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  • Home renovation advice wanted

    We've moved into our new house! And, honestly, I could not be happier. Everything is on one floor, I can get into almost every room in the house (the pantry door is a hair too small for my chair to fit), the house is very open and spacious. This house is aaaaaalmost perfect. It has only one problem- The second bathroom.

    Now, as I said, I can get into almost every room in the house, and that includes this bathroom. However, while my wheelchair does fit through the door, I have little room to move otherwise. For some reason, the builders of this house made it so that the door to that bathroom not only swings inward, but blocks the toilet in the process. My dad and I have examined it and are considering one of two options:

    1) Install a pocket door

    2) Switch the hinges around to the opposite side of the frame so the door swings outward.

    All of this, of course, depends on the cost and how labor-intensive it would be, but I want a second (and third, fourth, and eleventeenth) opinion. Has anyone here ever dealt with such a situation?
    "Things that fail to kill me make me level up." ~ NateWantsToBattle, Training Hard (Counting Stars parody)

  • #2
    Bifold or accordion door might work.
    There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

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    • #3
      My first choice would be reversing the swing of the door (what you call "switching the hinges"), since this would probably be the cheapest option. Next would be the bifold/accordion door (next cheapest). Pocket doors are a PITA (MAJOR surgery to the wall, and there might be pipes/wires/it's a bearing wall that would keep you from doing it.

      If reversing the swing, you might want to (depends on layout of the house) have it hinged at the other side in addition to swinging out instead of in - plot this out before you start work. Don't know if this work is extensive enough to need a building permit (pocket door almost certainly would be, but the other options might not).
      Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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      • #4
        A pocket door would be the most attractive and functional option, but in a finished house it is very labour intensive, requires some building knowledge, some demolition, redoing some drywall and finishes, and as wolfie mentions possibly moving some wires, ducts, water lines, gas lines etc. If it is a load bearing wall it will also require some beefing up of the top plate and the last two full studs.

        A bi-fold or accordion door would probably be the next choice for both form and function. On the pro side they are fairly easy to install, on the con side they often don't seal solidly like either a standard or pocket door, so for a bathroom you may feel they don't offer enough privacy.

        Reversing the swing of the door would be the easiest and quickest solution, requires the least know-how and would offer good privacy for a bathroom. If the doorway is between the hall and bathroom, or a well used room like the living room and bathroom try to place the hinges o the side farthest away from the exit of the house. The door will only open about 90 degrees away from the hinges, and if you are trying to exit quickly in an emergency, in the dark, and you run into the door you want it to swing shut, not stay open and knock you out.
        Pain and suffering are inevitable...misery is optional.

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        • #5
          My parents bathroom had a pocket door as people are calling it (basically slid back along the wall rather than opening in any way). Now I know that its many years on and they are built differently but some things I always hated about it:
          - It never felt totally closed and with the bath at the door end of the room I never felt I was in "private".
          - Quite often we had to put it back on the damn rail since even the slightest wrong movement would mean it would come off the rail - as a young teenager that annoyed me no end as the rail was at the top and the door too heavy to do myself.
          I am so SO glad I was not present for this. There would have been an unpleasant duct tape incident. - Joi

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          • #6
            If there is enough open wall space outside the bathroom, you could do a surface mount sliding door.

            Maybe a double swing, double door could work.
            Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
            Save the Ales!
            Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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            • #7
              Reversing the swing would be cheaper and the least labor intensive.

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              • #8
                Sounds like it's a pretty unanimous vote on the reversing of the swing. Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll tell my dad about this research and hopefully get this project going within the next week or so.
                "Things that fail to kill me make me level up." ~ NateWantsToBattle, Training Hard (Counting Stars parody)

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