Episode Ten: Mastering Bathroom Design
The Arcfluence crew dives into the world of bathroom design in this episode, discussing everything from powder rooms to primary suites. Nick, Paul, and Nino share their expert insights on creating functional and stylish bathrooms, covering topics such as layout considerations, double vanities, and the best materials for different spaces. They explore the benefits of having one bathroom per bedroom, the value of Jack and Jill setups, and tips for ensuring proper lighting and ventilation. Whether you're planning a full renovation or just looking for ways to enhance your bathroom's appeal, this episode is packed with practical advice and design inspiration.
Nick: Welcome to another episode of the ArcFluence podcast, where we talk about how design impacts the way we live, work, and invest. I'm Nick Karakaian, your host, and as always, my two co0hosts Paul Fatkins and Nino Samardzik. How you doing guys?
Nino: Pretty good. How are you? Good.
Nick: Great. Hopefully the rain will stop.
Nino: It looks like it stopped. It looks like it stopped. Yeah.
Paul: It's kind of on point because we're talking about what today we were talking about bathrooms.
Nick: Bathrooms!
Paul: Bathrooms, water.
Nick: I guess I'll, I'm going to go with you on that connection because improv, you're supposed to say yes. Sure.
Nick: Why not? Well, this is episode 10 and we are going to be talking about bathroom design,code, drawings, finishes, preferences, what to think about, what to look at. And if you're interested in doing a bathroom design, what you should be asking your architect and contractor. Um, guys, let's kick this off with, um, uh, I mean, we do a lot of bathrooms.
Nick: Um, well, we do a lot of houses in general, which we actually don't take on bathroom. There's too many bathroom only projects, but we do many, many bathrooms.
Nino: He's actually bathroom after the kitchen, the most expensive, uh, investment in a, in a renovation, most expensive, I will say like, uh, room by room.
Nick: I think curb appeal is definitely going to have curb appeal.
Nick: It really depends, I guess, on the scope.
Paul: Um, well, let's, let's say we're not doing anything exterior interior renovation. Yeah. You're spending the most money in the kitchen. And then Nino saying is the bathroom. The second, I would say primary bathroom. Yes.
Nino: Primary bathroom. When you say primary, this is like a master's got it.
Nick: And, and really. I pause when I hear what's the most expensive and I, I want to think about what's, where are we putting those value?
Nino: No, I see what you're saying. I see.
Nick: I would say the primary bathroom would be probably where you're putting it. Significant value.
Nick: ...and we're going to talk about powder rooms.
Nick: We're going to talk about common baths. We're going to talk about primary suites.
Paul: I was going to say, I think I got a good opener. Right. So when you walk into a house, Right. And you have three bedrooms, one bathroom, like, are you okay with that? Just renovate it, keep everything the same or what's, what's your philosophy with bathrooms?
Nick: I know I'm, I'm prompting you.
Nick: I'm going to the extreme on this, where I believe you should have one bathroom for every bedroom you have in your house. And I know that sounds a little ridiculous to some, but we're going to be living in a world in 10 years from now, where that's going to be the norm. Because it doesn't have to be this elaborate spa experience, unless you're in the primary suite, but I've also, we're designing homes with two primary suites now, so we'll have, we'll have like a mother in law suite for grandparents. We're starting to see a lot of generational living, um, like they have in Europe.
Nick: Yes, so yes are super important you you want a separate bathroom for your guests or a powder room. Yes Like so my my house is three and a half baths and I have three bedrooms, right? So every bedroom has their own bathroom and then we have a powder room for our guests if they're if we're just visiting But this way if you have guests they have their own bathroom That you can keep clean.
Nick: I think there's just a privacy component also, not just a functional component, but, um, when you have somebody that comes in a bathroom, I was, I remember those old movies where everyone looks in people's medicine cabinets and see what they can find. I want to avoid that. Right. Yeah. I want you to have your own hotel experience when you're visiting me in my home.
Nick: Yeah. Right. Um, so we can talk about, we can talk about how, um, when we're, if, if we're redesigning your home. We want to, we want to have that discussion. We want to make sure that on the main floor, there is a common bath or at least a powder room. So if, if we don't have any bedrooms on the first floor, I'll I'm fine typically with a half bath, but if we're doing a new build where we have a larger home, say minimum of 2, 500 square foot, we're probably going to work a master, a primary suite onto the first floor on the first floor, so we might have one and a half bathrooms on the first floor and then we'll have a few bedrooms upstairs. So we'll probably have a couple of bathrooms upstairs as well.
Nino: The fact that you, that you mentioned that having the master bedroom, uh, and bathroom on the first floor, because that building will age well, because we're getting older and we don't want to go climbing the stairs all the time.
Nino: Accessibility. Accessibility, exactly. Universal design.
Nick: Universial design. Is also a big part of bathroom design too. And even, even the a DA standards now changed. Yeah. In a commercial world.
Nino: Exactly. A DA and all these clearances grab bars. It's a key. It's a key.
Nick: And what's really cool is there's some, there's grab bars now that are, are for, specifically for residential.
Nick: Yeah. Bathrooms that are beautiful. They are beautiful. You can make some of these standards and still have a beautiful space to enjoy.
Nino: Once again, it's like a, if you, especially if you invest in, in the properties, you will like to hit, or if you're like a doing short term rental, you will like to hit as much different clientele's that you can and having very accessible toilet, 88 toilet is just going to be beneficial.
Nino: Yeah. It takes, takes room, takes space, but benefits is going to be much bigger.
Nick: All right. So let's start with powder rooms. Um, typically in a powder room, um, just some things that are just in my head. Typically when I'm thinking about this stuff, um, I don't have, say you have wood, beautiful wood floors in your house, right?
Nick: I'm going to take those wood floors into the powder room because we don't have a shower in there. Whenever there's a shower, I want to see luxury vinyl. If we're doing luxury vinyl throughout the house, if we're doing, if we have wood floors, um, or carpet, if, if you do have carpet, then I'm going to see tile in the bathroom that has showers or tubs, right?
Nick: But if we're in a powder room or half bath, we can use the same flooring and that's going to spill into that space. And just be uniform, right? I also want to kind of make it a. An interesting space because this is what your guests are going to be seeing. Like they're going to go to the bathroom and they're not going to have these.
Nick: This is going to be a small space. Typically it, we're going to have a pedestal sink. We're not going to need a lot of storage. There's not going to be places for them to snoop around. I was gonna say if any storage, right? I mean, usually you don't have any storage at all. They're going to go in there for the toilet and they're going to wash their hands.
Nick: And then what I kind of want to see to make this a good experience is I want to, I want to have like. I have this huge chandelier, so I want to see like a, you know, a mini chandelier or something good lighting. Um, so that you'd have some main lighting, possibly some lighting over the sink, you know? So when they refresh, you know, they freshen up, they have good lighting for their face.
Nick: Um, Um, I might encourage we do like some type of wallpaper, some type of, um, trim work on the walls, something that's going to elevate that space to make it interesting because the room is only going to have a toilet and a pedestal sink. Right? So we want to make that space as special as possible. We want to have dimmer switches on there.
Nick: We want the lighting to be right. We want to make sure that, you know, that it's going to be something that people are like, Oh, if you're, you're, if you're spending this much energy and focus on your powder room, what is, what is your master suite look like? Can I see that?
Nino: Yeah.
Nick: So, um, standard clearances apply for vanity and, and your toilet.
Nick: So that, that's a pretty straightforward, uh, design there.
Nino: So when you say powder room, so is that like a enhanced half bath? Yeah, exactly. That's pretty much what it is.
Nick: I would just say it's another name. Just like I call my mudroom a scullery.
Nino: Got it. You got it.
Paul: So if you're designing from scratch, what's your ideal location for a half bath?
Paul: I would say in the
Nick: mudroom. So if we're entering the home from a garage.
Nick: I would put a mudroom off of that, or if we're entering, if you're downtown. You're entering your house from the rear because your garage is in the back of the property. Maybe it's detached. Then I would say your mudroom would be back there.
Nick: I would say it's in that zone, right? With laundry. Close
Nino: to the entrance you're saying.
Nick: So you have a secondary kitchen, you know, a mudroom area, some built ins, maybe your laundry's there. And then the half bath. Plus
Nino: you can almost like, uh, strategically like, uh, uh, group all these plumbings close to each other.
Nino: Yeah.
Nick: Um, next we move to our common bath. Now this, again, is probably going to be on a second floor. Um, if we're doing an office space, we'll have the conversation of, um, you know, maybe we have an office on the first floor. Well, I might say, if we have room for a powder room, We'll have a powder room and a full bath on the first floor.
Nick: But sometimes we don't, sometimes we just have space for one bathroom. So we're like, well, we'll make it a full bath because there's a room down there that's probably not going to be used as a bedroom, but it could be. Um, so let's put the full bath downstairs. Maybe they make it a guest room if they don't have an office space.
Nick: So that will be then a common bath. Now in this common bath, since it's, if it's on the first floor, I'm probably not going to put a tub in there. Cause we're probably going to see another common bath upstairs. Cause really my goal is. I want to see, uh, we only really need one tub. In a home, right? Yeah. Um, people love to take baths.
Nick: That's fine, but they don't do it that often. No. Um,
Paul: Yeah, I think the only time when tubs come into play for importance level, right? It's probably like if you have a family with kids, you know, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So I think it also depends on the client and you know, What their life is like.
Nick: So if we're having a common BA bath upstairs, we're probably gonna have a tub in that common bath.
Nick: Mm-Hmm. . Um, probably not gonna see it in the master suite unless it's a freestanding tub and we're doing an aesthetic Yes. Or a soaker, jacuzzi or whatever, something different. So jacuzzi, that's the
Nino: only time I'm using my tub, is actually myself. Myself. And I
Nick: try to get away from the terminology jacuzzi because it makes me think of those 1990s Oh yeah.
Nick: Which I see what you're saying. Yeah. Horrible. But now these, there's some new modern soaker tubs that are. They're beautiful. Um, and not so bulky. Um, all right. So if we're doing a common bath on the first floor. I'm inclined to put a shower. I'm not going to do a tub down there. Um, I think showers with the glass, we can add a little bit more.
Nick: We can elevate that look in terms of design. We're probably going to, depending on the use of the, of the home. If it, if this is your home, we're probably going to put tile in there. You know, we're on the floor, you know, we'll do the scooter pan. Um, we're going to make this nice. Maybe we do a seamless, um, thing transition.
Nick: Yeah. So it's more accessible on the first floor, because if you're going to move into that bedroom at some point and have a guest, we want that bathroom be as accessible as possible. But if we're moving upstairs, less likely to, cause we're going to see that tub.
Nino: Plus usually like a, your, your kids bedrooms are on a second floor.
Nino: So it's make more sense if you have a big family to have a tab on a, on a second floor.
Nick: And then we're going to look at like, How many, how many bathrooms are dedicated to the bedrooms? If, if we're doing a bathroom per bedroom, we're probably not going to have a double vanity and except for in the primary, right?
Nick: It'll probably just to be a single sink, a toilet and a shower. Um, but if that common bath serves two or more bedrooms, hopefully not more.
Nino: Yeah.
Nick: Hopefully not more. Um, then we're going to definitely do try to do a double vanity. We're going to think about linen storage. If, if it's in the closet, great. Is that lens storage in close proximity to that bathroom?
Nick: If it's not, then we definitely want to put some type of open shelving, something like that that's going to go in the space and we'll have that conversation. Usually I, I, I personally defer to open shelving because if it's a common bath, it's probably on the smaller side and I don't want to close off that space with like a closet.
Nick: Unless it's like some type of nook.
Nino: I see what you're saying. You don't want to, you want to dedicate more space of the bathroom itself than for a storage. Yeah,
Nick: I got it. There, there are certain things you can do to make spaces feel less claustrophobic. Um, one is natural lighting. Bring that into every, every space.
Nick: You just have some natural light. Um, two would be good. Artificial lighting, secondary, tertiary.
Nino: Yeah.
Nick: Um, and, and then I would just say ceiling height. Okay. Is also an important thing if we can get eight and a half foot or nine foot ceilings Obviously, this is much easier on a new build. Yeah, um or older homes on the first floor Um, I stay away from eight foot ceilings.
Nick: We just it's just not something we do Yeah, so
Nino: my question linen in a bathroom or outside the bathroom right in front of it
Nick: Are we talking about common baths common bath? I would say out out because now you'll have a closet that can do a little bit more than just your linen You
Paul: Got it. Um I did like what you said about ventilation and, you know, a natural light.
Paul: Right. I think the only challenge is a half bath. So it's like, if you maybe can get a window and a half bath, maybe it depends. Right. It's not necessary. It's not really necessary. Most probably don't have it. And it depends on like where you're facing. Maybe it faces out to deck or patio in the backyard.
Nino: That's all about priorities too. Especially. I don't want to have, but I do
Paul: like your common bath, like your common bath, I think should have a window or any of the other bathrooms too.
Nick: It's also kind of. Sometimes to get a lot of drama in a space in terms of interior design, it does want to be a little darker, that wallpaper, you know, those big light fixtures.
Nick: So like natural light might give a little disorder to that. So, and it also too, is like when we're dealing with a powder room, We might not have the luxury of putting it on the envelope of the house.
Nino: you want to give priorities. You want to give a light to your bedrooms, to your living rooms, kitchens, and all these other spaces.
Nino: And as Paul mentioned, uh, like, uh, especially if you have been doing like a facing a deck, like a, if you're like a bathroom, they can be like a privacy kind of thing. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Paul: Yeah. So majority of the time the blinds are going to be down and closed anyway.
Nick: Or we do a, a window. Like that's one foot by three foot and it's up at like a five and a half.
Nino: It's almost look like a transom is just going to bring the natural light to your space.
Nick: No one's going to see in. You're not going to see out, but you'll get that.
Nino: Which is good because you can actually see or like, uh, you know, natural color of your skin. That is key. You know what I'm saying? That's kind of, you know, since you spend a lot of time staring at the mirror and just.
Nick: Nino, do you spend a lot of time staring?
Nino: No, really don't. Maybe. I'm, I'm, I'm married for happily married for quite a handsome face. I'm just surprised.
Paul: Last thing with windows. Last thing with windows. Just because the windows in a bathroom doesn't mean it needs to be tempered. So yeah, that is correct.
Paul: There's code regulations with this kind of stuff. And again, it depends on where it's located in proximity to your fixtures and other things, and that will dictate whether it's tempered or not, right. How close you are to like your shower and other things. Exactly.
Nino: It's just the reason they put in tempered.
Nino: So, so you don't fall off through the windows down to the ground. Uh, so that's the only reason. So if it is like a really, if you have like a really like a window with a very low window sill close to your shower, then yes, then that's going to ask for a temper glass because you can easily follow through the window to the outside of the building.
Nick: I guess we could transition into primary suite. Master suite. Or yeah,
Nino: master bath. Yeah.
Nick: I, I do know, like if we're, there's a kind of a zone right in the middle where if you have a very large house like act or, or you're just tight on space. I have seen some common baths have a door to the master. Mm. And a door to the hallway.
Nick: I saw
Nino: those two. Yes.
Nick: So depending on the circumstances, if we're maybe, maybe you're in a older home that's small. Mm-Hmm. . And we don't have the room to add, we don't have the, the budget to add an addition and we don't have the room to add a primary suite. So now we're going to take that common bath. We're going to make it a little bit bigger, a little bit more special, and then we're going to have access to that.
Nick: Actually, I...
Nino: like that idea. I like that idea. So you don't, if you just want to, if you're living room and you're just watching TV and I want to jump to the bathroom, you don't have to go through the, to the master bedroom so you can actually make that shortcut.
Nick: Well, it also kind of checks the box. Uh, exactly.
Nick: This does technically have a. Primary suite, even though it's not dedicated. Yes,
Nino: because many, many clients prefer these days, so just have that. Yeah.
Nick: And Paul, you even have a situation like that in your house with the common bath to one of the bedrooms. Yeah.
Paul: Before I got here, I mean, your ratio thing, like I never really gave it much thought.
Paul: Oh, okay. Yeah. Every bedroom, there should be a bathroom, right? That philosophy was completely foreign to me. Well, you used to, I mean, we lived in a house that was three bedrooms, one bathroom, well, one and a half. We did have, yeah. But I mean, still that, that bath that had the, So you guys have a very long queuing. Very long line to get in, in the mornings, come on, I got to go,
Nino: especially if someone occupies the water.
Paul: but then like even our condo in Chicago, the condo in Chicago, we only had two bathrooms.
Paul: Thank, thank goodness. They were full bathrooms. It wasn't like a one and a half situation. So even that, again, it was. You know, tedious sometimes to get access, but yeah, here it's like having that extra door, having the extra bathrooms, having the ease of access, whether you're coming from a common area. Or from the bedroom, right?
Paul: You just close and lock the door. It's a game changer. It really is. It's a game.
Nino: And these little, like a smart little, like a clever shortcuts. And we're going to touch bases on that is a Jack and Jill situation. But after we actually finished, that's...
Nick: that's actually kind of a good step right between primaries.
Nick: So we can go into Jack and Jill. Okay. Yeah.
Paul: Like again, like we have one here and it's, it's like night and day. Like you go without it. And then all of a sudden you switch to having one. And you're just like, why did, why did I go so long without this? So can you explain for the people that maybe don't know what is Jack and Jill?
Nick: Jack and Jill, um, it's a
Paul: fairy tale, right? They jumped over the Kindle sticker.
Nick: No, that was
Paul: Jack. Oh, that was Jack?
Nick: Yeah.
Paul: Jill, what did Jill do?
Nick: No, they went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Yes. Come on, you guys. Okay. My goodness. I know that. I'm testing
Paul: you. And I'm not born in this country, Paul. Um, yeah.
Paul: I'm teaching Nino something and testing you.
Nick: All right. So, uh, Jack and Jill bathroom is essentially where we have two bedrooms with a common bath in the middle. And it's basically a dedicated bathroom to two bedrooms. Um, There are, there are a couple of different variations for a Jack and Jill bathroom.
Nick: And I think, I don't, are we still calling it a Jack and Jill bathroom?
Paul: We are. Yeah. There's no new terminology like primary or butlers or appliance garage, nothing fancy for them.
Nick: So we'll see it more in new builds for family purposes, um, where we have a, a, maybe we have a secondary primary suite for a guest suite, and then we have a couple of bedrooms that share a bathroom.
Nick: Right. Um, And again, it's just if we know that if, if, if residents of a certain house are using this space every single day, it's gonna, it's not necessarily going to be ready for guests to see it, right? So we think about how we're going to entertain. So we want to have a dedicated bathroom for our guests.
Nick: We want to have dedicated bathrooms for the residents. Got it. You know what, you know what it
Paul: reminds me of like the college university days where you had the shared bathroom in between dormitories. Yeah.
Nino: So two vanities or, or, or single vanity, probably two vanities.
Nick: So we, yeah, we actually, in a lot of cases we'll have separate vanities and that'll be the first thing you walk into.
Nick: So each room will have their own vanity. And sometimes their own toilet and what they share is the shower and the tub. So sometimes we'll walk into this corridor where you'll be able to do like pocket doors. Yes. And you'll have a zone. That's just a toilet and a small vanity with almost like a half bath, which is like your own personal that's dedicated to that room.
Nick: And
Nino: that's what I see many of your designs that you like to separate, especially like a toilet to be it's a zone itself. Well,
Nick: imagine if you have a son and a daughter.
Paul: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But do you know why I like the Jack and Joe layout efficiency, right? It's like everybody gets their privacy and their own little space, but at the same time, it's very efficient because it's because they can share, they share some aspect of
Nick: it.
Nick: You can have one like nicer shower. That's a little bit better experience. And you can also potentially have a freestanding tub in front of your Well, you know, you don't need as much space
Paul: because you're not doing two separate, completely separate, everything you share and you can bring
Nino: more, more space to the bedrooms, for example.
Nick: Yeah. Um, which now leads us to the primary bathroom. Yes. The most important bathroom of the house, other than in some cases, the powder room, which, cause again, I like to really go all out on our, on my powder rooms, but, um, Okay. So for the primary suite, this is a conversation that we want to have with our clients.
Nick: We really want to flesh out. Like some people are adamant on having a soaker tub or they're like, no, I just want a crazy big shower with all the glass, all the tile, a bench and lighted niche. Um, you know, and all the things here. I mean,
Paul: it, it really depends on what the client wants at that point. Right.
Paul: Because they're the ones who are using this thing every day. To get ready to get out the door, I remember one was adamant about having a pass through closet. So it's like you literally walked through a closet. Oh, that's a good point. And then into the bathroom
Nino: relationship between walking closet and, and, and, and your masters.
Nino: So yeah, it
Nick: was this long corridor. Yeah. Well, we've talked about this in the past where if you are with your partner and you're getting like, so Sarah gets up earlier than I do, I stay up late. I'm, I'm a night owl and she'll get up early. I don't want her disturbing me. Right. I don't know. Just because she's getting up doesn't mean I want my, my Quality sleep to end at that point, your
Nino: zone to be disrupt,
Nick: right?
Nick: So I want her to step into a space where she can get ready Have her closet and the bathroom except I don't want her necessarily having to come back into the bedroom Or through the bedroom to get to the closet. So we think about those things to some it doesn't really matter. Mm hmm Yeah, so we have that conversation
Nino: That's pretty cool.
Nino: Yeah. So also I see on some of your projects when you actually do the like a combo, you have actually very big, uh, glassed enclosed shower and there is a freestanding tub in it.
Nick: I like that because if we have the space, we should do it. It does add value. Um, Looks cool. I I my wife and I haven't used our freeze not once have not used our freestanding tub And it but it looks beautiful.
Nick: It looks beautiful We have two sconces. You should use it more. Yeah You know, I'm gonna
Paul: buy you a bath bomb so you can go we have a circle. We have a circle
Nick: window. That's above it Yeah, we have waterworks Faucets, it is beautiful. I haven't used it once I know, but I'll buy you the bath
Paul: bomb and you can go and relax.
Paul: Stressful day. Exactly. You never know. Can it be like Chandler on friends, you know, taking the bubble baths. Perfect.
Nick: Yeah. So I would say like, this is an important conversation to have with your clients, to have with your architect. Um, because you really need to know like what, what's going on. What, what is your priorities?
Nick: Right. If you don't have the space, if you're remodeling your existing home, um, which we're seeing a lot of now because of the hike in interest rates, although they are starting to come down, um, you know, they're like, okay, well, we, we love our neighborhood. How can we make this work for the next 10 or 15 years?
Nick: So this is what I really care about. This is where I really want. We have, we did do want a soaker tub recently and she wanted a skylight above it and you know, so we did all the
Nino: things
Nick: now when we're putting in larger tubs or freestanding tubs, it does impact what we do with the rest of space. So I would say.
Nick: It's good to have a double vanity in a primary suite. That's going to add value. That's going to be something.
Nino: Will you actually give a priority to double vanity than to have actually tub? I mean, you have to have tub at least in one bathroom, but in a master suite. You will say, I would rather have double vanity than actually have a tub and a shower.
Nino: I think so.
Nick: I'd want to have a slightly larger shower and a double vanity and maybe a toilet closet, um, or nook.
Nino: Like a separate for a toilet. Yeah.
Nick: I see. Rather than having a bath too, that's then going to potentially sacrifice a sink, a smaller shower, and maybe not a toilet, right? So, something we have to play with.
Nino: So do you want to now jump to talk a little bit more about lighting than you maybe touch bases on on ventilation? Yeah. So, Lighting, we talking double vanity. Let's start with the master bedroom sconces, uh, uh, like a illuminated mirror. What, what will be your preferences?
Nick: So we're going to talk about the client's preferences in terms of design, and we're going to ask them to, to have a Pinterest, you know, work through that and say, what inspires you, what really energizes you excited.
Nick: Um, what we're seeing a lot, I mean, sconces certainly elevate. Um, we are seeing a lot, a lot of lighted mirrors for modern minimalist looks, um, which are great.
Nino: I usually get like a very big mirror, so it doesn't matter. It depends on the client.
Nick: So if we're doing sconces, it's usually smaller mirrors. Oh, they, they do have sconces now that go right on the mirror.
Nick: You're going to be spending a little bit more for that. Um, and then of course the backlit mirrors, which have come down quite a bit in pricing. They're not that expensive anymore. Um, and then in our electrical drawings, we just need to show we're supplying power for things like that. I will say if we're doing like a rental,
Nino: um,
Nick: even like an Airbnb, it can still be an elevated look to where we're, we're putting like a centered sconce above the vanity.
Nick: Um, so we'll have two lights rather than sometimes we'll see three sconces that go in between the mirrors. Um, on the wall. Um, and if, if we're on a budget, I rather have two lights than three. Got it. Right. Because I can spend, let's say my budget is fixed where I have 300. And I talking about priorities.
Nino: Yeah.
Nick: So I'm like, well, if I buy three lights for a FIC on a fixed budget, They're probably not going to be as nice as two lights on a fixed budget. Um, or we just have the opportunity to save some money, right? But I rather have an elevated look with two lights rather than. You know, something that's not so nice with three lights on it.
Nick: So I'll have that conversation. We'll, we'll think it through.
Nino: And based on the size of your master suite, you're probably going to need secondary light for remaining spaces, such as shower, uh, toilet, and
Nick: that's easy because we can do our led led. Exactly. Yeah. And we, those are 10 bucks a piece now, you know, Obviously, and you
Nino: have this, maybe also we have this like a combos between like a vent and a light.
Paul: Mm-Hmm. No, that's my, oh no, that's like the toilet thing with Nick. We'll get into the toilet thing with Nick, but So you like to separate
Nino: him?
Paul: Everything's separate. Sconces are gonna be separate. Your main lighting's gonna lights on the fan I won. Say why? Yeah. Your fans separate. I want, want my fan to be a fan.
Paul: I want it to be a quiet space.
Paul: My, yeah. My wife. She'll leave it on. And like, she's done with the stuff that requires the fan, like showers done. We don't need to, so, and I'm just like, the noise drives me crazy. And I'm just like, turn it off. Like, I like the peace, quiet. I'm getting ready. Right. You're done with your shower.
Paul: You're getting ready to
Nick: upgrade your fans.
Nino: So. I mean, there's some fans actually comes like a veto, like a self, uh, turning off features or something like that.
Nick: They have a moisture sensor on some fans where it'll turn on once it senses more, sometimes you'll need it for other reasons.
Nino: Is that so when we talking about, because I think the vent is screen, uh, is, is I love to spend hours in my shower and it's usually spend hours in your shower, not hours, but good, good, good amount of time, good amount of time.
Nino: The water, the water starts to get and I usually turn my, my, I usually turn my, like a bathrooms in a sauna, you know, in a foggy environment. So. What is the best location for your fan close to the shower or also in between shower and the toilet, or you need maybe two fans. Can you say a little bit more about it?
Nick: If we're talking powder room, I'm putting it behind the light fixture. So it's hidden when you first walk in and I'm putting it over the toilet. Got it. If we're in a common bath, I'm centrally locating it to, but it's probably might be scooted towards the, depending on where the, the, the fan is. Toilet placement in the shower is if it's lined up traditionally, like vanity toilet, shower, I'll put it towards like maybe a third of the way towards the back, closer to the toilet,
Nino: closer to the toilet, because smell is more important than actually moisture.
Nick: But I'll always try to hide it if I can. Um, not that they're not beautiful anymore, but they're, they're, I mean, you hardly notice them, right? Yeah. They're pretty, I want to get something that's streamlined that blends in and that's quiet. Um, if we're in the primary suite, so for example. There are some bathrooms designed with two fans.
Nick: So we'll have a fan in the toilet room. And we'll have a fan just outside the shower area. Right?
Paul: So, and if everything's combined, obviously you just get, you can get a larger fan that'll exhaust more.
Nino: But moisture is a key. Like I have like a nice, really like a hardwood door full door in my, in my master suite, and I can tell like a, that the color of the door.
Nino: Is inside like a facing the bathroom is like a really pale comparing to the, to the color of the door facing the, the, my bedroom because of the moisture moisture content. And I think having also like a, just a window that you can, even if it is a high window, like a transom, they can actually pop it open, can also help the ventilation quite beautifully.
Paul: Windows are not required by code in bathrooms.
Paul: You don't have to have a window.
Nick: Um, unless there's so an older homes. Um, if you're, if you're re renovating your bathroom, that in some cases if you
Nino: don't have vent, you have to have an opera window. Yeah. Then you, then you need to have operable window. Yeah. If you don't have, there's lighting and ventilation requirements.
Nino: That's, that's exactly what I have in my previous house. Yeah. I have window, but then I installed the vent just to have, bring the bed value to that
Nick: every single time I choose fan. Fan is better. Yeah. I
Nino: think it is better. I mean, especially on the first floor and you have
Nick: neighbors. Yeah. Why would you wanna open the window?
Nick: I'm getting out of the shower. I'm like, Oh, I forgot. I just had a great shower and to wave and say hello. That's why
Nino: I actually have this like a, and I bought it in Lowe's. It was like a, it's kind of faint. It was like a changing colors, like a mood lights. It wasn't that bad. He even can actually, you have like a Bluetooth.
Nino: You can actually listen to music on it. It's crazy, but
Nick: you had that in your old bathroom, right? Yeah,
Nino: that was in my old bathroom. Yeah.
Nick: Yeah, there are definitely, so I've, I don't want to seem like I'm, uh, raising my nose here, but I like to have a dedicated like Sonos speaker in my bathroom and then a separate fan.
Nino: Yeah. Oh yeah. Of course. If you, if you can have everything customized, why not?
Paul: I'm expensive. I'm high maintenance. Um, And also when you walk right in....
Nino: you'll probably have like a two washing machines, one for a left socks and other one for right side. How do you know that? Yeah.
Nino: So maybe you should, so you can never mess it up. Yeah.
Paul: But I was going to say you walk right in and what's the first thing you see toilet, right? No. Definitely. He, I mentioned it earlier. Do you want to talk? It's a privacy. That's a good point.
Nick: Anytime I go through a threshold of a space, I think about what I'm seeing.
Nick: So when I walk in the front door experience, I want to see a, I want to get a, I want to be teased too. So I don't want, I don't want to be slapped in the face. It depends. It depends. It really does. So, but I go through this exercise every single day. As I walk through a house, I'm like, what is my experience right now?
Nick: What am I being encouraged to do? Go? What spaces are going to be activated because I'm being lured and guided and directed into these spaces?
Nino: Do you know what actually historical styles is the first one that actually used that approach? Who? Yes, that's exactly, they actually designed the spaces like, uh, like, uh, the.
Nino: St. Peter's square is actually designed like that. Like, are you going through the, like, uh, to the story? You just like, you just like have a beginning of the story that lures you in till you actually get to the main point and you actually experience the cupola and everything. So I like that approach. So
Nick: I walk into a bathroom.
Nick: And again, if it's my powder room, I want to see this big experience, chandelier, wallpaper, you know, elegant pedestal sink, but there's not a, it ends right there. Right. It's, it's one experience and you're done. If you're going into a master suite or a common bath, I want to see some type of beautiful shower experience.
Nick: But what I'm really looking to see first in most cases is a beautiful vanity. I want to see a big, you know, mirrors that are going to bounce the light around.
Nino: So usually like when you're opening doors, you would like to see like, uh, your vanities with the mirrors and your sconces. That would be the number one preferred site.
Paul: That's definitely our primary thing that we try to focus on. Um, I, I don't mind getting a hint of a freestanding tub or shower experience. And then I, I typically want, I don't want to see a tub at all. Obviously on a common bath, we're going to. You know, it's going to be tucked in between. Yeah, it's usually
Nino: on a very like a traditional layout is the first thing you see is the top.
Nino: Yeah,
Nick: but I mean, but....
Nino: you may have a screen, some kind of, yeah.
Nick: Yeah. So like if in any other scenario, like primary suite, even Jack and Jill, um, or dedicated Guest suite. I wanna try to tuck that toilet. Mm-Hmm. away in a, in a private area. So also, just think about it. What if you are sharing that bedroom or, or that space with somebody?
Nick: Mm-Hmm. . And you don't I don't lock my bathroom door, right? No, I, neither is. I So, so I mean, you, someone comes in
Nino: my kids,
Nick: all, all you're gonna say is just I'm in here. Yeah. But, but if your toilet's right there, and I mean, there could be some awkward, uh, situations.
Nick: Especially if it's a first floor bathroom and you don't have a dedicated guest bathroom.
Nick: Oh yeah.
Nino: like for example, like six months of the year, we have my mother in law in our house watching the kids. So, you know, having this, like a, um, if I can say like a privacy, it's a key, you know, it's a key.
Nick: And, and my wife loves to point out that, you know, she wants to still keep it romantic. Yeah. And I'm, I'm all about that.
Nick: Well, if she walks in on me, might, might ruin, might take a little bit of time to recover, right? So I want to hide that toilet. I want to have a toilet room or a toilet nook. I want some privacy.
Nino: And you just have burritos and stuff. Or
Nick: maybe I just want to, maybe I want to feel, maybe I want to feel isolated.
Nick: Something very spicy. Yeah, maybe I'm also reading something.
Nino: maybe I want to.
Paul: I do agree with you on the isolation point. It, cause you know, sometimes, you know, get a, get away a little time to yourself to decompress your own in your own space, you know,
Nino: see this, like, uh, when you look through this architectural magazines and see these houses with the, with the bathrooms all in glass.
Nino: Uh, staring at the Alps. So you have, you have all kinds of different kinds of people. So, so
Paul: I'm glad, I'm glad you also brought that up because even if you look at like marketing materials or things that are highlighted in magazines or showcased in some ways, still a majority of the time, unless it's something very unique, there's not a toilet.
Paul: That's highlighted in the imagery. It's sinks, it's baths, it's showers, it's closets and storage and windows. And you'd ever see a toilet, unless it's like very unique, like you said, facing a view to the Alps or something, you know, and
Nick: if it's a primary bathroom, we will take the landscape into account when we're laying out the bathroom fixtures and, and, and to, to, uh, capture those views, right?
Nick: If you've got a million dollar view. You better believe I'm orientating, I'm or I'm, I'm having all the function where we're gathering to maximize that view at every single moment possible. Exactly. We're going to, we're going to be, we're going to be seeing that as much as possible. Yeah. Larger windows, more activity.
Nick: But
Nino: that's all about that customization. So you're going to see it more and more. I mean, there was more wealthy people. Now it was, you know, I will say wealthy, but yeah. Pretty much who you have credit
Nick: worthy.
Nino: Oh yeah. Credit worthy. Exactly. But no, honestly, I mean, look at the standards, like a look at the houses and size of houses during the fifties, sixties, seventies, they're just growing.
Nino: Everything is just growing. Like a, before you have like a two, like a one bedroom, one bathroom, full size with a half bed. Now, now you want to have like a master suite. Now you have one, I have bathrooms for every bedroom. What is that tells you? Everything is crazy in the size. Then you have accessibility increasing in a sauna.
Nino: But I also
Nick: love the character of those older houses. So I really do. I enjoy trying to make a modern day lifestyle and layout work and an older design, older home and
Nino: a personal hygiene is, is a key. I mean, that's why we don't have cholera and all this stuff anymore. Honestly, you got to take care of
Paul: yourself.
Nino: Yeah.
Paul: Um, I'm glad you brought that up though. Cause I wanted to ask Nick about spacing, clearances between fixtures, stuff like that. Obviously there's a lot of time that we put into. arranging the bathroom in a certain way, like, especially with the toilet placement, like you talked about trying to tuck it away right out of view, out of sight.
Paul: Um, but what, you know, what are some of the clearances you like to see like in front of a vanity or if you have like a clear path through, like, are you squeezing? Cause in front of double
Nino: vanity, what is the minimum, minimum bit of that vanity? Well, by code,
Paul: it's only one foot, nine inches, I think in front of the fixture that's required.
Paul: Yep. And so aside from that, and yeah, it's nothing. Yeah. That's so, you know, what are the clearances you like to see the typical stuff?
Nick: This is, this is great. We could talk about this for 15 minutes. Um, so let's start with toilets. When you are, when you're having your time on a toilet, um, you don't want it to be uncomfortable.
Nino: Of course.
Nick: So code is only 30 inches. With. Right. Um, I. Unless it's, unless there's no other option, unless we are forced to do this, I have at least 33 inches. Mm-Hmm. . Um, I try to go 36. I think
Nino: 36 is, is a good way to do, yeah. I think 36
Nick: is the standard that I always try to adhere to. Mm-Hmm. . If it's in an open, if it's in a nook space that has, it's a little more open.
Nick: Yeah. Um, still private. I might be like 33 would be fine. Yeah. Right. Because, but if you're in a toilet closet. You know, I, I, I wanna be comfortable. I, yeah. I don't want to, when I stand up, I don't want knock the toilet paper roll off the wall. Exactly. So it'll, I'll go a little wider, you know, and I'll have a nice dedicated window in that space, so I don't feel like I'm gonna, especially when I
Nino: try to squeeze yourself between sink and the toilet, that's horrible.
Nick: Yeah. Yep. In terms of vanity, I'm not a big, everyone's like, we only have space for a four foot vanity. Mm-Hmm. . And they're like, well, I really want to have a double. Vanity because it'll add value. Well, I would argue with you because they do make four foot vanities that are double. Oh, really? They do. Yeah.
Nick: Geez. But there's zero countertops. Countertop space. Yeah. And that's frustrating. Plus, how are you going to fit
Nino: two persons? Like if they're both brushing the teeth at the same time, they're going to.
Nick: So I'll, I won't necessarily elbowing
Nino: each other and I
Nick: won't even necessarily center the sink. I'll put it to one side.
Nick: I, I, I like that idea if it is like a
Nino: single one. Yeah,
Nick: I like that idea. There are times when symmetry makes sense. There are times when it doesn't, you know what I mean? That's a good, that's sometimes the utility of the extra countertop spaces, but you will
Nino: say double vanity should not be less than five feet.
Nino: Agreed. Got
Nick: it. Yep. Um, I'm not even a big fan on a six foot vanity. I like doing a five foot vanity and then just some type of custom. Like maybe we have a little powder makeup station or we have a tall cabinet storage that kind of
Nino: separates two
Nick: vanities. Maybe the in between. Yeah.
Nino: The
Nick: side we're doing less of that now we're doing more on the side.
Nick: It's because if we have something in the middle of a space, it tends to be that mass that, that closes the space off. So we try to keep it as open as open as possible. Now, if we're in a big. sprawling primary bathroom suite, then we can do custom cabinetry and get really funky with it and have a lot of fun.
Nick: Which I
Nino: saw several of these that are enormous. Right. Yeah.
Nick: So that's a different discussion, but yeah. And clearances. Okay. So this is a good one. So tubs, tubs are really big for me. If, If we have our, our, our minimum one or at least one tub, honestly, like I only like to see one tub unless we do maybe a second tub in the primary suite.
Nick: We'll have a freestanding tub. So I say no more than two tubs in a typical home, unless we were doing like a mother in law suite. Um, but if it's the common bath tub, you're seeing 30 inches. Yeah, that's that's traditional. That's a standard size. I love doing 33 inches and I love doing the deep tub. So maybe instead of spending 250 bucks, maybe I am spending like I think on our UA house that we flipped last year.
Nick: We did. The 33 inches and it's a deep, deep tub taller. It's not a soaker. It's not outrageous. I think we spent 550 bucks something like that and I might even have got it on sale
Nino: Yeah,
Nick: but um, it's they are more expensive, but I think a couple hundred dollars for three extra inches Don't forget you have those ledges on your tub That space can get tight and if it's a shower combo I just don't, I don't want that claustrophobic feel.
Nick: Right.
Paul: Yeah.
Nick: So I like to go a little bit bigger too on that. So 33 inches. And then of course, if we can get a little bit taller so we can actually have a real bath, if we're going to use it as a bath,
Paul: I think in general, I've noticed with you, you always try to take the opportunity to expand things a little bit more.
Paul: You always want to have a little bit of a buffer, a little bit of breathing room. You don't want things as tight as you know, a standard size, as tight as it goes. You always want a little bit of extra.
Nick: Yeah, because even if we do, let's say we go five and a half foot wide on a common bath, I'll scoot. I'll still, we'll still do a five foot tub.
Nick: We don't want to, but you're going to
Nino: provide some extra, like a, like a bench
Nick: bench. Actually known if we have a tub, I, I won't do a bench. I'll either, I'll probably do a ledge and I'll do the ledge on the toilet side. So now when, Oh, I see. So you have
Nino: more clearances. Yeah. Now
Nick: you have more clearance for God.
Nick: It makes sense. And then now, instead of spending money on a niche, we have a natural ledge that we can tile that cost us pennies and you can put your shampoos and stuff up there. And stuff there, yes. So I mean, um, it's just something that I do. How you,
Nino: yeah, take advantage of some exchanges in a clever
Nick: way.
Nick: It makes a smaller space feel a little bit bigger, a little bit more open.
Nino: Cool.
Paul: Did we talk? That's all, that was the last code item that I had, Nick. We've covered everything. You even talked about the electrical stuff.
Nino: You made this bathroom to be such a high topic. Well,
Nick: it is again, when you are, when you're designing the finishes for your bathroom.
Nick: I think the only other thing I'd mentioned for bathroom design is finishes. Yeah. Create some type of mood board with your designer. Have that discussion. Is it going to, is it going to be light? Let let's, let's confirm the ceiling height.
Nino: Say a little bit more about the mood board. What is that for, for people that don't know what you're talking about?
Nick: It's a quick way to put your rough thoughts on paper on, um, well, Nick recommended this look slightly wider, slightly deeper tub. Let's put that in the mix. So we have a Photoshop. Of that tub. It's there. Now, are we doing a lighted mirror? Let, I mean, if we're going to go that route, more modern, more minimalist, then let's have an example of that.
Nick: It's probably going to be a larger mirror. So we want to get these elements, maybe not as it would look in a 3d rendering, but we want to get these elements on, on paper, on this mood PDF that we can see, like, Oh, these are the elements that are going in my bathroom. That's also
Nino: called finishes. Yeah. Tile selection,
Nick: colors, paint, swatches.
Nino: Do you want a screening bathroom, or is it going to be more privacy bathroom, or is it going to be more. When we
Nick: put, it's, it's easy to say, I want this and this and this, when you put everything together.
Nino: Then you see what you actually get. Yeah, you see
Nick: it side by side. It's also really easy to do in comparisons of a 3d rendering, because we're not building a 3d model.
Nick: We're not doing, you know, we're not spending the money. It's
Nino: just like putting materials next to each other on this board. And it's just like, okay, this is your floor. This is your, that's actually, People don't know interior designers usually load this, like create this, like a big board when they put like a primary materials on it and you see the relationship between materials and on the PDF, we can have links
Nick: to those products so that you can purchase it.
Nick: So who's purchased these items? Well, anybody, the contractor can, the client can, everybody's on the same page. Well, maybe the contractor's framing out that wall. We do have that six feet. He's like, well. What tub are we using? I have no idea. Well, this is the tub we're using. And he can go to that sheet. He can get the dimensions.
Nick: He can frame it out to those specifications. And everybody's on the same page.
Nino: So you will have like finishes. You will have light fixture selection. Will you have like a floor plan on that mood board or not?
Nick: Yeah, if if we've got so a lot of times it's like the chicken and egg. Oh, I see I see kind of coming before we do the dry.
Nick: Yeah, really?
Nino: But sometimes can come later. Sometimes again. Yeah,
Paul: and you can always go back and refine it and make a few swaps And or take that information and put it together with the plan
Nino: material availability. That's another thing. This has been the ARC Fluence podcast as always. You can get
Paul: more information and additional content on ARCfluence.
Paul: com. Please subscribe on the platform of your choice and leave us a review. We'd love to hear from you.
Nick: But if they're coming in at the end of the show, we might have to modify the drawings now because that exact change or this, this vanity size could change or this could change. So if we have a good idea of like, this is the look we're doing now, we can take that when we're laying out the plans,
Nino: get more into the details, feel a little bit documents and drawings, a little more thoughtful, a little bit more informed
Nick: on the situation.
Nino: Can you quickly, just before we end, just give us a little bit more like, uh, you know, Talk us a little bit more, tell us more about like a material selections for different bathrooms. We talk about primary master suite. What are we, what materials you usually like a recommend selecting there? What are you usually seeing, uh, through all this project, what materialization you see in, in a shared bathrooms and Jack and Jill and in the powder room, you already actually covered the powder room.
Nino: Yeah. You talked a little bit about a
Paul: moody powder room. Yeah. Wallpaper you like wallpaper, right? And usually
Nino: yeah and bring the same finish that you have with the rest of the look at look at Flooring. Yes. What about master
Nick: bathrooms? So we still have primary bathrooms in rental properties Um, if we are working, so a good, good portion of our clients, as you know, our investors, but a lot of them aren't, um, we're probably 50, 50 at this point.
Nick: So we're choosing luxury vinyls in a lot of cases for that, for, especially for an investment property. And I'll tell you what, the quality for luxury vinyl has come so far the last several years that we're, we're a lot of builders are using it now for other For five six hundred thousand dollar homes like you're seeing it everywhere Um, and we just take that right into the bathroom, right?
Nick: If someone's very passionate about a floor tile that they love Then I would splurge on that in the primary bathroom But it's not always needed. I mean because I would take that money And just make that shower experience that much better and then just take that luxury vinyl into the bathroom Now if we're in an older home and maybe we pull up some carpet We see the wood floors where we're refinishing the floors because we if we have that there that character We're gonna
Nino: keep it.
Nino: That's a that's a winning a lottery man if you discover like uh, Discover the hardwood floor underneath the carpet. Oh my god, but
Nick: we can't take that into the the bathroom, right? because You're stepping, you're getting out of the shower. Even if you have a towel, a mat, you're not, you don't want to be dripping onto a wood floor.
Nino: Quick question. When did they actually stop putting the carpet everywhere in American homes?
Paul: Eighties, seventies, seventies. No, they were carpeting houses up until 2000.
Nick: Just even going over hardwood floors and
Nino: stuff. But it was actually like a peak. It was 80s. When did they
Nick: stop doing hardwoods? Yeah. But
Nino: actually they start putting the, the, the, the, the, like over hard, hardwood floors.
Nino: It was like 80s. No, no, no, no, no.
Paul: Back for, you're saying when did carpeting start?
Nino: When they start actually putting the carpet everywhere, even over like, uh, the hardwood. Because before
Paul: it was hardwood floors, that was like your standard. That was like, Standard in the fifties. Mm-Hmm. hardwood force. Mm-Hmm. . I had maybe even, I'd say like twenties, thirties for sure.
Paul: I mean up
Nick: up until the fifties and sixties, I think hardwood was standard. Maybe
Paul: forties, fifties. It started to transition to carpeting.
Nino: Then carpeting was like a,
Paul: yeah. And now it's kind of coming. Yeah. I know. Hate, I know. We all don't like it. We should Google it. We all don't like it. But I, but I think. I think again, it's like a pendulum, right?
Paul: Design. A lot of these things will swing one way, swing the other. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So 50s, 60s, 70s, it transitioned. It was definitely peak during those times. And then I think now it's swinging back where carpeting is less desirable. Oh,
Nick: absolutely. And we're seeing, we're seeing products like luxury vinyl, but a lot of people are still doing wood floors.
Nick: These are usually for elevated higher end homes, but um, no, it's still a great look. Um, but with luxury vinyl looking, Almost identical some of these higher, I mean, they're not cheap either. Yeah. It's not even about saving money. It's you,
Nino: you even have like a, like a ceramic tiles to have that wood look.
Nino: Yeah. Yeah. They call them planks. They were actually all also like a narrow and long, but they're just like a
Paul: resilience
Nick: and yeah,
Nino: I mean, they're more expensive, but yeah. But
Nick: getting back to your question, I would do, I would, if we're going to do luxury vinyl, which is probably most common that we're seeing.
Nick: Yeah. I would take that right into the bathrooms in all cases because it's waterproof and it's going to be, it's going to be a seamless look. Right.
Nino: But then you, you will start to, if you have like a seamless shower, what are you going to do then?
Nick: You wouldn't have a seamless shower. And if you run in that case, you will have just like a guy.
Nick: Yeah. But if it's going up to just a shower with your floor, you know, you have your lip, then, then that's where we spend the money. We do some gorgeous tile, glass door, you know. Yeah, other stuff.
Nino: So if it was seamless shower, then you usually recommend using just tiles. And it is going to just nicely transition, maybe start climbing the wall as well.
Nino: Oh yeah. Cool.
Nick: And we're doing some bathrooms where, you know, some higher end bathrooms where everything's tiled. Like all the whole bathroom is tiled to a certain point, or at least up to like the chair rail and then goes into the shower. That's pretty cool. And sometimes you have this, like the tile chair rail piece.
Nino: Will you have your luxury vinyl in your share bathroom?
Nick: Yes.
Nino: Yep. And what are you going to do? The walls, then you do the tiles or you just paint them.
Nick: I would just do tile in the shower
Nino: towering. Okay. And
Nick: if it's the, if it's the bat, it's the bathroom that has the tub and I do a nice higher end tub and just tile the walls of the got it above the top and I'd go all the way up.
Nino: Mm hmm. Yeah. Cool.
Paul: Only other thing I want to mention too, a lot of these things also kind of depends on where some of the plumbing, like where your main stack is located, where the water service is located. So if you have a project, you know, call us out, have an onsite consultation. You know, that's one of the things that I'll say, Nick is like fantastic out coming out and actually mapping out, you know, what you can do with the space, seeing it in person and really talking through.
Paul: Well, it makes more sense to have this bathroom here because of this. It makes more sense to have this bathroom here because of that. Right. Location to the stack location to the bedroom, whatever it is. It's like, again, that onsite consultation I think is, yeah, is incredibly valuable to have.
Nick: I used to limit that to one a day, um, at 10 AM.
Nick: And now I just opened up our calendar. So now that we're, I think it's because people see the value in it. Yeah. Well, we're hiring on and I can step away from some other roles. And then, yeah, completely soon. And, uh, and I, I love doing that. A, I love doing it and B, we have, I mean, we, we have so many clients that just utilize us for that service and don't have us do architectural drawings just to give advice.
Nick: We just put them on the right path. They might have a drafter. That's a little bit more affordable because you don't need to stamp your or they do it by themselves or they do it by themselves. There's a lot of contractors that are actually in that camp. When
Nino: you actually touch bases on a plumbing, uh, what do you usually see like a PVC instead of copper or what is the trend these days?
Paul: I think for a pipes, well, for affordability, it's the what PECs. Is that what it's called? PECs. Yeah. That's Uponor. Uponor
Nick: PECs is probably the best. Which is on
Nino: PVC. It's just like a more enhanced plastic. It's plastic. Yeah. Yeah.
Nick: And it's, but it's, it's stretches, right? So you have, you have the, the pecs that you can stretch and then it, it tightens on that thing, and then you have the other ones that clamps down.
Nick: And
Nino: it's just connections are much easier to execute. And then
Nick: they have shark bites. Yeah. Shark bites. Yeah. Those are, yeah. Got it. All of that works. Um, you know, there's, there's, there's people that say, Oh, plastics leaching into your water. I would say, I mean, my main line, I prefer like if you, the ground line that's coming into your house, they're even starting to do pecs for that.
Nick: I'm still in the K copper,
Nino: K copper world for that yet
Nick: because it, your water's probably sitting there more than anywhere else. Oh yeah. Once it comes into the house, I mean, you're, you're utilizing it. Like, so we'll, we're doing tankless water heaters now as a standard. Um, pretty soon we won't have a choice for that.
Nick: Um, you just need to get a recirculator this way. We'll keep the hot water moving and we want to wait 20 seconds to get hot water. Oh, Nina's
Paul: going to have the two, three hour showers then. Yeah. You'll never lose the hot water. Oh, yeah, but, um, turn it on, leave it on and just leave it all day. Let's create that.
Paul: He'll come, we'll see him like a prune.
Nick: I do like the pecs too, because if you're doing like even cabins that we're building out and honking, like they're, they're a little bit more forgiving to the elements in terms of maintenance and they're, they're cheaper to work on, they're cheaper to install. Um, and they have a little bit more flexibility and forgiveness to, to To the elements when you get extreme cold, extreme hot, which is,
Nino: we didn't have the time to talk about faucets and all.
Nino: There was like a tons of stuff that we can keep talking, going. I mean, we can keep going and going and going. Yeah. Maybe we gonna have like a bathrooms, uh, session number two, we can do up fixtures. Talking about fixtures along. Yeah.
Nick: And that can be kitchens, baths. Exactly. All the things. All right. Well this is a good place to stop.
Nick: It is. Oh, guys, we're gonna wrap it up right there. If you have any questions. Hit us up in the comments below. Um, I'm going to work with Danny. I mentioned Danny all the time. If you guys don't know, Danny's are amazing. He was on the AI talk. Oh, that's right. He was, he was. And we're going to get them on another episode too, but, um, we're going to do probably a one cheater for bathroom design as well, trying to get into the habit of just doing, here's some tips and bullet points for the discussion of the day.
Nick: Um, but with that said, we are going to see you and. Two weeks for episode 11. You love it.
Paul: This has been the ArcFluence podcast. As always, you can get more information and additional content on arcfluence. com. Please subscribe on the platform of your choice and leave us a review. We'd love to hear from you.