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The bathroom is the most difficult space to do maintenance and also the space most people want to to renovate. Normally, a bathroom is created in the conventional method of construction, or by using a pre-made unit bath. The former method consists of waterproofing, plastering, tile work, and plumbing, each done by workmen on site. This method directly waterproofs the structure of the building. The latter method only requires on-site set up (by creating a box of panels in the housing structure) of the walls, floor and ceiling panels that were made previously at a factory. This method lacks variation in materials and has less degree of design freedom. Therefore, order unit bath are attracting more attention. The usage of panels and the set up is same as the unit bath, but size, shape and window positions can be designed in any way. Also, tile, wood, and stone of your choice can be placed on the panels, and faucets can be selected to create the same finish as the conventional method.
Waterproofing needs the most attention when renovating bathrooms. In apartments, water leakage causes great damage to the apartment below. In some apartments, conventional method construction is not allowed, as the guarantee is different per contractor and there are possibilities of waterproofing layer fissures due to earthquakes or deterioration in general. On the other hand, factory made unit bath is a method of creating a box within the building, which shakes little during an earthquake. There are fewer possibilities of fissure or breakage, and even if this does happen, there is a manufacturer guarantee in many cases.
What decides the planning the most is the pipe space, as bathrooms need to drain a lot of water at one time, so a bigger pipe is needed than in a kitchen. It is possible to position the bathroom close to the window for a view, but if that position is far from the pipe space, the floor needs to be raised for the plumbing and the danger of leakage rises as the pipes become longer.
Renovating houses offers more freedom in planning than apartments; if the bath is planned on the 2nd level or higher, however, it is recommended to select order unit bath or system bath to avoid leakage to the floor below. Also, if a house is constructed with wood, it is necessary to calculate the weight, especially, if the wooden constructed house is over 20 to 30 years old. There are many cases where the structure is damaged due to moisture or termites which also lessens its resistance to earthquakes. To live safely and comfortably, it is recommended to check the structure at the time of renovation.

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