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Is there enough room in front of this toilet??

bridget helm
10 years ago

In my last 2 "things to change" lists given to our architect, I included the amount of space in front of the children's upstairs toilet. I asked him to check it for space. He said there's plenty of space there. However, There's not even one foot according to my measurement. If we get a 25" toilet (super small), then there will be one foot between the bowl and the tub. Is that enough space? Our kids are normal sized, but that just doesn't seem like enough knee space??

Comments (13)

  • Soesoe
    10 years ago

    I think you should have more than12" between toilet and tub. My kids have exact layout and it works fine but we have pocket doors and this let's have two vanities with the sinks opposite each other rather than two sinks side by side. I love the seperation of tub/toilet from sink area.
    The tub is a small 6' tub. If you are tight what about a wall mount toilet?

  • 8mpg
    10 years ago

    Turn the toilet to face the door

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago

    You need 21" to meet international residential code minimum.

  • Naf_Naf
    10 years ago

    Turn the toilet. Place the "linen" accross the vanity. You could place a floor to ceiling 14" deep wall cabinet.

  • renovator8
    10 years ago

    The space in front of a toilet must be at least 21" to meet most building codes (2009 IRC section P2705). It's strange that your architect would not be aware of this standard.

    Are there no windows on this floor? The bathroom doors appear small. It appears that the attic stair will block the bathroom doorway when in use (the bottom of an attic stair usually extends 15" beyond the ceiling opening). The space between the tub and door jamb is too small for a tile edging and a door casing. Where does door #15 go?

    Judging by the tightness of many plan elements, your architect seems to have difficulty predicting the space needed for many common design elements. I would have a qualified person review the entire set of drawings in order to avoid unnecessary pain and expense during construction.

  • _sophiewheeler
    10 years ago

    I agree with Renovator here. Your architect seems to have a good grasp of some aesthetics, but the more practical building things seem elusive, like standard dimensions and space requirmens. That means for some expensive change orders down the road..

  • virgilcarter
    10 years ago

    This does not look like the work of any experienced architect. Redesign the bath as described above.

    Good luck on your project.

  • bridget helm
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks everyone. I'm shocked by this too. He is a good architect, but we are "peons" to him because he's tied up with "bigger and better" projects and we aren't paying as much as others, so I'm having to do a good bit of the work. I don't mind this because it saved us 10,000 dollars, but I am getting annoyed because I'm doing the work and calling things to his attention and some things he tends to while he dismisses others. I find he's a little ADD and just skims over my emails. I'm thinking he must have confused the upstairs toilet for the the "toilet by the stairs downstairs". There is plenty of room in front of the downstairs toilet by the stairs.

    Originally the upstairs toilet faced the door. I asked him to turn it because our 12 year old daughter hates bathing alongside toilets, so she asked us to turn the toilet. I realize now, that she will just have to get over it!!! We normally don't allow diva behavior in our home, but I saw her point - she has 2 brothers and a potty training sister.

    Anyhow, ill insist he turn it back the way it originally was. One bathroom door is 32 inches. The other is 24. We are really trying to keep our square footage down upstairs. Just a bed, nightstand, and chest of drawers in each room. There will be a small desk, sofa and TV in the landing.

    We are fine with the attic stairs interfering when pulled down.

    Door 15 goes into the attic

  • virgilcarter
    10 years ago

    One corrective approach would be to:

    --Put tub on exterior wall with window above the tub (install tile finish on tub walls);
    --Put WC on wall adjacent to lavatories (wall may need furring to accommodate toilet waste line if wall hung);
    --Put linen storage in hall

    Good luck with your project.

  • Soesoe
    10 years ago

    Here is our layout which is very close to what your architect has designed. As I mentioned in my post above we have pocket doors which save a lot of space. Our dimensions are slightly bigger to accommodate the space between toilet and tub, we have about 24" between edge of toilet and tub.

  • ILoveRed
    10 years ago

    Is there another stage to complete bmh's drawings? Will they eventually have the extreme detail that I see in soesoe's?

  • renovator8
    10 years ago

    Turning the toilet and placing the center of it 15" from the wall will put the bowl about 4" farther away from the tub and allow it to be a full sized "elongated" model which will stay cleaner longer than a short "round front" toilet.

    If the tub shower head is on the outside wall too, your daughter can take a bath with her head away from the toilet. The exterior wall might need to be be thicker for plumbing and the interior wall would be moved the same amount.

    Is there no way to get a window or skylight in such a large bathroom with such a tall ceiling?

    Do the boys wait or use your bathroom when your daughter is in the tub?

    This post was edited by Renovator8 on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 14:10

  • bridget helm
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    redlover, we have a page in blueprints for electric, a page for plumbing, and a page for HVAC. the picture i showed is just of the floorplan without all the bells and whistles.

    he turned the toilet yesterday, so now it's fine.

    renovator, i'm not sure how it will all work out upstairs. our youngest son will have a room downstairs with a bathroom attached. he will probably want to bunk upstairs eventually. if he does, his room will become a guest bedroom/study.

    so for now, only 3 of the kids will be sharing the upstairs bath. it'll all work out. my dad is one of 5 and they all shared one bathroom.

    our kids are 11, 10, 5, and 2 so the older 2 will be out of the house when the younger 2 are vain teenagers hogging up a bathroom

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