Moving plumbing in bathroom renovation

tcif

Planning a renovation on bathroom and ensuite, both on ground level. All new tiles, suite, showers etc.

We could just replace old with new in situ but does anyone have any idea of by what magnitude we begin to multiply the costs if we starting moving things around e.g. relocating the toilets, sinks, showers and radiators? How stiff a drink would I need before raising that with the plumber?

tabby aspreme

If your floors are concrete or you have underfloor heating then it's a lot of work , with a suspended wooden floor it would be more straightforward

tcif

No underfloor heating. While we haven't taken up the floor tiles yet, I fully expect it's concrete. It was in the other three rooms where we've replaced flooring.

antoinolachtnai

It really depends. If the toilet is going on an external wall and if there is a way to box in the water pipes (say in the plasterboard wall), it might not be a big deal at all.

The actual plumbing is basically pretty cheap and fast, it's making routes for pipes and concealing/waterproofing/making good that drives up the costs.

tcif

Thanks to you both for the replies. If we were starting from scratch we'd probably rearrange the lot but at a minimum we need to relocate the sink in the ensuite (probably to the outside wall) to allow us put in a bigger shower and really want to get toilets fully flush to the wall and either floating or vanity enclosed sinks, for whatever implications that has for the current plumbing. No more pedestals or pipes gathering dirt in hard to reach places!

I guess we'll just have to ask a few plumbers for a quote and see what comes back.

antoinolachtnai

You want to get the tank of the toilet in the wall? This will probably require a false wall. There needs to be space for the tank and all the gubbins. The frame and bits and pieces you need to do this are quite expensive. But the plumbing itself isn't necessarily any more complicated than any regular toilet.

To put sinks on the wall with no pedestal can certainly be done. However, it requires forethought and skill. The plumbing has to be in more or less exactly the right place. The mistakes can't be hidden behind the pedestal. But I agree it is worth it.

tcif

Sorry I'm not making this clearer - my lack of plumbing terms is not helping here! On the toilet front we'd settle for what I think is known as the fully shrouded style, the tank visible as usual, just the whole lot backing flush to the wall and hoping the outlet/inlet pipes will line up with the old toilet. This sort of idea
https://www.sonasbathrooms.com/en/toilets-basins/toilets/fully-shrouded.html

antoinolachtnai

You should be able to get that to work for you. But you really need to talk to a plumber. The difference between a plumber who is 'good' and 'not so good' from your perspective is someone who can tell you whether moving stuff around is a good idea and will be able to give reasons for it.

The most difficult thing in your job might actually turn out to be figuring out how to have a shower tray that is nice and low to the ground, and being able to fit the trap and the drain. This might well end up dictating where everything will go.

sky6

Most of the flexibility with moving Bathrooms around revolves around the locations and type of Wastes. For instance some wastes go straight out the wall into a pipe stack.
Others even have the stack inside the House. Others drop through the Floor and then off to the Waste pipe.
The other thing that can make a difference is the direction of the Rafters. This can make moving the toilet in some cases virtually impossible without major reconstruction of the Bathroom Floor.
As to cost it's difficult to say as to variables like having to break out concrete floors or no. Overall though it could be 1 to 2 days extra labour. But really depends on the overall work involved.

tcif

All sounds like we definitely need to find a good plumber! We need one anyway - we had one in before but still have ongoing issues with water pressure (hot feed in the kitchen, cold feed to the washing machine in the utility) he wasn't able to sort out and those bits need fixing asap