DIY repair in a combined bathroom

In detail: do-it-yourself repair in a combined bathroom from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

When you move into a new apartment, there is a very natural desire to make it the home of your dreams and change everything there. Actually, this was the case with me too - I moved to a one-room apartment, which probably saw the renovation in the Brezhnev era. So, at the entrance we have an apartment with a separate bathroom and toilet, but very small.

These are such tiny spaces, which is called "do not unfold." Therefore, we decided to combine a bath with a toilet. We have two advantages at once:

the bathroom becomes more spacious
instead of two doors in the corridor there will be one, which means additional space in the corridor, which is also small.

This is what we have in the bathroom: small tiles on the floor, tiles, metal-plastic pipes, a partition between the bathroom and the toilet - brickwork. We cleaned the walls as much as possible of tiles and a layer of paint. The sink was removed, it must be replaced, but the bath was left, it is cast iron and in good condition.

The ceilings in the apartment are multi-level, a niche is hidden under the plywood, although it was quite possible to make a cabinet. However, now this is irrelevant, we will change the location of the door.

Such a mosaic tile adorned the walls of the toilet, this one cannot be found now.

Branch of risers from the toilet to the bath. The pipes, as we can see, in this old house have been replaced with new ones.

The red brick partition is decorated with a decent layer of plaster - 3-4 cm, we knock down all this "wealth". We will dismantle the wall. This brick is still useful to us.

We diligently knock down this entire thick layer of plaster, remove the fiberboard panel with which the pipes in the toilet were sewn up. We closed the toilet itself so as not to clog it up. As you can see, there is enough dirt!

We work in the old fashioned way, with a wide chisel and a hammer. All this work could have been done with a puncher, but we did not have one. All materials are already old, so plaster and tiles are easily knocked off.

Video (click to play).

This wall was hidden behind a layer of plaster and tiles.

The most difficult thing was to remove all this "beauty", as we can see, the workers did not regret the mixture.

The walls are uneven - at the ceiling, the thickness of the plaster layer reached as much as 6 cm.

We shoot down everything, we remove the lamp.

This is how the wall opposite to the partition looks like, it is also brick. We knock out the ventilation grill, put a new one in its place.

Now, finally, the most interesting thing - we dismantle the partition between the bathroom and the toilet, the bricks, as I said, we keep, they are in good condition, so why spend money on extra materials. We store whole bricks in the bathroom.

This is what we get in the end, when all the garbage has been removed, the wall and the door frame of the toilet have been knocked out, there will be a wall here.

There will be minor difficulties with the new floor, because there is a decent difference between the bathroom floor and the toilet floor, see how the stool is crooked.

Now this difference must be leveled as much as possible, with a hammer and a chisel we knock down everything unnecessary, remove two layers of tiles in the toilet.

See how much space will be in the bathroom combined with the toilet, there will be space for both the sink and the washing machine.

There is a lot of work with the floor in the toilet: check out which layer you have to remove, almost ten centimeters, to the very foundation.

We are preparing a place for the future wall, there used to be a door here, but there will be a wall, in the toilet in this place it will be possible to place a cabinet or shelves for accessories. An excellent solution for such a small apartment.

We arm ourselves with a trowel and a cement-sand mixture and erect a new wall. Do not forget to use a level so that the wall is even.

View of the new wall from inside the toilet. Simultaneously with laying out the wall itself, we close up the cracks. An old bathroom door frame serves as a wall border. Subsequently, we will break the old box and put a new door.

This is how the work goes: broken bricks are also used, they can be inserted into large cracks, and then covered with a mixture.

Outside view: this is how much space to add in the corridor due to the fact that there will be no door. In a small area, every centimeter of roads.

The lamp was attached to the wall, but for now it just hangs from the ceiling. In the distance, you can see the niche between the slab and the ceiling. Of course, it would be possible to make a locker, but we abandoned this idea, it will be too high and very unlikely to be used often.

We close it up with a brick, cover up the cracks. The old brick was not enough, so I had to buy a new one.

now it's time to disassemble the shaft with the riser. Everything had to be done very carefully so as not to turn off the toilet and not disrupt communications. After all, it's not easy to live without a toilet.

They dismantled everything down to the pipes. There's a hole in the floor. To prevent the old cast-iron pipe from falling, we reinforce the floor with fittings, put boxes on the meters so that they do not suffer during repair work.

We close the hole at the site of the mine with a cement-sand mixture.

Level the floor between the bathroom and toilet.

We dismantle the toilet. We sew up a pipe riser. To do this, we needed metal profiles and the most common foam plates - it is cheap and absorbs excess water noise. We leave the revision window for access to the counters. We seal all the cracks with polyurethane foam. The pipes for the heated towel rail are immediately brought out.

We insert a new corrugation for the toilet. Before that, it was cast-iron, and now it is movable plastic, which means that there will be no problems with installing a new toilet.

We sew up the riser with plasterboard sheets. We make serifs on the walls so that the finishing materials hold better.

Here is such an ideal riser we end up with. It seems that the entire wall is sewn up, but this is not so - you can see a hidden hatch here so that we can have access to the plumbing system. For this we came in handy awnings for furniture and a push mechanism for the door.

Now you can go back to the floor, now it can be finally leveled to get rid of that unfortunate drop. Our helpers in this are a cement-sand mixture and a spatula. We leave to dry.

Because our walls are very uneven. They will have to be properly leveled and an impressive layer of plaster is indispensable. We install metal beacons for plastering, we will lose a couple of centimeters of space, but we have to sacrifice so that the walls are perfectly even.

We prime the surface, this is necessary in order to strengthen the wall itself (do not forget that the brick is very old) and this will improve the adhesion to the finishing material.

Plastering process. As we can observe, the layer is impressive, 3-4 centimeters.

Due to the fact that we have installed beacons, we can see which layer needs to be applied.

This is how it looks in the end. Let it dry.

We cover the entire surface of the walls with plaster, then we prime.

We pass to the floor. Our floor will be tiled with square tiles diagonally. This tiling method is not easy, but worth it. This arrangement visually increases the space, and because we have a small bathroom, we will try to add volume at least visually.

Before starting to lay the tiles, we prepared the surface - leveled it, repaired all the holes and potholes on the walls and floor, primed it. The primer improves the adhesion of the tiles to the floor. After applying the primer, let it dry.

Here is such a handsome floor we got in the end. Light-colored tiles again add space, and thanks to the pattern, dirt and drops are not visible on it.

It's time to remove the old door frame and install a new door. We dismantle the thresholds.

We collect a new door frame and install it in the opening. To prevent the door beams from bending, we put wooden wedges between the wall and the box.

The bases of the box themselves were fixed with metal corners. The outside wall of the bathroom is also plastered.

The door is the simplest, made of chipboard. Firstly, such a door is inexpensive and is quite suitable for our interior. We hang it on the hinges. Then we carefully foame all the seams and cracks between the box and the wall.

New toilet - new toilet. Installed in place of the old one. Now we move on to preparing the walls for laying out the tiles. Our tools are a spray gun, which is very convenient for priming walls, simple and comb spatulas, crosses. I fixed the level on the wall, it will serve us as a starting profile.

We knead the tile glue. He will check whether he is ready very easily - we take a trowel or a spatula and scoop it up: if it does not drain immediately and does not fall off in a piece. So the consistency is ideal, if it's too liquid, add the glue mixture, if it's thick - water.

On the wall, we have already pre-made notches for better adhesion of the walls and tiles and covered with concrete contact, for the same purpose. We draw marks for the tiles, we check everything with a level.

We begin to lay out the support row, do not forget to use the suture crosses, they guarantee that there will be no distortions.

We do the same manipulations with the other wall - we check whether the walls are vertical with a plumb line, fix the starting level.

This wall is the most difficult - here we have communications. Here you have to break your head how best to arrange the tiles, which did not have to cut a lot. We lay out a decorative border, we have it as a guide - where there is no profile (above the taps), a board was attached under the tiles so that the tiles would not slide off.

With a diamond drill we drill a hole for the wiring, bring out the wires - here we will have a lamp.

Another difficult area is the space above the door, there is no support row, so in order for the tile not to move, we will use good old scotch tape.

As you can see, we do not lay out the tiles up to the ceiling itself, there will then be a suspended ceiling, so we leave 5 cm.

We rub the tile joints.

Our tiles are in two shades of beige. Lighter tiles on the top and darker ones on the bottom help to visually increase the space.

It's time to install a new heated towel rail. Mark the holes for the fasteners and drill them.

Installing a heated towel rail is not an easy task; to mount it, you have to install a hook in the ceiling and hang it.

The holes on the wall are made, we report the tiles and in the same places we make holes already in the tiles itself.

Now it remains to lay out non-whole tiles in the corner.

We complete the styling process. In order not to confuse the cut tiles, we number them, which greatly facilitates the work.

Another way to save space in a tiny bathroom is to flush the pipes into the wall. First, cuts were made with a grinder, and then with a chisel, a chisel and a hammer, the grooves were hollowed out, where the pipes were placed. A new mixer was installed.

Now you need to make holes in the tile itself. To do this, we will use a special crown for drilling round holes. We install it on a drill and at low speeds in a couple of minutes we get a neat hole.

We glue the tiles, rub. No more pipes will disfigure our bathroom.

This is how our bath looks at this stage. We install the ventilation grill.

Alas, the pictures end there, but the renovation does not. It remains for us to arrange the ceiling. This will be an aluminum slat suspended ceiling. As we already said, our main task is to expand the space as much as possible, so we chose a glossy rail.
Spot lighting helped us make the bathroom very light and therefore spacious.Then we hung up a new sink, the space under the bathtub was covered with a special color-matched plastic screen.

As a result, we made a great transformation of the bathroom and got additional space, both in the bathroom itself and in the hallway. In the vacant space, you can put a washing machine and hang shelves. The renovation turned out to be budgetary, we used to the maximum what was still quite suitable (brick, bath) and chose the most inexpensive materials.

Step-by-step instructions for repairing a bathroom and toilet.

According to most finishers, repairs in an apartment should be started from the bathroom. Let me explain why: this is the dirtiest and dustiest part of the renovation, requiring not only the dismantling of old tiles, plumbing fixtures, doors, and sometimes the entire bathroom walls.

So the first thing we do is we take out the old plumbing: a bath, a sink, a toilet bowl ... Everything that costs, weighs, lies.

• Next stage: with the help of a grinder we cut off all the old pipes to the crane located on the riser.

• Using a punch, knock down the old tiles.

It is important if the plaster under the tiles moves away from the wall, bunches ... it must also be beaten off.

• We dismantle the old door together with the box.

• Change risers... Now we turn our attention to the plumbing and sewer risers. This is a very important part of the renovation and must be changed. After renovation it will be very problematic. If you are not a specialist in plumbing work, then to replace the risers, it is better to invite qualified craftsmen, but you can do the internal wiring of the water supply yourself.

• Checking the hood... Let's move on to the hood. If we do not want the bathroom to be stuffy, we need to check the operation of the hood. To do this, we bring a burning candle to the hood and evaluate its work by the tongue of the flame: the better the hood works, the more intensely the flame is sucked into the chimney pipe. If the hood does not work correctly, we either clean it or install a fan in it.

• We ground the walls... At the next stage, I propose to clean up properly: take a broom and sweep out all the debris and dust from the bathroom. After all the dust has settled, we take a deep penetration primer and prime the walls.

• Installing beacons... After the primer has completely dried, we install beacons for further plastering of the bathroom. Lighthouses must be installed strictly according to the level, observing the plane of the wall and maintaining angles of 90 degrees.

• Plastering walls... Have you installed the lighthouses? Let's start plastering. To do this, we need a rule, a spatula, a drill and a drill mixer attachment. Bathrooms are plastered, as a rule, with dry gypsum mixtures, since there is no shortage of them on the market. I usually use Rotband plaster. We take a bucket of 12 liters and prepare a solution in it as written in the instructions. Using a spatula, we throw a solution between the beacons of one wall 50 centimeters from the floor. Then we take the rule, press it against the lighthouses and pull it up - we get a flat surface. We remove superfluous from the rule. And so on all the walls - from floor to ceiling. There are not large pits left - it does not matter - then we level them with a spatula. If everything is smooth and beautiful, then you have coped with the task.

• Leveling the floors... The next stage is the floors. We level them with the help of "self-leveling floors". We dilute the mixture as stated in the instructions, it can even be slightly thinner, and spread it all over the floor using a needle roller. After drying, the walls and floors, just in case, we check by level, we eliminate unevenness.

• We make a detailed plan of the bathroom... At the next stage, we must decide on the design of the bathroom, where? as? and at what height? there will be a bath, a sink, a mirror, a washing machine (if any), a towel dryer, a toilet bowl, a box covering the risers. To do this, we take a tape measure and measure our bathroom - after plastering, the dimensions have changed. Then we take a pencil and a sheet of paper, and sketch everything. Let's call this a bathroom plan.For the plan to be accurate, at this stage, we need to buy all the bathroom objects. It is important to remember: if the bathtub is tied to the size (I mean that your bathtub is not half a football field, but for example 1m.70cm by 1m.50cm), then the bath should be bought as long as possible. And if your size is 1m.68cm. - you need to buy a bath for 1m.70cm. Then 2cm. screw it up. With this sort of sorted out.

Video - turnkey bath repair

• We make (sketch) a detailed markup of the water supply and sewerage system... If everything is purchased, then we continue. We collect the bath in a free room. We put it on the legs and level it. As a rule, in most bathtubs, the height of the legs is adjustable - we adjust the height for you. We measure the height and width of the bath. We transfer the dimensions to the bathroom wall. All the same - we do the same with the sink and the washing machine. The next thing we do is mark on the walls how our water supply and sewerage system will go. A bathroom faucet is usually installed in the center 10 cm above the bathtub - this also needs to be sketched on the walls. The distance between the pipes to the bathroom faucet should be 15cm. We mark the water supply for the sink, based on the structural features of the bedside table, and the length of the flexible hoses of the mixer. We mark only one pipe under the washing machine - the cold one. We sketch the sewer pipes at an angle towards the riser (so that there is a drain). If a small slope can be made under the bath and sink, then the outlet under the washing machine should be at a distance of 50 cm. from the floor.

• We make (sketch) a detailed marking of the wiring... The next thing we do is define the wiring. How many sockets will we have, and where - if there is a washing machine, then next to it. Use an electric shaver - next to the mirror. If you have a backlit mirror, you will need to bring out a wire under it (decide at what height). If there will be a fan, we will bring it out under it too.

• Making strobes... When we have completely decided and sketched, we take a puncher and chase it according to the plan. Next, we remove and prime the grooves.

• We install water supply and sewerage... At the next stage, we install the water supply (comb) and sewerage system. Don't forget to install water meters and filters as well. Since our water supply is retracted into the walls, it is better to use polypropylene pipes or metal-plastic pipes.

• We mount a heated towel rail... At the next stage, we invite the masters or install the heated towel rail ourselves. The pipes are also wall-mounted.

• We mount the box... So we still have unclosed risers, and we are fixing it. We assemble a box from a metal profile and sew it up with plasterboard. Drywall must be moisture resistant - it is green. Also, do not forget about the technical hatch, it will be needed so that there is access to the taps and the meter. Then we install a perforated corner on the corner of our box and plaster the entire box.• We prime the walls and floor... As a result, what we see is a completely plastered bathroom, without visible pipes and wires. Once again, we look at everything in detail for the presence of irregularities. If there are any, we fix it with a spatula and sandpaper.• We spread the floor... Now we lay out the floor with tiles. For this we need - a drill, a mixer, a bucket, an ordinary spatula, a notched trowel, a professional tile cutter, crosses (1.5-2mm.).We lay out the tiles so that all the cut edges are under the bathroom and sink. This way we will only have a whole tile in plain sight. Do not forget to use the level and insert crosses.• We spread 1 row of wall tiles under the bathroom from the floor... Then you will need to lay 1 row of wall tiles under the bathroom - for waterproofing. If you are using a small tile, then 30 centimeters from the floor will be sufficient.• We rub the tiles under the bathroom (wall, floor).• Installing the bath... It's time for the bathroom. We put the bath in, set it strictly in level and in length and in width. We expand the bath.• We put wall tiles... We lay out the wall tiles. We start right from the bathtub, from the most prominent corner, and drive in a circle. From the sides of the bath, you need to drill slats so that all the tiles are level. Finish the top, remove the slats and report on the bottom. Let the tiles dry and take out the crosses.• We rub the seams.• We mount the ceiling... Now we need to decide what we are going to do with the ceiling. There are several options: putty and paint, suspended from plastic panels, tensioned. They are all good in their own way, you choose.• We install the door. It's time to install the missing plumbing - a sink, a washing machine, a toilet bowl, faucets, a bath screen.It remains to hang the mirror, put the sockets and the bath is ready.This order of work will prevent you from making the most common mistakes when the quality of the work performed suffers and sometimes leads to rework. Image - DIY repair in a combined bathroom

It is much more difficult to repair a combined bathroom yourself than a separate bathroom and toilet. The many specific requirements that must be taken into account in a complex manner create additional difficulties. Although, recently there has been a clear trend in the arrangement of combined bathrooms. For all the complexities, it is tempting to make the washroom look like an elevator stall. In the article, we will consider the main specific features of the repair work. If we are not talking about cosmetic repairs, but about serious redevelopment, weigh your possibilities: will you cope with such a difficult task as repairing a bathroom combined with a toilet with your own hands?

First of all, you get a bathroom with a fairly large area, in which, in addition to plumbing, there is a place for a washing machine and a shower stall. The area of the new premises will benefit from the partition again, which initially “ate up” part of the usable space.
Great opportunities in terms of room design development. If you wish, you can place special furniture or a non-standard bathtub in the room.
Savings on the purchase of interior doors. Now you need one door, not two. The savings are all the more noticeable if you use expensive wooden structures. For a small apartment it is possible to use a sliding door.
Savings on the purchase of pipes for utilities. For a combined room, they will need less.

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The main disadvantage is the impossibility of using the bathroom and toilet at the same time. Of course, you can find some compromises, but sometimes the problem will be relevant. There are other downsides too:

The need to obtain special permits. Obtaining documents is a solvable issue, but it requires money and time.
For 1-2 people, a combined bathroom is not a problem. The combined bathroom also looks good in a studio apartment. It is advisable to make such redevelopment if the toilet is too small. But for a large family, this is a problem.

Important! The disadvantages include the limited scope of use. You cannot combine bathrooms if there is a load-bearing wall between them. To ignore this rule is not only illegal, but also dangerous.

Repair work of the combined bathroom includes:

Replacement of electrical wiring.
Dismantling of old and installation of new pipes.
Finishing work.
Arrangement of a false ceiling, if necessary.
Installation of plumbing fixtures.
Door assembly, furniture installation.

If the room is small, there are several tricks that allow you to save space when repairing a combined bathroom, it is more rational to beat it:

The shower stall is more compact than the bathtub. However, this is not a very good option for families with small children.
Too large a bathtub - not for a small room. Pay attention to small items or irregular shaped bathtubs.
The toilet cistern, hidden in the wall, makes it possible to make the room visually more spacious.
If the bathroom is very small, consider a small washer that can be placed under the sink. You may have to completely abandon the washing machine in the bathroom and take it to the kitchen.
A good way to increase your headroom is to ditch the sink by using the tap above the tub to wash your face.
An alternative to the traditional wardrobe is transparent shelves or wall niches.

Here are some more useful tips from designers to help visually expand the space:

Give preference to materials of light shades. Try not to use bright accents.
The fewer separate items in a room, the more spacious it looks. Therefore, for a small bathroom, not ordinary, but built-in wardrobes, as well as niches in the walls, are more appropriate.
Don't place too many items on open shelves.
Local lighting together with built-in lighting devices visually enlarges the room. If possible, do not neglect natural light.
The use of mirrors, reflective tiles, glass shelves helps to create the illusion of spaciousness and airiness.
Another successful design trick is furniture of the same color with tones. Furniture pieces visually “disappear”, giving the impression of freedom and unclutteredness.

So, you've decided on the design. Examples of repairing a bathroom combined with a toilet can be found on the Internet or you can contact the services of a professional designer. You can now start repairing.

Depending on what kind of repair you started - major or cosmetic, dismantling can be partial or complete. If redevelopment is not required, then plumbing fixtures and old pipes are dismantled, the walls are cleaned.

Important! Dismantling the walls is needed if redevelopment is required. There is a lot of dirt and dust at this stage, so the insulation of the rest of the rooms will not hurt.

Plastering walls.
Installation of partitions.
Installation of floors.

Important! To make the floors strictly horizontal, you can use a special leveling compound.

To save space, the walls in the bathroom are cut to accommodate pipes. This applies to all types of pipes: water, drain and sewer. Old pipes need to be replaced. To carry out the correct wiring, it is necessary to carry out all measurements before the repair - both the room itself and the dimensions of the plumbing.

Important! Waterproofing saves from leaks to neighbors from below. As practice shows, the best option is polyurethane.

The old wiring must be replaced. If only because it is not designed for modern energy-intensive household appliances.

These are floor and wall tiling, ceiling installation or painting. When purchasing finishing materials, consider not only their cost, but also their operational characteristics. Not only the appearance of the room depends on this, but also how long the new renovation will delight you.

The final stage of repair in a bathroom combined with a toilet is the installation of plumbing fixtures, ventilation, taps, heated towel rails and other appliances and devices.