Apr 18/14
When a major renovation is carried out in an apartment, you should not ignore the bathroom and toilet. Recently, owners of apartments and houses have begun to create a combined bathroom more often. But is this a tribute to fashion or a practical necessity?
This solution has both advantages and certain disadvantages. In this publication, “Dream House” will help you figure out what is actually better for you – a combined bathroom or a separate one, and in what cases one or another solution will be more acceptable.
Combined or separate bathroom
Economic benefits of a combined bathroom
Combining a toilet and a bathroom really reduces renovation costs. For example, if the toilet and bath are divided into two separate rooms, then two doors will be required, rather than one. If the bathroom is combined, then, accordingly, the interior door will be required in one copy. An analogy can be drawn for other materials and plumbing equipment. For example, with a separate bathroom, you will have to spend money on reconstructing the dividing partition - this means purchasing drywall, tiles and other materials associated with finishing.
Renovation of a combined bathroom
Small combined bathroom photo
Ways to divide a bathroom into two rooms
A combined bathroom can be divided into two separate zones using a solid wall, screen partition, glass panel, frame, plastic or partial partition.
Brick or aerated concrete wall
To turn one room into two full ones, a wall of brick or aerated concrete is erected. Before performing work, the working surface is cleaned of excess debris, leveled and coated with a primer. Horizontally mark the location of the wall.
The first blocks of aerated concrete are laid out on the solution, applied in a thick layer. All blocks are placed along marked lines and level so that the laying occurs as evenly as possible. Subsequent rows are laid out using special glue with ligation of blocks. If the thickness of the material is less than 10 cm, the rows are reinforced with wire. Every three rows such blocks are attached to the wall with special corners.
Two days after the completion of the masonry, the junction of the aerated concrete wall and the ceiling is foamed.
Using a screen partition
If you haven’t yet decided whether you really want to permanently divide the room into two separate zones, you can install a screen partition. The stores offer a wide range of screens with different designs and colors. This partition is easy to use and, if necessary, can be put away in a secret place.
Application of glass panel
A fashionable and modern solution for dividing a bathroom is to install a glass panel. It is important to provide forced ventilation in the toilet and bath area. Thanks to the glass, the aroma from the toilet will not spread throughout the room.
Construction of a frame partition
To divide the room into two parts, you can install a frame partition made of galvanized metal profiles. They are sheathed with moisture-resistant plasterboard sheets.
Rules for installing a frame partition:
- Markings are made on the ceiling. Using plumb lines, transfer it to the floor. Points on parallel planes are connected on the walls by vertical lines.
- The frame is attached to the walls, ceiling and floor using special nails, and to the wooden surface with self-tapping screws. The profiles are mounted using self-tapping screws every 60 cm.
- To attach furniture or mirrors to the walls, a wooden beam is inserted into the profiles.
- To make the structure rigid, transverse partitions are inserted between the vertical posts.
The structure is sheathed with moisture-resistant plasterboard. The sheets are secured with self-tapping screws every 250 mm. The cavity between them is filled with slabs with sound-absorbing properties.
Application of plastic partition
To divide a room into two zones, you can use a plastic partition. The frame is made of profile pipe. The structure is filled with multilayer plastic.
It is recommended to install such a partition in a room with completed renovations and installed plumbing. It is easy to care for, as the material withstands moisture and chemicals.
Installation of a partial partition
The room can be divided into two parts using narrow but comfortable furniture or by building a low brick partition.
Increased space
When combining a bathroom, the total area of free space increases. There is space for installing an automatic washing machine in the bathroom or other equipment that requires water and sewerage. If you wish, you can install a bidet, for which there is no place in a small toilet room, a good heated towel rail, a large sink instead of a small washbasin, and a clothes dryer. In general, everything that you couldn’t afford if you had a separate bathroom.
Combined bathroom design photo
Small combined bathroom with shower
Convenient layout of a combined bathroom
Design of small combined bathrooms
Large family – separate bathroom or two bathrooms
But, despite the advantages that we described above, a combined bathroom will be extremely inconvenient if more than 3 people live in the apartment. There is a high probability that among them there will be lovers of long water procedures or thoughtful reading on the white throne. This will create certain obstacles to the fulfillment of natural needs by other family members. The exception is apartments where there are two bathrooms, one of which has a toilet. If you do not own such an apartment with two bathrooms, then in a place where a large family lives, it is highly not recommended to combine a toilet room and a bathroom.
Disadvantages of a combined bathroom for a large family
Bathroom combined with toilet
Separate or combined bathroom
Which is better: a combined bathroom or a separate one?
Which is better: a combined bathroom or a separate one?
Lawyer and real estate expert Svetlana Kirillova answers:
The first question: how is a room in which there is no natural light, that is, a window, recognized as residential? I suspect that the apartment was remodeled, which was not legalized.
Resolving the issue of housing redevelopment always begins with a request for technical accounting documents: this is a technical passport of the apartment, a floor plan and an explication. Based on these documents, one can draw a conclusion about the approved purpose of the premises in the apartment, their original area, and the location of the partitions. If this room is indicated as non-residential, then you can expand the bathroom using it. If initially there was a strange layout with a living room without a window, then the question is ambiguous.
Is it possible to legalize sinks in bedrooms?
Is it possible to tear down a wall in an apartment and install a new one?
Second question: where according to the plan is the bathroom and, accordingly, the riser located? Transferring the so-called wet zones is not possible to every corner of the apartment. If the riser is directly adjacent to this room, such a project can be considered. If it is located far away and the pipes need to be routed through other rooms in the apartment, especially residential ones, such a project will not be approved.
It is impossible to give competent advice on the issue of redevelopment without seeing the original technical documentation and redevelopment plan. We can only talk about general rules. In addition, in each region of the Russian Federation, and what about the region, in each district of the Moscow region, the requirements for remodeling an apartment may vary.
The question of recognition of this premises by the Ministry of Defense was raised incorrectly. MOPs are common areas in an apartment building. There cannot be a MOP in an individual apartment. If it is possible to coordinate the redevelopment with the transfer of the bathroom to the place of the room, then it will be the bathroom, and not the MOP.
Do you want a combined bathroom? Take permission
Another big disadvantage of combining a toilet and a bathroom in our country is the need to obtain permission from the BTI for this action, which does not add a good mood and pretty much wears out the nerves. The reason for this need is that the wall between the toilet and the bathroom may turn out to be load-bearing, and its removal can lead to dire consequences. Therefore, before giving such permission, BTI needs to make sure that this will not have destructive consequences. If you want to separate the toilet and bathroom, then the state will not put any obstacles in your way - put up a partition for your health!
Combined bathroom photo
Small combined bathroom
Design of a combined bathroom
Design of combined bathrooms photo
To the toilet or to the restroom?
Author Inna Novikova
02.07.2003 09:45
Russia » Siberia » Dudinka
Trying to answer this question, Norilsk resident Galina Zenger went all the way to Ozhegov. Disputes among Russians about language often do not revolve around obscene words. And you can solve them very intelligently. In the spring of 1957, Galina Vladimirovna Zenger, a resident of Norilsk, did not like very much that at the school where her son studied, the word “restroom” was replaced with the word “toilet”. Galina Vladimirovna considered the invasion of the French word into the Russian vocabulary completely inappropriate. In the summer of 1957, a Norilsk woman entered into correspondence with scientists from the capital, trying to find the truth.
First, the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR forwarded Galina Vladimirovna’s message to Krasnoyarsk. Deputy head of the region Kushnir did not agree with the opinion of the Norilsk woman: “The regional department of public education considers your conclusion that replacing the inscription “restroom” with “toilet” to have a bad effect on students in terms of education is erroneous. The word “toilet” was indeed borrowed from the French language, but it has firmly entered the lexicon of the Russian language and in our time the use of this word and others like it is not “philistine panache...”
However, Galina Vladimirovna stood her ground and wrote to Moscow again. On August 10, a response was sent by Shilnikova, a methodologist from the Ministry of Education: “You are absolutely right, we must do our best to help improve students’ speech culture and fight against its clogging. But we cannot agree with you that replacing the Russian word “restroom” with the foreign word “toilet” has some significance for the culture of students’ speech. To the region’s response to your first letter, we can only add that in cities visited by foreigners, it is quite advisable to use well-known foreign names of public places. This is done for basic convenience."
Galina Vladimirovna did not like such arguments. Moreover, in 1957 foreigners did not visit Norilsk. She picked up the pen again. On September 20, 1957, Sergei Ozhegov himself, a linguist, lexicographer, researcher of the norms of the Russian language, and compiler of the “Dictionary of the Russian Language,” responded to her letter.
The message from the capital was printed under the heading “Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institute of Linguistics": "Comrade. Zenger. We respond to your letter with the following information. Currently, in the Russian language there really are two unambiguous words: “restroom” and “toilet”. At one time, the word “latrine” appeared as a euphemism to replace other words that existed to designate the same item.
About 20 years ago, this word began to be replaced by a new euphemism - the borrowed word “toilet”, which seemed, like any foreign word, more “decent” than its own. At first, restrooms were called restrooms in theaters (where there are “artistic restrooms”) and in restaurants (see the explanatory dictionary edited by Ushakov). Then the name “toilet” spread more and more widely, and every public restroom began to be called a toilet, and the guard with it - a toilet. It should be said that the basic meanings of the word “toilet” do not justify its application to the name of the restroom. Head sector of speech culture S.I. Ozhegov." The answer of the venerable linguist did not suit Galina Vladimirovna. However, the French word won.
Tatiana RYCHKOVA Polar truth
Topics school
Discuss
Ventilation problem in combined bathrooms
Of course, we are talking about apartment bathrooms combined with a toilet, because in a private house it is more likely to have a window for ventilation. A lack of fresh air is fraught not only with unpleasant odors, but also with the spread of bacteria; therefore, it is impossible to keep toothbrushes, razors, towels and other personal hygiene products open in a poorly ventilated bathroom.
It will be necessary to improve the ventilation in the combined bathroom; for this you can install, for example, an electric fan in the provided opening of the exhaust duct. This is the least that needs to be done when deciding to combine a bathroom and toilet. Also, do not forget about high-quality air fresheners and ionizers.
Which is better, separate or combined bathroom?
Design of combined bathrooms photo
Combined or separate bathroom
Possible difficulties in dismantling the partition when combining a bathroom
It is also worth remembering that when dismantling the partition that divides the bathroom into separate rooms, a large amount of construction waste is generated. It’s worth thinking about this in advance and deciding where to remove the rubble and other consequences of destruction, since your neighbors most likely will not be happy if you organize a local dump of construction waste on the staircase.
It should be remembered that when dismantling a wall, elements of hidden electrical wiring (junction boxes and cables) may be hidden in it, so you need to take into account in advance the costs of electrical installation work that will have to be carried out.
Separate or combined bathroom
Which is better: a combined bathroom or a separate one?
Which is better: a combined bathroom or a separate one?
