How do I start this? Want to add a bathroom.

last year

Hello,

We would like to add a bathroom to our home but wasn’t sure how to get the ball rolling on this project. Such as, do we need an architect, or just start sending bids to GCs, who should design it, etc. basically we need to know the first steps and where to go from there.

The project would entail adding the bathroom into the garage space, adjacent to the bedroom that shares a wall with the garage - so it would become an en suite bathroom. To make this happen, we would need to move a water heater and a door that goes from the garage to the side yard, so I was thinking about going ahead and remodeling the whole unfinished garage while we’re at it (probably switch to tankless to have more space in the garage).

Drains will be a challenge - house is on slab, and the walls the bathroom will have do not have any drain/sewer access. Might have to drill into the garage slab, but there is laundry on the next wall over so hopefully they can make something work.

Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks

Featured Answer

PRO

Monique

last year

Builders can’t bid on ”what ifs or maybes”. They need actual specified full architectural plans. Plus the plans need to add new space, not alter and eliminate useful space in the home. You wouldn’t create a new bathroom using the master bedroom unless you were building an entirely new bedroom. Garages are desirable and useful spaces. Any plan that takes over a garage without building a new one, is a poor plan.

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Comments (6)

PRO
JAN MOYER
last year
last modified: last year
No contractor is EVER your designer.

You have to help US to help you.

You need a drawing, accurate, every foot , inch. walls, windows, passages, every foot and inch. Where you would like to locate locate the new bath in the CURRENT condition.

You don't just plop a bath into a garage: ) and for all we know? You may be better off with an addition that does more, and you tear the garage off, rebuild that garage, depending lot lines and resources and a whole lot more.
apple_pie_order
last year
last modified: last year
Read up on fire codes for garages attached to houses so you can see why inserting a bathroom by punching a hole in the garage/house wall is not such a straightforward thing. Try googling something like

"fire codes to add a bathroom in garage Chicago" and use your own city, state or province in the search string.
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PRO
Simon Templeton & Associates
last year
Are you building a new garage, with a new driveway to it? Because that is the ONLY time a 200K project like this actually turns out appealing and gives you a net positive boost to the home value. Most projects like this just ruin the appeal of the home, and are done badly and cheaply. That results in a drop in value, plus the entire loss of the money spent.

Plan the scope better. Don’t involve robbing space from the garage unless you will build a new one. Get a good designer to brainstorm some space options with you, and go from there with planning. This is a lot of money to do right. It’s even more money if you do it wrong.
Ferdows Ather
Original Author
last year
Thank you for the replies everyone. To clarify - we have a three car garage but only store one car in it so there is plenty of space, which is why we felt comfortable using up some of it for the proposed bathroom. It sounds like the unanimous recommendation is to get an architect on board first and go from there.
KR Nuttle
last year
Agree with what has been said. This is going to be a 5 figure project, so to save time and money, I would do the project in this order

1- Contact the department in your area and get information of building codes and permits that you will need to do what you think is the job.

2-You should know how you water bill will change with the additional bath room.

3-The additional bath may change your home owners insurance or the rating of the governmental rating of the building

4- Obtain professional services to determine what can be done:

--The Weight bearing walls need to be identified.

--The location of all utilities need to be located including the availability of water, sewer, electricity in the area where you think the bath should go.

--Knowledge of the types of construction; ie it is one thing to go through a stud wall, and quite another to go through a poured concrete wall.

5- Working with a profession knowledgeable in construction, and electrical, sewer, and water codes, have them do an over all plan.

6- Ideally the above professional can sub contract all of the services needed, otherwise you will have to develop a list for each service and select the best for your job and budget.