How To Measure Your Bathroom For A DIY Renovation

So you've decided to renovate your bathroom? Before you jump straight in there's a few steps involved before you can start your whirlwind renovation adventure. 

Most importantly you need to have a planned layout for what will be your dream bathroom. To create the most accurate bathroom layout, you will need to measure your space accurately. Miscalculating the measurements can cause issues further along the renovation process and lead to delays, and possible budget blowouts. 

These initial measurements will help create a clear diagram of how much space you have to work with. It will help you visualise your planning for the next steps such as choosing the size of your fixtures, the placement of the fixtures, or how many fixtures you can fit in your bathroom.

Drawing a sketch of “a bird’s eye view” of the room or space will help you clearly note down all the measurements. To the best of your ability, try to depict the room as close to scale as possible, if there is a small nook try to sketch it relative to the other walls.

If you don't feel as confident to draw your own plans, try a free app like magicplan for iOS or Android which helps you create your floor plan based on your photos of the room. Or there are apps like Planner 5D where you can create a full HD rendering of your dream bathroom and choose from over 4000 furnishings to truly visualise what the space will look and feel like.  

Using your measuring tape, measure the length of each wall then write it down on your sketch. You will need to write down all measurements for the perimeter of the room. In a regular rectangle shaped room, you will take down the 4 walls. When you are dealing with irregular rooms, you will also need to take the measurements for the extra walls that make up the room you are measuring. 

To calculate floor space area of a regular sized room, you multiply length x width. To calculate the size of an irregular sized, split up the space into rectangular sections and measure the length x width. Then calculate the floor space of each of the sections and add them together. 

Measure from floor to ceiling. Make sure you measure each wall because they might not all be the same measurement. If the room has any slopes in the ceiling due to staircases or in attic conversions, you will need to also draw a side elevation view of the wall and note the required dimensions.

If there are windows in the room, you will also need to note down the size of the window and position from the floor and from either side of the wall.

Measure the width and swing span of the door. This is so you are not creating any obstacles when placing your fittings. You will need to measure its position on the wall to make sure you can still use up the left-over space along the wall for fixtures.

Also, it is important to note whether the door swings in or out.

Record the measurements of existing fixtures such as lighting, plumbing and power outlets. By knowing where these elements are you will be able to more accurately set a budget for the project as you could ask the plumber what the cost of moving elements from one location to another is if required.

Also record any fixtures you will not be getting rid of like a bath or toilet. Including them in your measurements will help you accurately decide what else you can fit in this space.

Add these measurements to your sketch for extra visualisation of your project.

Nowadays most phones have a camera, be sure to take some photos so that you can also reference them later.

Walking room

Consider how much room you will need to be able to walk freely in your bathroom. If you are renovating a shared family bathroom, you will need ample space for multiple people to be in there at once. For narrow spaces, consider choosing fixtures that are specifically designed with space saving in mind, such as the Ellamay vanity designed specifically for narrow bathrooms. A great bath that is perfect for small spaces is our Ariana bath which comes in a variety of sizes, even as small as 1300mm!

Accessories

Every bathroom has essential accessories that need to be accounted for when allotting your fixtures to your space. Consider the space needed for a toilet brush holder, toilet roll holder, towel rail etc.

There should be at least 60cm clearance in front of a toilet. Make sure to account for cupboard and shower door swing or consider adding a shower enclosure with a sliding shower door so they open without obstruction.

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