Bathroom Privacy Screen

This page describes one of the phases of the multi-year Master Bathroom Remodeling Project.

Background

Interior Before View through Mirror (close-up)

Interior Before View through Mirror

Our master bathroom has the nice feature of having glass french doors leading outside. This lets in a lot of light and gives a nice view of the backyard. A bit of a problem is that this is not a one way mirror. There is a privacy wall in front of the doors, but this does not completely block the views, and in particular, the neighboring house directly behind and the one diagonally behind ours can get an equally good view into our bathroom, if they were so inclined. Most of the time, I do not care, but there times I do care and the frequency of caring is higher with other household members.

Exterior Before View (left)

Exterior Before View (center)

Exterior Before View (close-up)

Exterior Before View (right)

Through the entire Bathroom Remodeling Project, I had been thinking about how to solve this problem. Some form of Japanese-style screens were high my the list, while curtains were another considered option. The screens had the problem of adding clutter and taking up space, while the curtains had the problem of blocking the exterior view or needing to be drawn and undrawn.

Once the bulk of the remodeling was done, I hit upon an idea that was inspired by vertical blinds (which we have throughout the house). Vertical blinds allow you to control what can and cannot be seen from specific angles. I realized that I could use this trick to allow us to see into our backyard, yet block the view from the neighboring houses. Most importantly, I could deploy this in the exterior alcove area so that is was not cluttering up the bathroom itself.

Design and Modeling

What I needed to find was the ideal angle that the screen slats should be located at to ensure the line of sight from the neighboring houses were blocked, while the view from the inside was the least blocked. Using the Blender modeling software, which I already had the bathroom model for, I could experiment with the sizes and angles to find the optimal design. The modeling results showed that I should use a 20 dregree angle for the slats (for 1x6 cedar boards) and spacing them 3 inches apart.

Model Rendering: Exterior 20 degree View

Model Rendering: Exterior 45 degree View

Model Rendering: Exterior 90 degree View

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Model Rendering: Interior 20 degree View

Thumbs/alcove-screen-inside-45degrees.png

Model Rendering: Interior 45 degree View

Thumbs/alcove-screen-inside-90degrees.png

Model Rendering: Interior 90 degree View

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Model Rendering: Interior Mirror View

Initial Cutting

To keep this project cheap and simple, I wanted to use 1x6 rough cedar boards. These are fence pickets which typically come in 6 foot boards and relatively cheap and insect resistant. For the parts of our house that are not stone veneer, they there is rough cedar, so this would fit in perfectly.

Cedar Planks and Notes

Supporting Board

Stone Wall after Grinding

The thing I most worried about was how to affix this screen to the exterior walls, which are stone veneer masonry. I decided to use some concrete screws to hold up one board and from that I would have an even basis to hange the screen. The problem is that the stone veneer is not very even, so I had to take a masonry cutting wheel to some of the stones in places just to get this supporting board to lay reasonable flat.

Painted Support Board

As mentioned, a lot of the existing house exterior is made of rough sawn cedar, but it is also painted, so I would want this new screen to match. Luckily, we had the house painted the year before and had extra leftover paint from that which we could use to match exactly. I wanted to paint everything before assembly, so this would start with this supporting board.

Hinge (close-up)

Since the bathroom door leads outside, and since this new screen would be in the 'doorway' of the alcove area, we would want this screen to act as a door and be hinged. I bought some stanless steel hinges for the job, but then realized I miscalculated. Most boards that are 1x4, 1x5, 1x6, etc. are actually 3/4'' thick/ In this case, I had been thinking of these cedar planks as 1x6 boards, but in reality, these were only about 1/2'' in thickness. Thus, the hinges were really made for boards thicker than what I was using here. This meant I had to be very careful how I layed this out to ensure the hinge screws would have enough wood to bite into.

Dry Fitting

With all the boards cut, it was time to do an initial assembly to line everything up and compare the reality of the design to the theory of the design.

Screw Holes at Edge

Basic Frame Structure (assembled)

Screws at Edge

Layout of Angled Ribs

Screw Holes for Angled Ribs

Dry Fit Assemble Privacy Screen

Painting

The plan was for two coats of paint. One was to be done before things were assembled and the other after assembly. Thus, once the layout and initial dry fitting was done, I disassembled it in order to give it the first paint coat.

Painted Tops and Bottoms

Painted Ribs

Extra Cross Support Layout

Caulking

When we had our house painted the year before, I was very impressed with the company that did this because before they painted, they caulked between all the boards. Our house is near 40 years old, and its exterior in relatively good shape, but presumably had never had all these creases caulked before. Yet the idea that this was important to prevent moisture and exposure made so much sense, I borrowed this idea for this screen and would caulk every gap before the final coat of paint.

Caulking Corner Close-up

Cauling Inside Ribs

Completed Caulking

Aluminum Flashing

Fitting of Aluminum Flashing

Completed Screen (uninstalled)

Another thing I have learned regarding exterior wood, which our house has a lot of, is that any horizontal surface, no matter how well it is painted, is a risk. Water will sit there and over decades will eventually deteriorate and rot. The solution that roofers and painters have employed is to use aluminum flashing on these surfaces. Makes sense, so I wanted to do this for the top surface of this screen. It is a mistake (that I have made) to use any form of fasteners, because that creates an avenue for moisture to enter, so I used exterior construction adhesive to put the flashing onto the screen.

Installation

Screen Just Before Installation

Installation was straightforward and only required finding something theright height to hold it up while I screwed in all he hinges. When I did the test installation, I had 3 hinges, but by this time, my structural strength paranoia evolved this into 5 hinges.

Final Views