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we are planning on putting the shower in front of the window.

Nancy Fritz
11 months ago

Taking our existing shower out to make our master closet larger. Putting the new shower where the tub is. Have a double vanity but only one sink. New vanity. Plus adding a linen closet into part of old shower. Need ideas as we can’t change window over tub- we’re in townhome & HOA.

Comments (19)

  • MaryMargaret F
    11 months ago

    If you cannot redo the window there, forget putting a shower there. You will quickly have water damage inside your walls.

  • Nancy Fritz
    Original Author
    11 months ago

    We can’t redo it but can seal off the inside. Just need to leave some light in the room. Maybe Sheetrock over it partway up.

  • remodeling1840
    11 months ago

    The window is wood. It is not waterproof. Drywall is not waterproof and you cannot cover part of the window with it to make it waterproof. Draw on graph paper the exact measurements of the space and some really good people here might be able to design a bathroom that gives you a shower in a space that can be waterproofed. You do not want to spend $$$$$ on a designed to fail idea.

  • roarah
    11 months ago

    Can you post a layout of the room?

  • Nancy Fritz
    Original Author
    11 months ago

    This is the layout. Old shower across from vanity. Closet is behind shower & very small.

  • marmiegard_z7b
    11 months ago

    There is a reason bathtubs are often placed below windows to make best use of the space, and showers are not.

  • Kate
    11 months ago

    Doesn’t seem like a good idea.

  • beesneeds
    11 months ago

    If you need the window, you will need to replace it. Wall up the bottom properly, and you can perhaps get away with a piano window higher up on the wall. Use a window meant for high moisture prone areas like a shower area. Everything will need to be properly waterproofed. Do not just sheetrock up over the bottom half of the window. It will look bad and work out even worse.

    What does your HOA have to say or have rules about remodels? That could potentally have an impact on what you can do or not.

  • roarah
    11 months ago

    Where is the toilet stack? Should I assume that can not be moved in a condo?

  • cpartist
    11 months ago

    Post a 2D floorplan with measurements of the bathroom and the rooms on either side of the bathroom.

    If you do what you're proposing, you'll be tearing it out in a year or two because of water intrusion. And one NEVER uses sheetrock in a shower.

  • 3onthetree
    11 months ago

    The only windows I know of which are "meant" to be in high moisture or water borne areas are glass block or a submarine porthole.

  • Nancy Fritz
    Original Author
    11 months ago

    Thanks for the info-we can’t change the window per HOA. We’ll ask our contractor about the best way to approach this issue. We don’t want the tub as we have one in another bathroom. I know it is a
    waterproofing backer board used in showers. We can also remove the wood framing as it’s not necessary on the inside. The stool can’t be moved as we’d have to jackhammer out the flooring.

  • millworkman
    11 months ago

    The issue is you are not going to effectively waterproof a wood window, any window really that is existing. You are opening yourself to a rotting mess in the near future.

  • DeWayne
    11 months ago

    Backerboard IS NOT WATERPROOF. This is sounding more and more like you have someone who doesn't know what they are doing here.

  • cpartist
    11 months ago

    Backerboard is not waterproof. And there is absolutely NO WAY to waterproof that window.

    Post a 2D floor plan and maybe we can help you figure out a better way to get a larger shower.

  • Little Bird
    11 months ago

    If you can move the toilet over next to the vanity, you could expand your closet into the current toilet space. If not, then the simplest thing would be to remove the bathtub you don’t want, and build closets there instead. It won’t be connected to the other small closet, but you could use one for off-season clothes.

  • palimpsest
    11 months ago
    last modified: 11 months ago

    Actually I lived in several apartments that had a window in the tub shower alcove. The wall was waterproofed and tiled, probably an old mud-set installation, and the jambs were tiled and one had a marble windowsill.

    Both bathrooms had a rod with a shower curtain in front of the window as well as the shower curtain on the outside on the rim side of the tub.

    The window sash itself does not necessarily need to be waterproof if it is covered over with a curtain during your shower. Shower curtains are low tech, but they work. If they didn't water would get all over the floor when you took a shower.

    It's an old fashioned, low tech solution but it works.

    You could also probably do some sort of sliding shower door over the window to cover it during showering that would slide out of the way so you could get to the window behind it but cover it during showering.


  • palimpsest
    11 months ago



  • Lars
    10 months ago

    I have lived in several places in San Francisco that had tub/showers next to windows, but they had free-standing clawfoot tubs, and the shower curtain went all around the tub. I thought that too much cold air leaked into the bathrooms.

    One thing I liked was that water closets were separate from the main part of the bathrooms, and we had two W/Cs at the last place I lived. I prefer to have double W/Cs to double sinks.