Bathroom Renovation in Vienna: From "One Day" to Your First Shower

What a bathroom renovation in Vienna involves

A bathroom renovation is more than new tiles. It generally means renewing all the visible and most of the invisible parts: pipework, waterproofing, floor and wall coverings, sanitaryware, taps, lighting, ventilation and furniture. A partial refurbishment in which only the surfaces are replaced is possible, but rarely wise in a Viennese Altbau. If you open the wall, you should also see what lies behind it.

For our couple in Josefstadt, that means the bathroom is stripped back to the shell and rebuilt. It sounds like a lot, but it is the safest route to a bathroom that lasts twenty years.

Waiting has its own price, even if it never arrives as an invoice. It is paid every morning in the queue at the washbasin, in the tiles you stopped seeing years ago, and in the nagging thought of what may be hiding behind them. Where do you begin?

The first step: describe your daily life, not the bathroom

Before anyone talks about tile formats, we ask the question that opens every project at Richard Atelier: how do you want to live? In the bathroom, that means something very concrete: who uses the room, and when? Do you prefer to shower or to bathe? Do you need space for make-up, for shaving, for children who are being bathed?

These questions help to clarify matters:

• How many people use the bathroom at the same time in the morning?
• Is the bath really used, or does it merely serve as a shower tray?
• Where are towels, cosmetics, cleaning products and laundry stored?
• Should the washing machine stay in the bathroom or move elsewhere?
• Are there accessibility requirements, now or in the foreseeable future?
• Is the bathroom a purely functional room, or also a place to unwind?

With our couple it quickly becomes clear: the bath is used twice a year. What they want is a generous shower and a vanity unit with two basins. How this swap succeeds is described in the article Bath out, shower in.

The new bathroom does not begin with a tile, but with the morning at 6.40, when two people want to get in at the same time.

Once you know what you need, you have to find out what the old room is hiding.

Survey of the existing room: what the old bathroom reveals

In a Viennese Altbau, every bathroom is a small piece of archaeology. Many bathrooms were fitted retrospectively, often in former closets or parts of the kitchen. Pipes take detours, floors have been built over several times, and the riser sometimes sits in an impractical spot.

In the survey we check:

1. Risers and waste pipes: Where are they, what are they made of, how old are they? Cast-iron or very old pipes should be renewed as well, as far as they lie within the flat.
2. Floor build-up and heights: How much height is available for the fall and the drain? This decides whether a walk-in shower is possible.
3. Load-bearing capacity: Timber-joist floors in an Altbau have different reserves from concrete floors. For heavy baths or natural stone floors, we clarify this with a structural engineer.
4. Electrics: Are the cables up to current standards, is there a residual-current device?
5. Ventilation: Does the bathroom have a window, a shaft or nothing at all? Is there a gas boiler in the flat?

More detail on the typical quirks is given in the article on the bathroom in a Viennese Altbau. But who has to agree before you start?

Permits, building management and neighbours

A straightforward renewal of the bathroom within the existing room does not, in many cases, require a permit. But as soon as load-bearing walls, shafts or common parts of the building are affected, things get more complex. In owner-occupied flats, work on common parts, such as the riser, requires the consent of the owners' association or at least coordination with the Hausverwaltung (the building management company). In rented flats, the landlord has to be involved.

We check what exactly is required in each individual case. An overview of the Viennese framework can be found in the article on permits for conversions in an Altbau.

The neighbours should not be underestimated. Demolition work is loud, and the house rules usually set quiet hours. A friendly notice in the stairwell giving the dates and a contact person saves a great deal of trouble. Then the design can begin, and the order of decisions matters.

Planning and sampling: decisions in the right order

Planning a bathroom follows a clear logic. First the layout is fixed: where does the shower go, where the WC, where the vanity unit? Technology, lighting and ventilation follow. Only then do materials and colours come into it.

Layout and sanitaryware

In small bathrooms every centimetre counts. A wall-hung WC with a concealed cistern frame creates storage space and makes cleaning easier. A walk-in shower makes the room feel larger. The technical prerequisites are explained in the article on the walk-in shower. For small floor plans, take a look at six decisions that make a small bathroom feel large.

For ceramics we often choose thin-walled basins and WCs, because they are precise and long-lasting. For the vanity unit itself we often plan a bespoke piece from our own joinery, Tischlerkultur, which continues a Viennese carpentry tradition begun in 1935. Why this is worthwhile is described in the article on the made-to-measure vanity unit.

Light and ventilation

Light in the bathroom is task lighting. At the mirror you need glare-free light from the front, not only from above. Add calm background lighting and, possibly, a faint orientation light for the night. More on this in the article on bathroom lighting at the mirror.

Ventilation is often forgotten, yet it decides on mould and longevity. A bathroom without a window needs a quiet fan with overrun or a humidity sensor. How to rule out moisture damage through construction is covered in the article on ventilation in the bathroom.

Materials

Only once the layout and technology are settled do we choose materials. Large-format ceramic reduces joints and makes surfaces look calmer. Natural stone brings warmth and depth, but needs the right selection. For walls and shower trays, Cosentino Dekton is also an option, because it is very resilient and can be laid with few joints. A sampling appointment with original samples in daylight and artificial light is a must. Hold the samples in your hand and picture the room on a quiet Sunday morning: stone cool underfoot, soft light on the walls, steam rising from the shower.

The build, step by step

Once all decisions are made and the products ordered, the construction phase begins. For a typical bathroom in a Viennese Altbau, the sequence looks like this:

1. Protection and preparation: The stairwell and the flat are covered, and water and power to the bathroom are shut off.
2. Strip-out: Tiles, screed, sanitaryware and old pipes are removed. Afterwards, you see what the shell conceals.
3. Installation: New water and waste pipes, concealed frames and the shower drain are put in place.
4. Electrics: Cables for lighting, mirror, fan, possibly underfloor heating and sockets are laid.
5. Screed and fall: The new floor is built up. Depending on the screed, it needs days to weeks to dry.
6. Waterproofing: Floor and walls in the splash zone are sealed in accordance with the relevant standards. This is the most important invisible step.
7. Tiling or slab work: Walls and floor are covered, grout and silicone joints are applied.
8. Fitting: WC, vanity unit, taps, glass screen, mirror and light fittings are installed.
9. Inspection and handover: Watertightness, function and surfaces are checked. Then comes the first shower.

At Richard Atelier, the coordination of all trades lies in one hand. Plumber, electrician, tiler and our joinery work to a shared schedule, with one contact person from the first sketch to the handover. That shortens waiting times and avoids trades blaming one another. And how long will it all take?

Cost and time: a realistic guide

The cost of a bathroom renovation depends heavily on size, existing condition and choice of materials. Fixed prices cannot be quoted responsibly without a site visit. An honest first estimate comes in the first consultation. As a guide to what drives the effort:

On top of that come the planning phase and delivery times. Many high-quality products have lead times of several weeks. A realistic schedule is described in the article How long does a bathroom renovation take?, and the cost items in detail in the article on the cost of a bathroom renovation in Vienna.

A well-planned bathroom does not take longer to build. It just does not take twice as long.

For our couple in Josefstadt, four months lay between the first consultation and the first shower, five weeks of which were on site. The bath is gone, the shower measures 160 by 90 centimetres, and in the morning two people now stand side by side at the new vanity unit. You can read more about our work on the pages bathroom renovation and bathrooms.