Anyone here convert a 1/2 bath into a 3/4 bath?

[Shawn]

I've got a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath house built in 1970. Bought it last year as a foreclosure for 72.5k and put $22k in renovations to get it livable. The half bath is in the master bedroom. I'm trying to get a rough estimate as to how much it would cost to convert it into a 3/4 bath (shower only, no room for tub) and if I would recoup the cost when we go to sell the house (or at least get it to sell quicker).

The main issue is to expand the master bath to accommodate a shower we would have to remove the master closet. I have seen on some home improvement shows where custom wall sized wardrobes were built in homes without adequate closets. However, I don't know how much something like that would cost.

The good thing is there is already plumbing going to the room and the house has a crawl space so putting in a drain would be a lot easier than with a concrete slab.

It's not essential that we have a shower in the master, but I'm thinking that it would really help we we go to sell our house in a few years. The neighbors house is a mirror of ours (though they converted their garage into a living room while with our house an addition was added onto the back of the house) and their house has been on the market for over a year. They bought it for $175k in 05 and trying to sell it for $107.5k.

Just wondering what you all thought.

 

[todpod]

I think they only way you will make money doing this is to do the work yourself. Every home improvement home I even saw usually talks 70-80% return on investment with a contractor doing the work. If you want the shower for yourself then go for it, it might or might not make it an easier sell, but i really doubt you will make money on the deal.

Now if you do the work your sell then you may be able to make some money but probably not alot.

 

[Doppel]

The house is at a price range where people will expect compromises to be made. I'd say go for the renovation if you'll be there a few years and fell you'll benefit from it. That way, even if the money return is dubious, you've enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

[ussfletcher]

Be careful removing the closet. I know here in Michigan a room has to have a closet to be considered a bedroom.

 

[Wreckem]

If you live near an Ikea, a prefabbed wardrobe won't cost to much.

Make sure a built in wardrobe qualifies as a closet before doing this.

 

[Wreckem]

Be careful removing the closet. I know here in Michigan a room has to have a closet to be considered a bedroom.

In general, a bedroom has to have a closet to be a bedroom. Or it will be appraised and advertised as a den or office.

The question that needs to be asked, does a built in wardrobe count as a closet in his area.

 

[iGas]

Bedrooms must contain a closet to be considered as a bedroom. Other wise it is a den/office as mentioned above.

The difficult part is to create the space for the shower, and that mean that you will have to give up some existing space in the house for the shower, adding drain and vent will not be a problem since the toilet drain is a 3" drain.

Post a plan view of the bathroom and surrounding rooms around it specially where you want the shower to locate.

DIY will be less than 5K pending the materials/trims that you intend to have.

15K or more if you hire contractor.

 

[Atty]

I actually made the 1/2 downstairs into a 3/4 for my grandfather about 5 years ago after he had multiple heart attacks and open heart surgery, he couldn't scale the stairs anymore.

What we did was expand it back enough for a prefabbed shower to be installed. Luckily for us the end of the bathroom that had the space for the shower was next to the already incredibly spacious garage. The hard part is the plumbing. What we did was tap into the plumbing lines from the toilet/sink for the shower drain. This required a jack hammer, removing a lot of concrete, all the flooring, and half the dry wall. It took about a week to finish the entire job. It looks fantastic now but it was a huge pain in the ass. Our cost was around $2,000 for new flooring, dry wall, sink (the old one was built into a cabinet so we had to remove that for new room, bought a free standing one to replace with), and the shower. My uncle was a construction manager at the time so most of the tools were free and the materials (shower included) came at cost or below (left overs.)

TL;DR: It is a pain in the ass. Fun to tear apart bathroom, not so fun to put everything back together. And find out how easy it is to tap into plumbing lines now to avoid catastrophic failure and removal of most of your flooring.

 

[Shawn]

The interior dimensions aren't exactly to scale as I only had a copy of the exterior floorplan but I tried to draw it in with paint. I'll try to put the measurements in later.

 

[Capt Caveman]

As mentioned, it may not be considered a bedroom by removing the closet. Also, I would think the value lost with removing the closet would negate any value increase by adding the shower.

New buyers may not like the style of wardrobe you use to replace the closet and many will not want to use a wardrobe(losing room square footage) and want a closet.

 

[iGas]

The interior dimensions aren't exactly to scale as I only had a copy of the exterior floorplan but I tried to draw it in with paint. I'll try to put the measurements in later.

Is the bedroom in the top left corner is what you are trying to modify?

If so, what is the dimension of the closet and the bathroom?

Perhaps a closet can be added to the bottom of the bedroom directly in front of the bedroom door.

 

[waffleironhead]

I'm certainly curious to the above statements about a room having to contain a closet to be considered a bedroom. If that were the case, I now own a zero bedroom home. So do most of my neighbors.
I'd like to see the municipal code, or whatever that makes this a requirement.

 

[Shawn]

Is the bedroom in the top left corner is what you are trying to modify?

If so, what is the dimension of the closet and the bathroom?

Perhaps a closet can be added to the bottom of the bedroom directly in front of the bedroom door.

Hmm, maybe. That was where the wardrobe would be put. The room is already pretty small. It's about 12x12. The bathroom is a little over 4x4.5 and the closet is about 4x3, which makes the linen closet backing up to it around 4x1.5. I was planning to keep the linen closet intact. I think I can find a 4x3 shower.

 

[drebo]

I don't understand...out here in California, a half-bath is a toilet and a standup shower, while a full bath is a toilet and a tub. A quarter bath would be a toilet only.

Is that different some other places?

 

[BladeVenom]

Get a toilet sink combo, and then put the shower where the sink was.

 

[Greenman]

I'm certainly curious to the above statements about a room having to contain a closet to be considered a bedroom. If that were the case, I now own a zero bedroom home. So do most of my neighbors.
I'd like to see the municipal code, or whatever that makes this a requirement.

It's in the UBC, and it has to be a permanent closet.

Edit: OP, what you're doing is making a half bath into a full bath. There is no distinction between a tub and shower in this case.

Actual room dimensions would help, it looks to me like your master is around 10 x 12. It's going to be very tough to carve a closet out of that.

 

[DCal430]

I don't understand...out here in California, a half-bath is a toilet and a standup shower, while a full bath is a toilet and a tub. A quarter bath would be a toilet only.

Is that different some other places?

Huh, where I am in California half a bath is sink and toilet.

I know someone who turned a walk in closet into a 3/4 bath, although he placed the sink just outside the bathroom. He put a toilet and stand up shower in the walk in closet added bathroom style vent with lighting, and bathroom window. Replaced the carpeting with tile. Around the new bathroom entrance he put tile and placed the sink there. Actually looks nice actually.

It is still a bedroom because the bedroom originally had 2 walk in closets, the second one still remains.

This was all part of a larger renovation of the home, which included adding central HVAC and duct work, recessed lighting around the home, replacing the entire electrical wiring of the home, replacing some of the plumbing work, and bringing the home house up to current codes.

This whole project was expensive. He doesn't plan to make his money back however, he did it for other reasons.

 

[Wreckem]

I'm certainly curious to the above statements about a room having to contain a closet to be considered a bedroom. If that were the case, I now own a zero bedroom home. So do most of my neighbors.
I'd like to see the municipal code, or whatever that makes this a requirement.

Older homes are grandfathered in.

 

[redgtxdi]

I don't understand...out here in California, a half-bath is a toilet and a standup shower, while a full bath is a toilet and a tub. A quarter bath would be a toilet only.

Is that different some other places?

Actually a half bath is toilet and sink. There are some very rare exceptios of a quarter bath which is just a toilet but you'll never see those in modern homes for sanitary reasons.

A 3/4 bath is sink, toilet and shower only.

And a full bath is considered a 4pc wash room with toilet, sink, tub and shower.

The exception to that is that many homes with larger showers and no tub are still considered a full bath as tubs fall out of favor. (like mine here in California)