Designing & building your Bathroom

Mar 11

You have many choices when it comes to designing your PERFECT Van Layout. Deciding on a bathroom/shower is one of the most important. Over the past 3 years we have become well known for our bathroom designs and integration of a Wet Bath (Enclosed Shower & Toilet Combo) into our custom van conversions. In fact, this is why many of our clients choose us specifically.

We are going to review a few of the options you have for a bathroom and show you how we build our enclosed Wet Baths.

Pick A Toilet

Urine Diverting Toilet, Composting or Removable Cassette Toilet. When it comes to designing your bathroom you must first decide what you will be including. Deciding on a toilet is the first step. Over the course of building for clients we have incorporated each of the 3 options above into layouts. Each come with their pros and cons. There is no shortage of information on the internet that you can search. I would encourage you to do your own research and talk with people who have tried each option before you make a decision.

In this post I am going to focus on the Urine Diverting option. This design and framing can be adjusted to fit any other toilet option.

Wet Bath with Urine Diverting Toilet

This bathroom was designed by us for our very first van we built. We wanted to easily be able to pee and shower in an enclosed space that was water tight. The urine drains directly into a 5 gallon holding tank under the van and the shower drains into a 15 gallon holding tank. The goal was to combine a shower and toilet into the van while taking as little space as possible. To do this we created a toilet box which overhangs the shower pan. This allowed us to fit a 18” toilet bench and a 32” shower pan into only 45” of space including the framing and outside walls. With this design we are able to save roughly 9” front to back in the van layout.

selecting a Shower Pan

We use a 32” wide x 24” deep shower for this design. You can find it linked here. It does come in a left or right drain version. You will want to drill some test holes to check and see which version of this works best in your van depending on your shower placement. We typically use the right drain version.

There are other options out there but we have tested these shower pans in over 12 vehicles at this point and they hold up very well and look great.

Selecting a Toilet

We recommend the Separett Privy 501 Urine Diverting Toilet. They look great and work very well. Again, you have options but we are sharing the products we have experience with and have found to be the best quality.

Get Your Materials

It’s very important that you have your materials before you get too far. Here is a list of items you will need.

20 Steel 10ft Tracks - 2 1/2”x 1 1/4” (You can use either steel studs or steel track or channels. They may be called by different names depending on there you find them. I have had luck finding them at Home Depot in San Diego but here in Boise I have to go to a speciality commercial construction supplier to get them.)
Malco Self Tapping Screws
Shower Pan
3 5/8” Hole Saw
2” Hole Saw
4 Sheets of 4’x8’ Kerdi Board Foam Board (Lowes or local Dal Tile Center)
Self Tapping Drywall Screws
Kerdi Board Washers

Outlining your Shower Layout In the Van

This is a very important step that many people skip over and it leads to problems later in their build. Once you have your shower pan and steel track, layout your shower pan and use small pieces of the steel track to check your placement in the van. Drill a test hole with a 1/8” drill bit to make sure you have clearance for your shower drain through the van. Ensure you have room around any supports in the frame to drill the larger 3 5/8” clearance hole for the shower drain.

Your shower should be 44” long from the outside edge of the steel channels. Once you add the 1/2” plywood walls onto the outside the shower will be a total of 45” long from front to back in the van and approx 28” wide. You should have already made a centerline down the middle of the floor in your van. Use this centerline as a reference to mark out side walls of your bathroom. I typically lay by studs 6 3/4” away from the centerline.

Framing out the shower walls

Now that you have your materials transferred your layout to the van, you are ready to make your cut list and begin framing out the shower walls in the van. Making a sketch of your shower and creating a cut list will save you time and help to prevent mistakes.

Tips for Framing: Use a small clamp to clamp channels together with attaching together with Malco self tapping screws. This will make the process much easier!

rear side wall framing for sprinter bathroom.png — **Rear Van Bathroom Side Wall Framing**

Our standard vertical height is 74 1/4”. This is based on the distance from the floor to the bottom of our furring strips. Depending on your van, this may be longer or shorter.
The Vertical support on the back wall of the shower will be notched to account for the curvature of the van side wall. You can accomplish this by cutting the side flange on the steel support allowing the support to bend. When this support is placed into the track the face of the support should be facing inside the van. This will give you a surface to attach the Back Wall supports to later.
***Cut List***
*74 1/4” Vertical Supports = 3*
*74 3/4” Angled Rear Vertical Support = 1*
*28” Bottom Channel = 1*
*18.5"“ Top Channel = 1*

Front Wall Bathroom Sprinter Van — **Bathroom Door Wall Framing**

To make the doorway I utilize square up a separate wall with the Rear Van bathroom Wall. an 11” bottom channel leaves you with a nice sized opening for your door once the bathroom is complete. The longer you make this the smaller the door will become.
The Side Flanges are notched 2.5'“ at the ends to allow the Top Channel to run over the side wall framing.
***Cut List***
*74 1/4” Verticals = 3*
*11” Bottom Channel = 1*
*44” Top Channel = 1*

**Forward Van Bathroom Side Wall Framing**

Repeat the same process for the Forward Van Wall as the Rear Van Wall.
***Cut List***
*74 1/4” Vertical Supports = 3*
*74 3/4” Angled Rear Vertical Support = 1*
*28” Bottom Channel = 1*
*18.5"“ Top Channel = 1*

Screen Shot 2020-08-06 at 9.18.49 AM.png — **Bathroom Back Wall Framing**

The Back Wall supports help to provide structure to the bathroom and also provide a surface to attach the foam backer board. These horizontal supports are 44” long with the side flange notched 2.5” on either side to allow the face to be attached to the Angled Vertical Supports.
Here you will see each of the sections by color based on where the vertical is attached in relation to the notches on the Angled Rear Vertical Support.
Red Indicates below the 32.5” notch. The bottom support should be placed high enough to secure the flange on the top of your shower pan. Typically the bottom should be 3” from the floor.
Green indicated the section between the 2 notches. One support should be placed above, another center and one below.
Blue indicates the top section. Once should be placed above the 59 1/2” notch and the other as high as it can be placed without touching any of the metal supports on the van.
***Cut List***
*44” Long Support = 9*

Bathroom Ladder Support Framing — **Side Wall Ladder Supports**

These supports are designed to help provide additional supports to mount the foam backer board. Extending these supports allows you to screw the foam board in close to the seam and provides additional support.
Typically 5-6 Supports spaced evenly will provide adequate attachment points. Using the same length of supports at the same vertical point on both side wall will also help to ensure your bathroom is square. You will need to notch the side flange 1 1/4” to allow the face of the support to overlap the vertical support for attachment.

Build Photos

Securing the SHower Pan

Now that the bathroom is framed and holes have been drilled for the shower drain and urine diverting toilet drain, you are ready to secure the shower pan.