What a Waste!

By Nancy February 6th, 2013

A contractor friend and I were talking about common “design mistakes” we’re often called on to fix, and he showed me a picture of a bathroom project he’s working on.  Take a look at this picture, it’s not hard to find the flaw in the layout.

There is over eight feet of space devoted to the toilet, which by code needs 30 inches (we generally allow 36 inches).  The shower, which is partially visible off to the right, is something like three feet square.  What a horrible misallocation of space!  Were they thinking they’d put a card table in there so one could work on a jigsaw puzzle?  Add a settee for company?  At least if the toilet were off to one side or the other a nicely sized linen cabinet could be installed, but this is almost centered in the space.

The homeowners purchased this house from a builder; it was new construction.  My friend and I marveled at the number of people who worked on the house and let this slide:  the draftsperson who drew this; the plumber who roughed in the pipes; the drywaller, painter, tile setter and trim carpenter who saw the space; the general contractor who is ultimately responsible for the finished product.

My contractor friend is remodeling this otherwise nice brand new bathroom to reallocate proper space to the toilet and enlarge the shower. 

Well, we can pick this apart all day long, but these types of “design mistakes” are partly what keeps us in business!