How easy and expensive is it to install bathroom?

[lynneuk74]

I have moved into a terraced house which was built before bathrooms were 'invented'!!!!!

Someone solved this by building an extension past the kitchen and creating a bathroom.

I'm not enamoured by the idea of a bathroom downstairs and would like to divide a very long thin bedroom in two to create a small study/spare room and an upstairs bathroom.

I have two questions. How difficult is it likely to be (and how much is it likely to cost) to relocate a bathroom? Both old and new rooms are at back of house.

Secondly, does the new bathroom have to have an 'outside' wall. Would rather have the more 'internal' part of the room as the bathroom as then I'd get natural light in the study but not sure if it is necessary to have bathroom fittings near the exterior wall.

Would be grateful for any advice as need to know whether it is financially viable and also if I need to rethink my plans.

Thanks

[stanleyman]

You first need to draw a plan to make sure you can get everything in properly. After that the main problem is drainage. It does not have to go straight outside but a toilet waste pipe does take up room if it goes through the study as it is usually too big to go under the floor. Hot and cold supplies should not pose a problem unless the feed tank is situated downstairs.

You might need to use the whole room up stairs, bearing in mind you otherwise gain a room downstairs but if you can get everything in it is well worth doing and shouldn't be too expensive if you avoid the gold fittings etc. but you need to get someone in who can see the detail and work the job out to give a price. Get at least three written quotes detailing exactly what you want, not estimates which are too open. You will still need to pay for extras but a quote is a fixed price.

Make it clear you are on a budget but are looking for good value not just a cheap job. Don't pay the full amount until you are happy with the work.

[buildersmate]

It good news if the proposed located of the new is above the old. This is because one of the fiddly bits of the job (and hence the potential for expense) is the running of the new waste soil pipes from the WC and the basin into the drains system. Your builder should be able to run then through the ceiling and down (boxed in), or construct a pipe flow on the outside of the house (as all pre-1960's houses had).

Its simply impossible to estimate the cost of such a project remotely. You need to get 3 general builders or specialist smaller bathroom refit company. Avoid the national organisations like Dolphin (if they are still in business). You will get a hard-sell, an acceptable quality job but at an inflated price (someone has to pay for that salesmen's commission). Also the price varies enormously according the quality of the fittings you choose.

I'm not sure I know the answer to the second bit. But....... Have you considered the privacy bit of doing this? If you were planning a shower then its a no-no because the condensation will go into the study and not be extracted. I suspect the answer is you can have a wash-basin but not a WC in the room.

Why not use the glass, opaque blocks to construct the wall with? - They let light through but separate the room off. HTH

[alan30]

You don't necessarily need a large toilet waste pipe; consider using something like Saniflo unit

http://www.saniflo.co.uk/

which 'grinds' all waste into a slurry and can pump it via small diameter pipe. It worked well in a conversion we did in a victorian house. The cost of the unit was offset by not needing to run and hide large diameter waste pipe.

[lynneuk74]

Thanks. The main thing which I was unsure of was how big the waste pipe would be and, therefore, whether it would go under the floor - it sounds like that isn't likely to be possible.

It is a very long thin room which is big enough to be split in half - it was just that there is a window at one end and I wasn't too keen on having a study/bedroom with no natural light. However, with the condensation issue as well, looks like I'll have to go with that option. Not that keen on the look of glass blocks unless it is a very modern house and mine is generally quite traditional.

I was a bit worried that, if I got quotations, I'd be under pressure to go ahead straight away. In reality it'd probably be the case that I'd wait until I'd saved up some of the cost before going ahead with the work.

Thanks for all your advice.

[Pythia]

Hi Lynne

I've just done something similar, taking out an end-of-extension bathroom to make the kitchen bigger, and putting a new bathroom into the end of a long thin room. It's worked a dream, so good luck with yours.

Get recommendations from friends or other contacts for a builder if you possibly can, or else ask them for referneces from people for whom they've done similar work. They will know that they're quoting against other people so won't necessarily expect to get the job, don't feel under pressure, though quotes are sometimes only valid for a certain amount of time because of inflation. But at least you'll have something to go on. The guys above have given you good advice. Good luck - let us know how it works out!

[jake-the-peg]

I believe the applicable building regs require ventillation for bathrooms so it's going to be a pain.

Also if you're going to put in a bath, especially if you're thinking of a cast iron one check the strength of the joists holding the floor up - a cubic meter of water weighs a tonne.

Finally it's not a problem if you're planning to stay put but remember estate agents have a minimum size that a room can be before it can be advertised as a bedroom so you could be below this in the study which would potentially reduce the value of your house.

Best of luck anyway and well done for going for an older house