change under stairs toilet to home office thing :)

sirmixalot

3 bed end of terrace house 2006, has 2 bathrooms upstairs so no need for the down stairs one. Not bothered by resale value of a bathroom less as it's just me and I'll be in it for good.

Anyway, so need to do a couple of things straight off. The sink pipes waste and water, cap the waste pipe and get x 2 shut off valves for both hot and cold. Shut off valve already on toilet but need the waste pipe capped off too.

Not sure if there's any problem with the beams as I'd say they are not supporting the stairs. Once I open the plasterboard up I'll get a better idea. Handy enough at DIY (think Homer's Spice rack) so confident of doing it all I guess.

2nd pic shows another panel that the waste pipe goes to from the back partition wall of the toilet.

Anyone see any issues or done similar? Any issues you can see straight off?

The general idea I'm going for is something like below.

Ginger83

Could you cap the pipes and hide them in case someone wants to change it back?

Does this space have ventilation?

sirmixalot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831073#Comment_120831073

Yep, well has an extractor fan that is isolated by a switch. Will cap them and leave in place should anyone after me want to reverse it.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831097#Comment_120831097

Good thinking. It will be a nice project. You might need to consider if you want to put power there permanently or just route temporary power.

If you find the area chilly with the fan something like the Icon airflow will close.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304479/change-under-stairs-toilet-to-home-office-thing

if you plan on staying in this house for good then i would recommend not removing a downstairs WC as you may not find it easy to get upstairs when you are older

sirmixalot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831141#Comment_120831141

There's mains the other side of the wall that goes into the sitting room, will just drill through and run cable to a socket board and wire up, anyway, won't be doing it for awhile yet but will post pics of the process to see how it turns out.

sirmixalot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831163#Comment_120831163

Very good point, but be very easy to reverse engineer it back to what it was (leave caps and pipes in place but boxed off), I'd even leave it open plan for the craic :)

policarp

Why not convert half of one of the bedrooms into an office space

and keep the rest as a box room?

Two bathrooms upstairs?

Mellor

An understair office is a pretty grim space to work in for any length of time.

During covid I converted an open niche into a home office. It's 2m x 2m with 2.7 ceilings. And I'd consider that a minimal size. The secong photo above is better, as it's an open niche that backs onto an open plan living area. Look like your space is a hallway, so probably applicable.

Not sure what beams you mention, there are none in the photos. But the main issues would be ventilation and power. A toilet fan is extract, not supply. And they tend to be noisy.

sirmixalot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120848901#Comment_120848901

I don't know, design it right and a little imagination and you can have a great productive and usable space. I've been WFH the last 3 years, I'll never be back in the office and love home life and all you can do while WFH.

The beam mentioned is probably nothing, it's where the door would close into the frame, sure it's not supporting anything as there's no supporting walls etc, just wondered about the bottom to top of stairs but likely it's support to the floor above and not a beam to the side.

Anyway won't do it for a few months so will post up a before and after.