Seekin creative hydronic baseboard bathroom ideas

[StashingAway]

Hello Mustachians;

I have a bathroom that I am looking to renovate at some point. The home is heated with hydronic baseboards, including one in said bathroom. The baseboard location is in a spot that I would like to expand the shower to become a larger sized walk-in. I am curious if there is anything that I can do with the hot water line other than cap it.

• The bathroom is on a slab, so moving the line to another wall I believe will be quite difficult. It would have to be an above grade circuit somehow
• I don't think I can convert to heated flooring because of the temperature differential. Heated flooring temps are in the 130F range and the baseboards are at 180F
• I'm not sure I want to cap it either, as it is on an outsize wall and might cause issues with freezing? Likely not because other rooms are heated with the same line.

Any ideas? I keep thinking the hot line could be used for something interesting, but don't know what.

[lthenderson]

If it were me, I would wait to make a decision until you had the drywall off and saw exactly where it runs. I wouldn't worry about capping it and having it freeze as long as there is insulation between it and the exterior and none between it and the interior. Ambient interior temperatures will keep it from freezing. My guess is that it isn't run through the slab so once you have the drywall off, you can either reroute it away from an exterior wall or perhaps to another location where you could reuse the heater.

[StashingAway]

It doesn't run from the drywall. It runs from the (slab) floor. So the inlet/outlet for the circuit cannot be moved. I'm actually unsure if it would be easy to cap it either.

It would be so nice if it ran from the wall! I could do anything with that!

[BudgetSlasher]

If it comes up from the floor/slab inside of the drywall there should be zero chance of freezing even if it is capped. There would have to be some truly serve cold for an occupied and conditioned house to freeze pipes there.

If the water is 180*F there isn't much I would want to use it for. Anything that temperature you come in contact with it going to be unpleasant. I suppose if you were able to limit the flow rate you might be able to keep an object at a safe temperature.

If it were my project I would consider building out the wall, or a half wall with a ledge on top, and running the line somewhere else -it could easily be run in the inside walls once it reached- and placing a heater somewhere else in the bathroom. The bathroom is one room I would like warm, removing the heater sounds like a recipe for a cold bathroom.

[slugsworth]

I would run the hydronic heat to a towel rack. You get some heat for the room and fancy hot towels in the winter.

[sonofsven]

It doesn't run from the drywall. It runs from the (slab) floor. So the inlet/outlet for the circuit cannot be moved. I'm actually unsure if it would be easy to cap it either.

It would be so nice if it ran from the wall! I could do anything with that!

You can cut the slab and chip out enough to run the pipe to another location using a skil saw and small jack hammer, or rent a larger concrete saw. You will need to deal with a large amount of dust.

[Greystache]

You did not mention what the preferred layout of the walk-in shower would be. Here is how I would do it. I would have the shower plumbing in the wall next to the vanity (the one with the light switch on it) with the shower head pointing towards the back wall. Then move the heater from the back wall to the right wall. The heater should not get wet in that location. With no door on the shower enclosure, it should provide heat to the room just as effectively as it does now.

[StashingAway]

You did not mention what the preferred layout of the walk-in shower would be. Here is how I would do it. I would have the shower plumbing in the wall next to the vanity (the one with the light switch on it) with the shower head pointing towards the back wall. Then move the heater from the back wall to the right wall. The heater should not get wet in that location. With no door on the shower enclosure, it should provide heat to the room just as effectively as it does now.

This is about how I want it. The shower plumbing is already in that position, then remove the tall linen closet and put the baseboard where it is, maybe making it a bit longer as it won't be as effective away from the window.

You can cut the slab and chip out enough to run the pipe to another location using a skil saw and small jack hammer, or rent a larger concrete saw. You will need to deal with a large amount of dust.

I didn't even consider cutting the concrete. I think that is the best way to get everything that I want. The best way I was considering before was to run a ledge/wall in the shower to hide the line extensions (I still might do this as it might make for a good shampoo storage if I don't want to mess with concrete). But digging concrete would allow me to install a standard shower pan so it might not be much more work in the end.