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dkotov

Converting landry room/1/2 bath to a full bath? Cost?

Denitza Kotov
11 years ago

Hello, I need some serious advice since I am a total newbie to remodeling.

We are living in Bay Area, CA. Our house is 1950 ranch - 3b 1 1/2 bath. The Landry room has a separate toilet w/door and sink, a door that goes outside to the backyard - washer/dryer stackable and a separate space with a door for a furnace and water heater and another door going to the kitchen. Our plan is to convert that room in small bathroom - no tub just shower as a separate room and W/D outside.

Not sure from where to start and how much this would cost.

My initial plan is to move the furnace under the roof and put small instant water heater to use their space. How much that part of the project would cost?

Then close the two doors to the outside and kitchen, put a wall in the middle of laundry room and build a small bathroom. I don�t think there will be a lot of moving of the plumbing since the toilet and sink are facing each other and the shower can be installed there. However there will be some electrical work, gas lines etc. involved.

Thank you!

Comments (4)

  • annkathryn
    11 years ago

    I'm in the Bay Area as well and had similar work done as part of a larger remodel. Off the kitchen I had a laundry room with a door to a small half bath (toilet + pedestal sink), and in the adjoining garage I had a furnace and water heater. I bumped the laundry room into the garage, taking up some of the concrete slab, replaced the furnace with a smaller one (added a 2nd furnace for the 2nd floor in the attic upstairs), removed the water heater and added a tankless heater outside. With the additional length gained by the laundry room in the garage, I was able to create a full bath from the half, adding a shower.

    Hope that all makes sense - I can post the before/after plans if that would help.

    Here are some numbers from my initial bid:

    Remove toilet 185.22
    Remove 40 gallon water 185.22
    Remove 6" basement slab w/pneumatic tool 350.28
    Concrete sawing, slab, 447.36
    Ceramic tile w/board in shower @$4/SF 80 SF 3,324.00
    New water resistant sheetrock in shower 135.20
    Ceramic tile floor w/board @ $4/SF 25 SF 876.25
    Ceramic shower stall pan @ $4/SF 12 SF 405.00
    Water heater was $1600 in materials, not sure about the labor.

    Vanity was $1000 and counter/sink was $1000.

    Wall-mounted faucet was around $150.

    Toilet was around $400 (wall-hung).

    Shower fixtures were around $200. I had the walls blocked for grab bars and added 2 of them.

    Window in the bath was around $150, new exterior door from laundry room was around $300.

    I don't have framing/drywall/insulation/electrical broken out for just the shower but those would need to be added in. Plus the cost of the plumber who ran all new copper pipes and the gas line to the tankless water heater. And other costs that were rolled into the bigger job.

    Permits required, obviously, which adds to the cost and time.

    You can do your own demolition and economize on the finish materials, but no doubt want to do a quality job on the framing, drywall, plumbing and tile work.


    Hope that helps.

  • attofarad
    11 years ago

    annkathyn, check your arithmetic on the ceramic tile. Or are you just saying that the tile itself was $4 and the total including labor was $3324, etc.

    Even for the bay area, looks pretty pricy, except for the shower hardware. For instance, my most recent quote for wall tile (shower) labor/thinset/board is $12/sq foot plus tile; floor is $10/sq ft plus tile, and that quote isn't a price leader. A difficult pattern would run more.

    Was something difficult involved in "remove toilet" (even I can do that in a leisurely 15 minutes) and "remove water heater" (also under 15 minutes)? In the context of a larger job, the haul-away shouldn't be much. I've smashed a toilet and put it in the trash can (5-10 minutes), but the water heater went with the other tear out.

  • annkathryn
    11 years ago

    The tile allowance was for tile at $4 square foot. I just showed the total (materials + labor). Material included grout and caulk. My GC's tile sub was pretty expensive overall - the OP could probably save lots of $$s in this area. I don't think this was a tricky layout but it took several days to complete the job including one unplanned when they scratched the Shluter edge. The tile behind the toilet wasn't included in the original bid, nor was the Shluter. The sloped shower floor was also a change order.

    I bought all fixtures + the vanity online.

    We didn't have our GC remove the toilet - we had a Green Demolition company come in and do most of the deconstruction. Nothing particularly difficult about the water heater removal as I recall. The overall bid was very good so we didn't nickle & dime the areas where my GC was making his profit.

    Work is still in progress - a few touch-ups need to be done and some grout haze needs to be removed.

    Where the toilet & vanity are now was the original half bath, but sink & toilet were facing each other with a door on the side of the sink.

    From Downstairs Bath
    From Downstairs Bath
    From Downstairs Bath

  • gmp3
    11 years ago

    FYI I was able to get someone to take away my used toilets and sinks - just post them as FREE in craigslist and you will get calls.

    My toilets were not nice, name brand toilets but got rid of 3 or them this way. Better than destroying them, someone can use them.