Ensuite renovations in Cranbourne

Ensuite work here splits into two jobs. One is refitting a builder spec ensuite of about 1.5 by 2.4 metres, which is most of what the estates ask for. The other is cutting a second wet area into an older house that has never had one, and those two briefs share almost nothing but the word.

Upgrading an existing ensuite

The estate ensuites east and north of the township were fitted out to one short list: an acrylic base, a framed screen with a track along the bottom, a moulded vanity top, a single downlight, and a fan too small to clear the mirror. None of it is faulty. It is simply specified to a shorter life than the house.

The upgrade owners ask for is just as consistent:

1. Remove the acrylic base and form a set down or a screeded base so the shower is level entry or close to it.
2. Replace the framed screen with a semi frameless or frameless panel, which gets rid of the bottom track that collects grime.
3. Swap the moulded vanity for a wall hung unit with a stone or solid surface top, which makes a small floor look bigger.
4. Re tile floor to ceiling, usually in a larger format than the original 300 by 300.
5. Replace the fan with a unit sized to the room and duct it to outside air, not into the roof space.
6. Add a heated towel rail and, in most cases, move the lighting off a single central downlight.

While the base is out, the membrane under it is worth replacing on any house past its twentieth birthday, because doing it now costs a fraction of doing it as its own job two years later. That process is set out on shower rebuilds and waterproofing.

Creating an ensuite where there is none

In the township core and the older parts of central Cranbourne, the typical house is weatherboard or 1950s to 1970s brick on a generous block with one bathroom and no ensuite at all. The space has to come from somewhere, and there are only four realistic donors.

Donor space	What it costs you	What it saves
A corner of the main bedroom	Floor area and often a window	Usually the simplest framing
The hallway linen cupboard	Storage that has to be replaced elsewhere	Often close to existing drainage
Part of the laundry	Laundry becomes a euro style cupboard fitout	The drainage and water are already there
A small third bedroom	A bedroom on the title	Nothing structural, and the room is already lined

Taking the laundry is the cheapest path where the layout allows it, because the drain, the water lines and the vent are already in the right part of the house. That normally means the laundry gets rebuilt at the same time, which is covered under laundry renovations.

Taking bedroom space is the most common request and the one with the most decisions attached. A new wet area needs a floor waste connected to the sanitary drain, a vent, mechanical ventilation to outside air, and lighting and power on circuits that the switchboard can carry. On a slab, a new drain means cutting the slab, which is a considerable part of the price. On a suspended timber floor in a township weatherboard, the drainage is easier to run but the joists usually need trimming and supporting.

What goes wrong, and how it is avoided

The door swing. A 1.5 by 2.4 metre ensuite with an inward opening door loses the only usable wall. A cavity slider or an outward swing fixes it, and it has to be decided before framing rather than after.

The fan. Undersized fans are close to universal in the 2000s estates. A fan that only pushes air into the roof space moves the moisture problem rather than removing it, and in a roof cavity that shows up later as stained plaster. Duct it through to an external vent.

Waterproofing that stops too low. The membrane runs much further up the shower walls than a tiled splashback suggests, and the height is fixed by the Code rather than chosen by the tiler. Stopping short is invisible on handover day and obvious three winters later.

Suspect linings in an older donor wall. Opening a bathroom or laundry wall in a house from the 1960s or 1970s means testing the sheeting first, because the result decides who is allowed to demolish it and how the debris leaves the site.

Assuming the job is exempt. Refitting an ensuite between the existing walls is a different proposition to creating one, and only a building surveyor can tell you which side of the line your job falls. Read what the law requires before the layout is locked in.

The paperwork to ask for at handover

A new ensuite brings new drainage and new circuits, and each of those produces a certificate that belongs with the house papers rather than in a tradesperson’s glovebox. Ask for both before the final payment, not after it. Who has to issue what, and how long they have, is set out on what the law requires.

What it costs

An ensuite renovation usually lands at $14,000 to $25,000. Within that band, a refit that keeps the existing footprint sits at the lower end, because there is no drainage relocation and the room is small. A new ensuite cut into a township bedroom sits at the upper end or above it, because of the slab or floor work, the new drain and the surveyor.

Two items shift the figure on their own. A frameless or semi frameless screen supplied and installed runs $1,200 to $3,500, and a vanity supplied and installed runs $500 to $3,700, which is a wide band because a builder grade unit and a made to measure wall hung unit with a stone top are not the same purchase.

Botanic Ridge, Settlers Run and Sandhurst briefs generally move past the ensuite band entirely once a freestanding bath and floor mounted mixer are specified, and are priced as a full bathroom. Measure the room, note the build year, and put both through the quote form.

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