Hi there guys. I was wondering if a couple of you could recommend approximate relative positions for the following items:
Towel ring
Toiletry shelf
Bath Hook
Toilet tissue holder
Shower curtain
I know that some of this relates to the particular room, but as a rule of thumb…how would you recommend they be laid out?
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Replies
I don't attach shower rods to the molded tub enclosure, if I can help it I attach them above on the wall and use those spring loaded ones whenever I can.
I sit on the toilet and eyeball where I would like the paper holder to be. The rest I just think it out, are the towel bars in the most reachable spot and not in the way? If I have soap in my eyes and I'm grouping around half blind where would I want that towel on the ring to be?
I don't put bathrobe hooks on the doors either I just think it looks tacky.
The fact is in my own home I never have a paper holder, just set the roll on the vanity, back of toilet, floor, basket etc.
Hey Brad,
Items such as you have listed require HOs approval. I don`t set a one of them without getting the he or she that will be living in this space to mark everything out themselves.
Typically I suggest that the husband and the wife take some time and figure out together where exactly they desire the items installed.
What works for me (or you), may not be what the customer has in mind.
Can`t tell by your post whether you`re in the biz or are attempting this project for yourself. If this is your own bath, get DW in there with you and go through the motions....sit on the bowl...wash hands and reach for a towel, etc. Find the most convenient, comfortable, unobtrusive places to install each item.
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For the tp holder I usually sit in position and locate the holder within convenient reach. I find that there is a tendency, if mounted to the side, to put it too far back, requiring more twisting than necessary, so I make sure it is relative forward. Too far back can aggravate back pain on those occasions when we do more than our middle age bodies should do.
For towel bars I balance the following desires. It should be within reach of the tub/shower without dangerous stretch. It is nice to have it above a heating register to dry towels faster. Hand towels are nice close to the sink so wet hands don't drip on the floor where your bare feet walk. I don't like towels on the side of vanities within splashing range of the toilet. I prefer long towel bars that hold towels without having to bunch them up or fold them over, again so they dry well.
I usually mount the shower rod so the curtain hangs about halfway down, or a little more, into the tub, which puts the rod about 6" above the top of a standard fiberglass enclosure.
I don't use hooks for me. It seems they are for dry clothes, so should be away from the shower a bit so they don't get splashed. In guest bathrooms you should always have several empty hooks. One of those things that makes staying at someone else's house uncomfortable is that, for modesty, guests usually take their clean clothes into the bathroom with them and change there. If the only places to set clothes down are on a wet sink or a toilet seat, it can be impolite. I like to make sure there are lots of hooks without my stuff on them for guests.
I never use a toiletry shelf. I don't like the messy appearance of stuff all over the bathroom. Everything should be neat, clean, and tidy, which means everything should be put out of sight except for the toothbrush, hand soap, toilet paper, and tissues.
A wall clock is handy in a bathroom.
I never use a toiletry shelf.
And I think they are a very valid necessity, particularly in guest baths. Why? Because, guest-less, they are neat and empty. Because, guest baths often have little flat area for ones "dop kit"--a needful part of one's traveling kit. That makes a shelf for one's things a very nice thing to have.
I'll also admit to using every accessory made, because bathrooms are seldom laid out for the accessories (the expensive items, fixtures, cabients, etc., not surprisingly get the most attention). So, that spot that ought to have a towel bar maybe gets a ring instead. Or, maybe it gets a robe hook to snag a towel over. One customer really (really) liked the "L" shaped paper holder--they were used in lieu of robe hooks & towel rings (paper holdre was a plain-jane item with the spring center, go figure).Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
, that spot that ought to have a towel bar maybe gets a ring instead. Or, maybe it gets a robe hook to snag a towel over.
That isn't uncommon. People get to the end of the BA remodel and discover that they only have room for one towel bar in a ba that can potentially be used for 2-4 people.
Whether they try to double-tier the bars or stick one on the back of the door or get by with rings instead of bar, you can pretty much assume they're going to have drying issues, which in turn will eventually lead to mold/mildew.
jt8
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -- Ann Landers
Drying?You use the same towel more than once?The towel bar is there to provide an accessable towel until it gets used. After that, it belongs in the laundry bin
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Drying?
You use the same towel more than once?
The towel bar is there to provide an accessable towel until it gets used. After that, it belongs in the laundry bin
Well heck, I'm surprised disposable towels haven't become the rage yet. Use it once and then throw it away. Keep the cotton growers busy ;)
jt8
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -- Ann Landers
"You use the same towel more than once?"
Yup.
And why not? You're supposed to be clean when you get out of the shower.
All my wives were my favorites [Cary Grant]
Boss, I'm not going to make as big of a deal out iof this as I do about SR screws pretending to hold cabinets to a wall, but I am serious about this.
Part of bathing is the rub down after.
I
( I'll use the first person pronoun 'cause maybe it's not this way for everybody)
I towel off vigorously and that leave sa lot ofdead skin cells on the towel. Probably a lot of bacteria too.All I know is that any towel I have ever picked up to use a second time, whether first used by myself, or anybody else in the family, has had a smell that was to my nose, repulsive. Nothing I would want to rub back onto my freshly clean skin again.Now, I have been told that I have an overly semnsitive nose, so maybe it's just me...
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"Now, I have been told that I have an overly semnsitive nose, so maybe it's just me.."I think that you misselled it.Did you mean SMELSITIVE.
I wasn't trying to say you're wrong or that I'm right. Just that not everyone deals with towels in the same way.
A solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity [Mark Twain]
Oh, Well, in that caseI'M RIGHT!;)
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Well, I was right about the toenailing thing. So I'll give ya this one.(-:
You know "that look" women get when they want sex?
Me neither.
I agree with the vanity shelf, especially in the guest bath. Functional when needed, can be left empty most of the time. And with the excellent craftsmanship you get with products like the Ginger Gusa accessories I purchased for the bath I really think it adds a lot to the room.
I just did three bathrooms saurday
Towel ring - varies a lot.
One at 42" H and side of the pedestal sink
One on side wall high above towel bar
One on side end of vanity box
Toiletry shelf - about 8" above the pedestal sink. You need to be able to operate the stem for the drain, but it needs to be under the mirror enough to not block it
Bath Hook - most poeople like it on the back of the door
Toilet tissue holder - sit and pretend
Shower curtain - 64" above the edge of the tub itself
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Amazing. After countless bathrooms I had to check mine against your positions. Shower bar 63 1/2 from tub O/C. Not hooks but oak pegs for robes etc on back of door. Ring is for a wash cloth not a towel and next to sink. Towel bar (rounded off square oak) just outside of shower curtain--42" from floor. Good to know we are all unique. Hah. Tyr
Many use towel rings for towels...
So they should be close to sink, where one can get a face into it when dripping with water and eyes closed.but otherwise, we are in full agreement. Towel bars standard at 42" - that happens to be close in alignment with the glss accessarie shelf often.what I hate is some of the standards for "accessable" use in universal design. My be mathematically correct, but any handicapped bathroom i have ever seen always seems to me to be awfully ugly.
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Towel bars standard at 42"
"Stacked" bars 'work' using 36" and 72" but 39" for the bottom one is better for long or beach towels.
what I hate is some of the standards for "accessable" use in universal design. My be mathematically correct, but any handicapped bathroom i have ever seen always seems to me to be awfully ugly.
Well, it is gov't-mandated design, and how often is that "esthetic"? I'm just glad the colors are not mandated to be light mint over medium mint . . . (or pale mustard over pale avocado, etc. . . . )Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
geez, you guys just can't help yourselves....yeah, it's government mandated...in an ADA bath....so the poor b@@@## in the wheelchair can take a dump....nobody said you have to put it in your house....Puhlease.....
Actually, that is incorrect. There are some of those standards forced upon us.In th eone I just did, one of the occupants is expecting to need living assistance soon and asked for that sort of thing to be incorporated into her bathroom. Where it becomes an aesthetic issue is that I am know for making things work and look right at the same time. so not only does the bathroom need a little size, it also needs certain equipment and they want it to look like an integral part of the two hundred year old house. She also wants grab bars on the shower wall area, but wants them to look like nice towel bars. You ever try to get an inch and a half grab bar to look like a stylish 1" towel bar?I finally found some one inch grab bars in a caalouge and ordered them.No luck, the gubmint won't let them make a grab bar with that diameter. We got a compromise 1-1/4" and there is a good chance we will have to paint it to match the tile so it doesn't show.I understand the need and reason for all the details of this, but that doesn't make it look any better, and the idea of the thread is to find locations that are both functional and appealing, just like anything lese that is part and parcel of a house that human beings will live in. The standards are written for the standard human, but did uyou ever watch a 4'2" woman try to work at a astandard 36" kitchen counter? Or her 6'4" hubby try to do the dishes for her?I jsut can't accept the idea of "There, it's done to standard and that makes it right" I always have and always will keep trying to do it better than minimum standard.
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hey, absolutely....but re-read your post...the customer is requesting stuff...custom stuff at that...my point still stands...the ADA specs are there to make the room accessible...not for aesthetics...
towel bars aren't grab bars....simple fact, no big deal...
on a lighter note, ain't picky clients grand....had one a long time ago, on a kitchen remodel...had a three way dimming light to put in (maybe four way..it was a looong time ago)...we knew she wanted slide dimmers (you know, the kind with the little LED to tell you how dim you were)...well, we couldn't fine a slider in the 3 (or 4) way, so we put in the old rotary kind....when she saw it she started crying! Life's too short.....
nobody said you have to put it in your house
Nobody, yet. "They" have given the idea some consideration, though.
Lest anybody mistake me for a windmill, I've designed, and remodeled, and improved bathrooms, new and existing, for several "differently abled" persons. The rotapodal can be quite demanding about the appearance of their houses, and rightly so. Keeping the feeling of a "house's" bathroom can be tough with the antiseptic, institutional look of "multifunction" fixtures and accessories.
Particularly when your customer has had quite enough, thank you very much, of institutional fixtures. Also, when said customer can just about curl what you'd like to bench . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Strange that I get a "message notification" from Breaktime advising me that a message from "PIFIN" awaits! On the issue of the ugly bathrooms. Just could be that a special market or a design challenge awaits someone with a willingness to "go for it". About those towels someone put under a window--about a zillion years ago my wife and I thought a cruise would be great to celebrate our anniversary. NCL or Norwegian Cruise Lines had refitted an old, great big, oceanliner that we caught out of Miami.
The towels hung on round chrome tubes (everything else was pink and black). Surprise! Those tubes had hot water running through them from the boiler room. So no drying problems and did they feel good getting out of the shower. Of course the only "window" was a port hole but those warm towels have never been forgotten. Wonder what ever happened to the "Norway". The draft on that baby was so great that they had to use shuttles in port while the ship stayed out to sea. Tyr
It seems for the paper holder the sit and think method is a consensus.
the paper holder the sit and think method is a consensus
Yeah, it does, don't it? I want to remember that the minimum recommended distance is 24" from the back wall. On the wall is almost always better than on the vanity cabinet, because the cabinet is only 18 or 24" deep.
Not many have piped up on where the rest of the rolls go though <g>
Have to wonder if that's because they are always in the least accessible spot <g> . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
>>the paper holder the sit and think method is a consensus
Stand and think
dont put the thing too low, especially if it is a tight room, and put it far enough out front.
too many times the bad aim of a careless peeer will spatter all over the roll if its too close to the bowl. bummer.
You'ver touched on one of my favorite pet peeves - to get started on a job well done
and then to discover there is no way to finish the paperwork
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there is no way to finish the paperwork
And the "entirely logical" placement of extra paper in the linen closet halfway down the hall makes perfect sense only to the person not needing to make that traverse . . .
Heaven forfend that the cabinet right above the w/c actually have anything usefull in it, too . . . <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
By all means, do select "round" towel bars. Those having a "square" bar leave a broad impression on an article laid there to dry...like, a sweater, t-shirt, etc.
My work-around is to ensure a towel rests on the bar & then I place article on top of the towel. Using "square" bars, even then there can often be an impression on the article after drying but it is significantly lesser.
Other than above, the most obvious solution would be to install an electronic drying rack as now being seen in ultra showrooms...but that is not affordable for me considering space & money. I just manage the old fashioned way. But our new house will have "round" towel bars.
Only one who does the laundry & air-drying would think such would make a difference!
An advantage of square towel bars is that the towels don't have to be balanced precisely to keep them from sliding off, or worse yet, rolling the bar and dumping everything off. Creases in towels don't bother me because they are underneath and don't show.
Brad,
Check out the Fine Homebuilding article Ten Important Elements of a Good Bathroom ... it has a chart installation guidelines:
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00012.asp
Whatever ya do, don't ever put a towel bar under a window. DW put ours there. In the winter the towels have a cold, damp feel. I like to have a cabinet over the toilet with spare rolls in it. So I often find myelf sitting there and notice than there are only about 3 sheets of TP left on the roll. And like others have mentioned, the rest of the package always seems to be halfway across the room. Must be Murphy's law or something.
Penny for your thoughts. Twenty to act them out.
the rest of the package always seems to be halfway across the room
Excepting for when Murphy is in charge, in which case, the new paper is on the other side of the house past, twice, the gentle ladies having a refined high tea . . .
Which brings to mind the female question I was asked the other day "Why would you want a magazine rack in the bathroom?"
Oh, the innocence, the not cynical naiveté, I just couldn't explain that it's better magazines than a bucket of leaves or pebbles . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I found myself once explaining to a lady the finer points of library lighting to avoid eyestrain
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Several have mentioned the best policy of having the homeowner(s) walk through and specify exact locations. However, most homeowners always ask, Where do you normally put them?
I usually find that the TP holder ends up at 21" to the center of the bar, and if possible far enough forward to reduce the twisting others have mentioned.
Towel Rings at vanities end up high enough for a folded hand towel to be 2-3" inches above the counter top or at a comfortable height beside a pedastal sink.
We try to set Towel Bars according to the main users of the bath. I have placed them as low as 38" in a kids bath and as high as 54" for one client that only used the super sized bath sheets.
Robe hooks are about the same as towel bars, lower in kids baths and higher in master and guest baths.
Hope this helps. TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
the finer points of library lighting to avoid eyestrain
LoL!
Probably better than trying to explain why there's pages missing from Vogue or Elle but not Popular Mechanics . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Is there any good looking residental verion of the comercial self storing, multi roll holders?
good looking residental verion of the comercial self storing, multi roll holders?
Frighteningly enough, I have spent enough time in Sweets (oh, the glorious day-to-day joy of architecting) to say, "no."
Now, that is not to say that there are not better looking commercial fixtures, there are (they just cost more than the ugly ones, so they don't win the commercial bids as often). There's also some supremely ugly paper dispensers that seem to be designed to not function very well.
I've seen some slick residential solutions, though, using the stud bay space to make a recessed storage cubby for extra rolls. Just some PG pine to make a "U" big enough for a roll on end with some 1/4 ply in the front open at top (to load) and at the bottem (to remove).
At the cabinet shop, we did a custom job on one of our stock "magazine racks" (a doorless medicine cabinet box & face frame)--we added an apron along the top rail with dowels for four rolls of paper. (More that one shop floor comment about a hat rack for the bathroom . . . )
Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Thanks! Great article on general layout. I hate going to those high end home decor places where they have wannabe decorators advising you on stuff they really know little to nothing about. I prefer to hear it from the horses mouth rather than the other end of the animal!
If you are performing a full renovation (gut), figure out where you want them to be before you close up the walls. With the positions in mind, add blocking as required for all those items, and it you're gonna use beadboard/wainscot, add some for that as well. I block any and everything that will have a fastener sticking in the wall, too many kids use the towel bars for chin-ups.
If adding blocking is not an option, you can either search for studs, use mollys, or if you're really industrious and don't mind repairing drywall, cut holes where the brackets will be, glue/screw some 1x material to the back side of the drywall, then patch.
I know this isn't what you asked for, but it seems everyone else had already given you plenty of good ideas.
Disregard at your leisure.
Great idea! I'll do that on my master bath gut next. I also enjoyed the latest FHB article which recommended the same idea for the pedestal sink.
Life is like a box of chocolates!
Check out Wing-its for grab bars. They're remarkably strong, even in 1/2" drywall.
https://www.wingits.com/ They're spendy, but come with peace of mind. They sell a custom 3/4" drill bit for wall tile installations (also spendy, but, "Time is Money".)
The location of bathroom accessories is not fixed and I think they need to be installed according to each room.
But if you need good bathroom accessories, you can choose the bathroom accessories from YIGII. Their products are made of stainless steel and cover with another finish, like brushed neckel finish, matte black finish and chrome finish. And you can get the toilet paper holder, towel holders and shower caddy from YIGII. They all come with high quality for long-term use.
I very carefully placed my TP holder in an accessible position and all was well until my very analytical 5-year old grand-daughter visited and asked why I'd put the TP holder out of her reach..