Downstairs Toilet

Grace 0

Hi
I was thinking of putting a downstairs toilet into our house under the stairs, does anyone have any idea how much it might cost?
Thanks a million

JamesM

Grace 0 wrote:

Hi
I was thinking of putting a downstairs toilet into our house under the stairs, does anyone have any idea how much it might cost?
Thanks a million

Apart from buying the toilet, wash basin, taps, pipes, fan or window and fittings, you have to consider the location of water pipes, sewer pipe etc. My house was easy because there was a good fall for the sewer pipe under the kitchen floor out to where it joined the pipe from the upstairs bathroom. I have seen others where the pipe had to go out through the side wall and a trench had to be dug to bring it to the existing sewer. Naturally this would cost a lot more in labour etc. We were very glad that we did it - a great asset when the kids were young.
Jim.

mad m

Just to give you the option if space is tight Link

Grace 0

Thanks for the info, the water seems to be pretty easy to get at but yes space is v tight and might have to consider moving the stairs forward (lots of space in front of the stairs as you come in!:rolleyes: ). We were thinking it should take 2-3 days for the plumber at ~ E250 a day (plus suite, tiles and carpentry if needed) but I've no idea if that is anyway realistic
Thanks again!

armchairninja

imho, moving the stairs would be the biggest expenditure and involve alot of work i.e. having to get a new stairs manufactured.
On the saniflo, they are great we installed a SanifloPro, because we waned to put an ensuite in a room on the far side of our semi d and all the SVP's etc were on the opposite side, think it cost about €500 but imho it was well worth it

JamesM

Grace 0 wrote:

Thanks for the info, the water seems to be pretty easy to get at but yes space is v tight and might have to consider moving the stairs forward

We found that the under the stairs area had a ceiling fitted. This did not serve any purpose and when we removed it, we had a lot of headroom under the actual stairs.
Jim.

Mellor

I'd say its floor area that is the problem more so than head room.
What kind of space do you have? LxW???

JamesM

Mellor wrote:

I'd say its floor area that is the problem more so than head room.
What kind of space do you have? LxW???

Every house is different but, I would think that, the more headroom you get under the stairs, the more floor space you get also.
Jim.

Mellor

No matter how high you make the ceiling, an understairs bathroom wont work unless you have enough floor space. Obviously if you have a false ceiling at 1500m high then you will need to remove it, but if its only 100mm below standard then there isn't much point.

JamesM

Mellor wrote:

No matter how high you make the ceiling, an understairs bathroom wont work unless you have enough floor space. Obviously if you have a false ceiling at 1500m high then you will need to remove it, but if its only 100mm below standard then there isn't much point.

I don't think that you get my point. I have done this. In my case, I had a storage area under the stairs. If you have stairs sloping down and battens fastened to the underside of the steps with a sheet of plaster fastened to these battens, then you do not have much headroom. I removed the ceiling and had the underside of the steps as my new "ceiling". That raised the headroom under the stairs and gave almost another 2ft of usable floor space.
I am not sure how to post drawings, but if you get a piece of paper and draw a stairs as a child would - a line up, then one accross, then up etc. Then draw a line along the lower angles to represent 1" thick battens, then the plaster.
That's under the stairs with a ceiling. Then look at it without the bottom line - see all the extra space you get.
We have a toilet backed into the lower side and a washbasin in the other corner.
Jim

Vertical

My folks installed a saniflo macerator in a basement bathroom a few years ago, expensive at the time but worked well.
More recently I found this UK site and the prices are keen for all kinds of plumbing supplies, I have not used them yet but plan to soon:

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/acatalog/Saniflo_Macerator_s.html

Mellor

Sorry JamesM, you were right I didn't fully understand you, i thought you were refering to the horizontal ceiling only and not the sloping part too.
In a situation were space was very tight, that little bit gained would help alot.

JamesM

Mellor wrote:

Sorry JamesM, you were right I didn't fully understand you, i thought you were refering to the horizontal ceiling only and not the sloping part too.
In a situation were space was very tight, that little bit gained would help alot.

Of course this may not be the setup with Grace O - then we're back to square 1
Jim.