So here are the closet doors we built from scratch (pics)........and other hair-brained schemes.

[Kingshakabobo]

These doors are about 9 feet tall and almost 10 feet across. We made them using 3/4 inch veneer oak plywood with oak hardwood banding on the edges and in-sets. The insets are 1/8 inch veneer oak plywood. We did the joinery with pocket hole screws using a "Kreg Tool" pocket-hole jig. I love that tool. It makes joinery easy for dummies like myself. I saw Norm Abram use it on The New Yankee Workshop so I figured it was good enough for me. You cut the pockets on the back-side of the work, add a little glue, and screw them in tight for a very strong butt-joint.

The track system was ordered on-line from Johnson Hardware. It's a three track system for making by-pass doors.

A little history of how we got here:


We decided to add a second bathroom by converting our master walk-in closet. The walk-in closet wasn't large enough to be a proper walk-in so it wasn't a very good use of space anyway. To replace the closet, we decided to bump out the bedroom wall 18 inches to steal some space from the dining room for the new closet. Also, we stole about 9 inches from the bedroom. This "wall sized closet" is a much more efficient use of space in this 2 bedroom Chicago condo. The closet isn't very deep but evey square inch is usable AND accessible.

The bathroom addition was really an after-thought as we had already done extensive remodeling of this condo and THOUGHT we were finished with construction. A new neighbor moved in below us and made the mistake of mentioning to me she would like to add a second bath in her master closet. Since both closets were stacked on top of each other we decided to throw our hat in the ring and offer to help out to facilitate making plumbing connections in both units as it is all common plumbing. Since she was going to demo her existing bath anyway, we decided to run plumbing across the hall, in to her new bath, up to our new bath, and out our top floor roof for vents. This worked out for us as our bath was completely re-tiled so it made no sense for us to rip up our marble for new plumbing work. It worked out great for her as we did all the demolition of both closets and her bath. I had a friend, who owed me a favor, do the rough plumbing for all three baths. I framed her new bath and set the new spa tub and we laid new marble.

She made out like a bandit and we got to keep ourselves busy.

Today, her main bath is complete and both new baths are roughed in for plumbing. We decided to take a break for the summer so we could complete our closet and she could finish up her other projects - extensive trim work, painting and drywall. We helped out with that stuff too - yes, I know I am crazy but I like doing that work and the commute was very short. Her parents were here for much of the work so we got to make a few new friends. her mom and dad are "rehabbers" from way back so we hit it off.

The hardest part of this project was tearing out our recently installed new oak trim, drywall and freshly painted walls. There is nothing worse than re-doing work. You feel like you are spinning your wheels. I had a few freak-out sessions when I was wrecking my house AGAIN.

It will be worth it though as adding a new bath is worth about 30k of value in this market. Out of all the work we have done in our unit, this will probably be the smartest move and the biggest bang for the buck.



Doors with casings complete. You can see where we had to relocate the ceiling speakers. The doors need another layer of NATURAL stain and polyurethane - when I can stomach being high for a day.





Another view. Alarm sensor, volume control and intercom all had to be relocated.





View of bottom tracks.





Demoing the walk-in closet. Blue paint before we changed to the new red color. I don't like the new red and may change it to a darker shade.





The neighbor's demo'd main/existing bath. It turns out they used about 6 inches of mortar to lay the original mosaic tiles. I could have sworn I was back in my college summer job busting out a driveway.





Her new bath being roughed in. We decided to add a pocket door for her bath. I purchased a pocket door assembly but I chickened out and couldn't handle tearing down another wall. We kept the regular door in our unit.






My hallway being demo'd.....I almost cried.





Her living room. We tore out her old moldings and had new moldings fabricated. Here, I am starting to fabricate new window sills. Bella looks on wondering why her daddy is crazy.





New window sills being clamped up. We cut a hole in the wall to bring light in to the hall way.





The dumpster filled to the brim.




I'll post some progress pictures of her bath finished and her trim work finished. I need to break out the camera for new pics. New bath construction starts this fall. That's when the real fun starts. There has been so much aggravation and preparation to get to where we are. The gratification will come with building the new baths from scratch.......picking cool tiles, fixtures etc.

[TygrBright]

1. Wow... I wish you were OUR neighbor!!

Thanks for posting all the cool pics. It's fascinating to see projects like this in the process, as it were.

interestedly,
Bright

[eleny]

2. Wow, you did great!

The doors are beautiful. I think you have more talent than you say. A tool is only good in the right hands. :)

We're having a storage closet renovated into a 3/4 bathroom here. It's 11' long by 51" wide. using a rounded front toilet and then a rounded wall sink, it leaves plenty of room to walk passed them to get to the shower which is a bit oversized (48" x 42").

Good luck with the new bath reno at your house. A second bathroom makes life so much easier!

[Kingshakabobo]

3. Thanks! My bath will be a little tight. ..... 51" wide by 8 feet long.

We are still going to squeeze in a decent size shower. I'm going to use a small wall mount sink to make up for some space.

I plan on pouring my own concrete shower pan to maximize the space available......versus buying a pre-made shower base.

Here are instructions on making a shower pan. This is a little complicated for a DIYer but I think I will tackle it. I sent these instructions to a friend of mine who did his own. Now that he has one pan under his belt he will be an expert when he helps me :) Also, he found a tile store that sells a product to help take the guess work out of the concrete sloping. It's a pre-made "screed" for pouring the mortar.

http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html

[eleny]

4. We have the same width room

Ours would be about the same length room as yours, too, but one doorway gives it the extra few feet of length. It's going to be a jack and jill bath since it's off an office and the spare bedroom. Those doorways create unusable space. So we have about the same usable area as yours.

Here's the sink and toilet we're using. Last sink on this page right above the faucet at the bottom. It has the attached chrome towel bar to save space.
http://www.plumbingworld.com/lavsinks_wallmounted.html
It's already arrived and we like it a lot since it's a deep sink.

This round front toilet will give us a walkway of approximately 25 inches. It's a "tall" toilet, too.
http://www.totousa.com/productpage.asp?PID=520

Our neighbor is helping us with this. Hubby did the electrical and prepared the concrete floor. But our neighbor is retired from construction and has built showers.

Pre made shower pans are restricting. Creating your own will allow you the size shower you can squeeze out of your space. :)

Hubby wants a shower door. There's a company here in town that custom builds bi and even tri fold glass shower doors. We'll see if we have the space. If not, this double shower curtain rod will help. One rod is for the shower curtain and the other is for bath towels. No need for a towel bar.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13768102

There's so much out there for outfitting small bathrooms!

[Kingshakabobo]

5. Ha! We must be related.

I've been looking at that sink and I have that shower rod in the main bath.

We part company on the bowl though......once you go long bowl, you never go back. :)

[eleny]

6. I agree about the bowl

But with only 51" to work with, I gave into temptation. Walking past the long bowl to get to the shower would surely give clumsy me black and blues on my legs. At least it's tall.

Funny about the sink and curtain rod! I can say with confidence that the sink is nice. It's been sitting here in my office for a couple of weeks. (We have another huge project going on at the same time.) The towel bar doesn't stick out. It's tucked in there. But I like the sink and the plumber thought it was well made. The only drawback is that with the towel bar, a small cabinet can't be built under the sink unless we remove the bar. And that looks tricky.

One problem that still has to be decided is where the heck to put the toilet paper holder. The walls are cinder block. Old post WWII house. I hope to be able to niche out the outer wall that's opposite the toilet so it can be recessed. This is my last challenge. We can always get a chrome standing paper holder and stand it between toilet and shower.

Here's a rough sketch of the bathroom

[Kingshakabobo]

7. I see. That makes sense.....

I see where you have two doors that eat up space. My door opens in to the bedroom but doesn't interfere with the bedroom traffic pattern. The toilet is in front of and a little off-set to the left. It's not the best design - toilet in front of a door - but it provides for a little wiggle room as you walk past it to the right on the way to the shower/sink.

I would think you should be able to steal a little niche space from the cinder-block wall??

[eleny]

8. We do what we must in our small spaces

I think it's amazing how you figured out where to steal room from here and there and create a whole new room. Your toilet placement makes sense to me. When you're in a rush and need to go there's no toidy more handy than one that's right there! I kid you not.

[MelissaB]

10. I didn't know a double shower curtain rod existed.

Thanks for the link. We've just bought a new old house that needs some remodeling.

[eleny]

11. Me too

When we started this remodeling project I started looking to see what was out there. There are a couple of companies that make these. Some look more sturdy than others.

[Grateful for Hope]

9. fascinating thread

those doors you made are absolutely beautiful.

[Kingshakabobo]

12. Thanks!

So are those kids YOU made! (I'm assuming they are yours).

[Grateful for Hope]

13. Sort of

They are two of my grandkids.

Thank you!:D

[Dover]

14. Beautiful! I'm so impressed!

And really appreciate the threads in this forum that show/tell how to do various projects.
Very helpful and generous!