.

I guess another option is to hire a space planner/designer or somebody
like that for a couple of hours to get some fresh ideas from a pro.

- ScorpioChick