Most bathroom renovation problems are discovered on site, when it's expensive to fix. Almost all of them could have been spotted in a floor plan beforehand. Here are the seven most common mistakes — and how to avoid each one.
1. Forgetting door clearances
The bathroom door needs space to open — and so does every door on every cabinet and appliance. If the shower door clashes with the vanity unit, or the WC door swings into the basin, you'll know about it every day. Use Free Room Planner's door swing feature to visualise clearances before finalising positions.
2. Ignoring the soil pipe
The WC must connect to the soil pipe — and moving a soil pipe is expensive. Most UK homes have the soil pipe running through an internal wall (often the wall backing onto the stack). Note this position before planning your layout, because it significantly constrains where the WC can go.
3. Insufficient space in front of the WC
Building regulations recommend 600 mm of clear space in front of the WC pan. Less than this and the bathroom feels cramped and is uncomfortable to use. Measure this carefully in your floor plan.
4. The basin too far from the mirror
The basin and mirror should be on the same wall. Placing the basin on one wall and the mirror (for practical reasons — available wall, light source) on another is a surprisingly common mistake that makes the bathroom inconvenient to use daily.
5. Not accounting for towel rail positions
Towel rails need to be near the bath or shower, and need wall space. In a small bathroom, this can conflict with the basin, door, or storage. Note towel rail positions in your floor plan early — they're often an afterthought that gets squeezed out.
6. Underestimating the shower enclosure footprint
A shower tray might be 900×900 mm, but the enclosure door needs clearance too. A pivot door requires the full door width in clear floor space in front of it. A sliding or bifold door needs less. Mark this in Free Room Planner using the door swing feature.
7. Not sharing the plan with all tradespeople
Your plumber, tiler, and electrician all need to understand the layout. If only the plumber sees your plan, the tiler may lay tiles that need to be cut around a unit the plumber has already installed differently than planned. Export your Free Room Planner plan and share it with everyone before work starts.