Remember back to your college days. Reach past the hazy memories of endless lectures and beer pong parties with sorority girls. What irked you most about college? A betting man would say one of the first things that leapt to mind was the dorm bathroom. There is nothing worse than sharing a bathroom with a dozen guys and girls. The long wait for a shower that filled you with a deep dread, and that dread would only get worse when you stepped inside that shower. You would examine the tile and seriously contemplate asking your Mom to send you sandals to shower in.
College instilled in all of us a deep phobia for sharing a bathroom, a phobia that persists into our thirties and forties. “Share a bathroom with my two kids? Maybe I should just start looking for a new house instead.”
But you can have your bathroom and use it, too.
Can I Add a Bathroom Onto My House?
Of course you can. Now that your question has been answered in the affirmative you want to wander away and watch cat videos on YouTube. Hang on. The cat videos can wait. The one great, eternal truth of the Internet is that there will always be cat videos. Stay here and read some more about bathroom additions.
See, you can add a bathroom onto your house, but there are a lot of things you need to think about before you break out the pipes and new toilet. 
I know, I know. You really wanted to watch kitty videos. Be patient.
Where Do I Put a New Bathroom?
The most common places to add a bathroom are either off of a kitchen, or as part of a bedroom.
When it comes to bedrooms the most common way to add on a bathroom is to take an under-used closet and convert that closet it into a bathroom.
But won’t I lose closet space? Not necessarily. A skilled room addition builder can add a bathroom while preserving existing closet space, or build additional closet space to compensate for the lost space. Also you can independently purchase storage solutions, like dressers and wardrobes, to offset for a lost closet.
Another option is to split an existing bathroom. Oftentimes master bedrooms come with large master bathrooms. If you are not using all that space, a skilled room addition contractor can split that large master bathroom into two bathrooms.
And if nothing else works you can add a few feet to your foundation and add a proper room addition onto your home.
You are saying to yourself, “This is great information, but my Aunt just told me about this great cat video…”
Just stop. We will get there. But for now we are discussing bathroom additions.
Does the Location of My New Bathroom Need Water and Power?
Your new bathroom would not be much of a bathroom sans water and power, would it? When selecting a location for your new bathroom you will want to consider ease of access to both water and power.
For instance, let’s say you want to add a master bathroom in your bedroom. You are already sharing one bathroom a few feet down the hall with your kids. One morning your kids walked in on you and your wife, and your kids saw some unfortunate things, and that shower was too small anyway, so you are wondering if it will cost you a fortune to run new piping to a new bathroom.
If your bedroom shares a common wall with your bedroom, a skilled remodeling company can tie your new plumbing into your existing plumbing without breaking your bank account. If your bedroom is too far away from your existing plumbing, then you are looking at a greater expense.
The same is true with electrical. You will want to have your general contractor inspect your current electrical system to make sure you have enough power for a new bathroom. If you don’t have enough power your general contractor will need to upgrade your electrical system, or sub the work out to a qualified electrician.
“This is awesome,” you are saying to yourself, “I am going to go check that out … as soon as I watch this video of a kitty …”
Dude, stop. I promise you there will be kitty videos, but first one more thing about adding a bathroom onto your existing home.
Can I Add Windows To A New Bathroom?
Natural light is all the rage in bathroom renovations these days, and for good reason. Natural light gives a bathroom a spa-like feel and tone. Suddenly your bathroom goes from “That room where I shower quickly and ignore the weird green stuff growing on the shower ceiling” to a relaxing retreat where you can sink into a bathtub and mutter, “Calgon take me away!”
When choosing a location for your new bathroom you will want to consult with your remodeling company to figure out what kind of windows you want in your bathroom. Do you want something small and private? Or do you want a bay window that yells, “Hey world look at me … Unless I am in the shower, because that is weird.”
Either option can most likely be accommodated, but which option you choose is going to greatly impact the cost of your bathroom addition.
A Few Other Things to Think About
You will want to consult with your contractor about things like time and permitting before you start the entire addition process.
Adding a bathroom can take a couple weeks, or a couple months, depending on how much construction is required. You will want to plan for the disruption of a construction company taking over your house.
Obtaining a permit for a bathroom addition is not a hugely complicated process in most cities, but it is a bureaucratic process that can take some time. Your contractor should be able to help you navigate through the waters of the permit process.
Looking for a really awesome bathroom additions company? Contact Precise Home Builders, they have been helping homeowners improve their bathrooms and avoid awkward family moments since 1987.
The Moment You Have Been Waiting For
You have been so very good. So as promised … a video of a Cat in a shark costume cleaning a kitchen…
