Small bathrooms around Wollongong
Miners' cottages and old timber homes
In Corrimal, Woonona, Bulli, Thirroul and Balgownie, many older cottages started life with an outside toilet and a bathroom that was either tiny or tacked on later. Today that often means:
- A narrow room at the back, sometimes in an enclosed verandah
- A bath across the end with a shower over it
- Fibro walls and a timber floor on piers
- A separate toilet squeezed into a nearby corner
- A step down from the main part of the house
Fibro add-ons
Post-war fibro houses and later extensions often have a bathroom lined in fibro sheeting. Before anything is pulled out, it's tested for asbestos.
Units
Walk-ups in North Wollongong and the CBD, and newer apartment buildings closer to the beach and the city, tend to have compact bathrooms on concrete slabs, often with no window at all.
Getting more out of a small room
Take out the bath. In a room about 1.7 to 2 metres wide, a walk-in shower where the bath was frees up a lot of floor.
One floor tile everywhere. Run it straight into the shower with no hob or base, so the floor reads as one surface.
Fixed glass panel. No door swing, no frame, no tracks.
Wall-hung vanity. You can see the floor underneath, and it's easier to mop.
Recess what you can. A shower niche, an in-wall cistern and a recessed mirror cabinet all give floor space back.
Sliding door. A cavity slider where the door hits the toilet or the vanity.
Tiles to the ceiling. Takes away the paint line and makes the room look taller.
Mirror across the whole vanity. Doubles the room visually.
Cottage-specific stuff
Combining the toilet and bathroom
If the toilet is in its own narrow room next door, taking out the wall between them can give you one decent bathroom instead of two cramped spaces. In a single-bathroom house with a few people, though, keeping the toilet separate is often more practical.
Floors and steps
Bathrooms in old add-ons are often lower or higher than the rest of the house. Getting a level, step-free entry sometimes means adjusting the floor framing. The measure checks this before it goes in the quote.
Rot and damp
Timber floors under old baths and showers in escarpment suburbs are commonly soft or rotten from years of slow leaks and damp subfloors. The quote should include an allowance for replacing joists or bearers.
Unit-specific stuff
Strata approval
Replacing a unit bathroom's waterproofing is generally a major renovation under NSW strata law. Your owners corporation will usually want the scope of works, waterproofing method, licence and insurance details, a program and a plan for protecting common areas. Start this early; waiting for a meeting can take a while.
The slab
Waste positions are set into the slab, which is common property. Moving them is rarely an option, so the improvement comes from finishes and fittings.
No window
A windowless bathroom lives or dies by its exhaust fan and lighting. A better fan (where the building's ducting allows), light tiles, a backlit mirror and warm-white lights make a huge difference.
Getting stuff in and out
In a walk-up, it all goes up and down the stairs by hand. That's labour, and it belongs in the quote.
Ventilation
Small rooms steam up fast. In cottages under the escarpment, a fan ducted outside with a run-on timer is a must. In units, check with the building before changing anything that connects to shared ducting.
Colours and light in a small room
Small bathrooms in cottages under the escarpment often have one little window that gets no direct sun. Unit bathrooms often have no window at all. Either way, light does a lot of the work:
- Pale wall tiles in a satin finish to bounce light around
- A warmer floor tile so the room doesn't feel cold
- A backlit mirror or lights either side, not just one downlight
- Warm-white globes rather than harsh cool-white
- One accent, like a coloured vanity or a patterned floor, rather than lots of competing ideas
A dark, moody bathroom can look great in a magazine. In a 1.8-metre-wide room under a big hill, it mostly just looks dark.
What to decide before the measure
- Bath or no bath
- Separate toilet or combined
- How much storage you actually need
- For units: your strata manager's details
Nearby reading
Waterproofing and tiling explains why tile choice matters more in a small room. Rental bathrooms covers units that are leased out.
The builder
Renovation work is carried out in partnership with Coastal Renovation Group, a licensed NSW builder. Licence and insurance details are provided on request. See prices for 2026 bands.
Call 02 4214 4073 or send the bathroom details through.
Questions people ask before they commit
What does a small bathroom renovation cost in Wollongong?
As a 2026 guide, most small bathrooms in cottages and units run $15,000 to $24,000. It's not much cheaper than a bigger room because the same trades still come, just with less space to work in.
Should I get rid of the bath in a small bathroom?
If nobody uses it, usually yes. A bath across the end of a narrow room takes up a lot of floor. Keep it if you've got young kids or you know buyers in your area expect one.
Do unit bathrooms need strata approval?
In most buildings, yes, if the waterproofing is being replaced. It's generally treated as a major renovation needing a special resolution of the owners corporation. Your strata manager can tell you what your building needs.