Homeowners find different ways to expand bathrooms

Pat Wyzbinski had long been perplexed by the placement of the drain in her second-floor bathroom tub. Little did she know that learning the reason would go far beyond simply deciphering geography.

In most tubs, the drain is at the end. Wyzbinski’s was in the center, at the base of a tub wall.

She figured the design somehow involved the age of the 135-year-old home she shares with her husband, Scott Gelzer. She had long planned on remodeling the bathroom, anyhow.

As sometimes happens, circumstances conspired to expedite the work.

Earlier this year, Wyzbinski and Gelzer were in the midst of a major project. They were remodeling the kitchen and first-floor bathroom of their home, located in Milwaukee’s Brady St. neighborhood.

When workers from AB&K Bath & Kitchen Inc. opened the ceiling in the lower bathroom, they discovered a tangle of joists running in curious directions. The plumbing for the upstairs bathroom fit into the mix — hence the placement of the bathtub drain. Read more...

--Featured on JSOnline.com, by Rick Moon on Aug 2, 2010