How to add a second bathroom to your home

The bathroom is the one of the busiest rooms of the home and one where people spend a lot of time getting ready. Unless you live by yourself, it can seem like there is always someone in the bathroom when you need it! If you share your home with a partner and/or children, you basically need to create a schedule to use the bathroom, and your needs don’t always conform to the schedule. Even when you do manage to get in there, it can be difficult to navigate through the various bathroom products and toiletries filling up the room. 

If this sounds familiar, adding an additional bathroom to your home could change your life. The good news is that adding an extra bathroom is possible, even if your available space and budget is tight. The question is, how?

Adding a bathroom to your home does not require a lot of space, especially if you consider installing a small powder room with a second toilet and basin, or a complete bathroom with a shower over the bathtub. So, finding the right space may be easier than you think, and can be achieved without making major changes and disrupting your home. Rooms such as spare bedrooms, studies or even an unused cupboard can be converted into a bathroom. If your home has a walk-in wardrobe that’s not being effectively used, consider converting this space into an additional bathroom and creating your own ensuite!

Chances are, the desired location for your new bathroom is either far from the sewerage mains, on a concrete slab, under the sewerage mains (underground) or in an area of your home that you don’t want to disrupt in order to install your new facilities. In these cases, the easiest, quickest and most cost effective solution is to use a product from Saniflo.

For a small powder room, Sanicompact is the best option. This innovative product is an integrated toilet suite with macerator and can accept connections from a basin. For a complete bathroom addition, the Saniaccess 3 can connect to a toilet, shower and sink and push the waste up to 5m vertically or 100m horizontally back to the sewerage mains, opening up the possibilities for your new bathroom. Both products connect via slim pipes, avoiding the need to cut into the floor. 

Once you have your space and your plumbing in place, something else you will need to consider is ventilation. It’s important for the room to be well-ventilated to preserve your walls and avoid damp issues like mould. Ideally, your new bathroom should have an exterior wall where a window can be placed. If not, a fan in the bathroom needs to be installed in order to help circulate the air and prevent the development of moisture. 

If the space allocated to your second bathroom is rather small and your budget is limited, consider some details to make it look larger, such as the colour of the wall, the lighting of the room and the storage. Using lighter colours on the walls can make any room appear larger, which can benefit a smaller space. As for lighting, natural light always makes a room more inviting and add a modern aspect to the room, making it look larger. In terms of storage, a cluttered room makes a room feel smaller. Therefore, building vanity cabinets and shelving units into the walls and behind mirrors can increase storage space without taking too much extra room. By doing this, your bathroom will look tidy at all times, as well as appearing larger. If your space is bigger and your budget larger, an endless range of options is at your disposal! Current trends in bathrooms including stand-alone bathtubs, steam showers or smart toilets are definitely worth considering when it comes to creating a new bathroom. Once you have chosen the overall look you want to give your space, focus your attention on the accessories that can add an extra touch of style to your bathroom. Little touches such as a heated towel rack or a full-length mirror can make a huge difference in the overall look of the room.

Read: How to convert your basement into a guestroom