Let’s begin with the idea of the bathroom. Let’s make a plan and prep the space for the installation.
I am also reminding you that I am a mom of 4 and have a full-time job. If I can take on a project like this and complete it, then you can, too!
I designed the whole basement on paper and chalked it out with my framers. The space that I ended up with for the bathroom was a planned 12′ x 5′.
Just enough.
It is the only bathroom in the basement and includes a standing shower, toilet and vanity.
Who did I hire for some help?
A plumber, an HVAC installer, an electrician and a drywall guy. Why? Because they were already there doing all of the other work in the basement, they are licensed professionals and could get it done quickly!
But you do you.
If I only had a bathroom to finish, I probably would have studied how to do these things and done more of them myself.
I had my licensed plumber move the drains, run all of the water lines and install all of the roughed-in pipes I would need once the framing was completed. It took him an entire day and he had to jackhammer out the concrete. What a mess!
My plumber would not fill in the broken concrete. Most of the time “they don’t do that” so I had to buy some bagged concrete and fill it in myself.
First I filled most of the trenches in with pea gravel so that I didn’t have to add so much concrete.
Pea gravel is a great filler!
Then I added the concrete. It is so easy! You just follow the directions and mix in water, give it a good mix with a large mixer attached to a drill, and then fill it in making sure it is level.
You can run a straight board across the concrete to level it out and push any excess away.
I also had my electrician do the electrical for the bathroom and the HVAC people to run the venting needed in the space. They were there anyway to do the rest of the basement so I just had them do that room, too.
You can check out my tips on finishing a basement and print out a checklist!
The drywall team did my whole basement in 2 days so it was well worth it to have them knock this out!
You have to be sure to use a cement board like Durock in your shower. The Spruce wrote a great post about cement board and why you want to use it. The only place I really needed to install it was where the shower was and where the wall would be exposed directly to water. The rest of the bathroom was just plain drywall.
Any bathroom will need to be vented to the outside of your house. That is code. I chose a really great fan for this bathroom that acts as a recessed light in the shower AND a fan for the whole bathroom.
Building a bathroom from scratch gave me the opportunity to NOT have an ugly little fan in the ceiling over the toilet like most bathrooms have.
Here is the design:
You can find all of the sources for materials I chose for the space in my Small Bathroom Design post.
I chose to install the 4×6 subway tile on the shower walls and the hexagon marble tiles for the shower floor. The adorable charcoal gray flower tiles on the bathroom floor. I loved the timeless and pretty look of the materials together.
Now that the room was prepped it was time to move on to figuring out how to waterproof the shower and how to install a shampoo niche. Wish me luck!
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