A great many houses of this age were built with the WC in one small room and the bathing area in another, sometimes with a wall between them. Combining the two into a single bathroom is one of the most common improvements here, and the shower enclosure is what makes the result work.
What combining the two rooms produces
Taking out the dividing wall gives one room of a reasonable size, which is a considerable improvement on two cramped ones.
What it also gives is a room with two floor levels, two drains and tiling that stops in the middle, because the two halves were finished separately.
So the floor almost always has to be relaid across the whole room before an enclosure goes anywhere near it. That is building work rather than ours, and it is worth knowing it is coming before the wall comes down.
Deciding where the shower goes in the new room
Once the rooms are one, the shower usually belongs where the old bathing area was, because that is where the drainage and the supply already run.
Moving it to the WC side means new plumbing for no real gain.
So we set the enclosure over the old bathing half and keep the WC and basin in the drier part. It sounds obvious and it is frequently drawn the other way round, because the new room is looked at as a blank space rather than as two halves with different services.
Enclosing the wet half properly
In a combined room the point of the glass is to keep the WC side dry, which is exactly what the old wall used to do.
So the screen wants to run the full depth of the wet half rather than just around the shower head.
A short screen leaves the room feeling like the wall is missing and the floor wet, which is the outcome people feared when they took the wall out. Getting the screen length right is what makes the change worth having.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
