Moving bathroom location in a flat -advice needed

[jo105]

I am about to purchase a large 1 bed property which I would like to turn into a 2 bed. The property is a 1st floor flat in a victorian conversion with 1 neighbour above and 1 below and is mid terrace.

In order to turn into a 2 bedroom I need to relocate the kitchen to where the exisiting bathroom is to the front of the property, using the old location of the kitchen at the back of the property and turn it into a 2nd bedroom and creating an internal bathroom between exisiting lounge and master bedroom which would be large enough to house bath, wc and sink.

This new bathroom location means there is no access to an external wall, so how would I run the soil? I have seen floor plans of properties on the next street which have this new 2 bed and internal bathroom layout mid terrace I am planning but I can't figure out how they would have sorted out the pipework.

The new wc location would be approx 18 ft from the existing wc pipe.

Any advice would be appreciated!

thks

 

[jo105]

sketch plans attached for reference

 

[MattWeth]

Looking at what you propose, I can't see any way you'll be able to use a conventional gravity soil to get back to the original stack (I assume it runs down an external wall behind the WC on your original layout?).

I'd look into a macerator to pump the soil from your new WC location to your existing stack. It'll depend on distances / minimum falls etc (hard to tell from your sketch plans) but looks like it'd be doable. Search for 'Saniflow'.

hth

 

[jo105]

matt, correct the original soil stack runs down externall wall behind the WC on original layout. will look into a macerator as you suggest although bit concerned these are a bit "caravanesque"?!
thks

 

[MattWeth]

matt, correct the original soil stack runs down externall wall behind the WC on original layout. will look into a macerator as you suggest although bit concerned these are a bit "caravanesque"?!
thks

Your right in that a simple gravity soil is always to be preferred (less to go wrong) but sometimes there's no other way.

Installed correctly / intelligently - leaving access for servicing / blockage rectification in both the unit and pipework (lets not go there!) they can work well and reliably - thousands of hotels and apartment conversions can't be wrong. As you probably know, they do make some noise so to keep your neighbours below happy, it'll be best not to site it above their bedroom(!) and ideally in an acoustically insulated enclosure. Also (although rarely), I have heard of planning / building control restrictions on their use, so probably a good idea for you or your builder / plumber to check with the local council first.

 

[jo105]

thats very useful thanks for that info
regards

 

[gravytrain]

as far as i am aware a macerator cannot be the only WC in the property. you must have
a normal gravity WC in the property before you can have a macerator, because if there is
a power cut you would have no WC.

you would need to check with building control.

you could re-site the wc where it can be connected to the soil
and then move the rest of the bathroom. so have a separate WC and a bathroom with no WC.

 

[MattWeth]

as far as i am aware a macerator cannot be the only WC in the property. you must have
a normal gravity WC in the property before you can have a macerator, because if there is
a power cut you would have no WC.

you would need to check with building control.

you could re-site the wc where it can be connected to the soil
and then move the rest of the bathroom. so have a separate WC and a bathroom with no WC.

Good point.
Building Regs part G only allows fitting of a macerator WC where "there is access to a WC discharging directly to a gravity system" (my emphasis).

I believe a shared WC in a building entrance hallway (which some flat conversions have) is sufficient for this but it'll depend on jo105's building.

 

[MRDrip]

The million dollar question - is it leasehold ?

 

[jo105]

so looks like reading the above a rejig of the proposed plan to include a wc and bathroom adjacent to the kitchen in the hall area is best option then. The property is leasehold with a share of freehold, so hopefully not too many issues there...

think the floor plan needs a bit of finessing to make sure the new bathroom location next to kitcen works with the space in the hall

 

[MattWeth]

so looks like reading the above a rejig of the proposed plan to include a wc and bathroom adjacent to the kitchen in the hall area is best option then. The property is leasehold with a share of freehold, so hopefully not too many issues there...

think the floor plan needs a bit of finessing to make sure the new bathroom location next to kitcen works with the space in the hall View attachment 4877

Hmm - it'll need drawing out carefully to make sure you can fit the kitchen and bathroom into the space you've got - not a lot of space to get a workable kitchen and bathroom into there. However, I guess there are always going to be compromises when you're squeezing an extra bedroom in.

Good luck - I'll be interested to hear how it works out.

M

 

[GQuigley67]

you would probably need a consultant to come out and advise you on the best options on this one

 

[jo105]

thanks all for the input ill repost on this thread if it goes ahead! regards

 

[stevetheplumber]

those 2 beds round the corner probably have a new soil pipe through the middle of the house