Terraced house loft conversion; ensuite bathroom at front?

[Scam]

The house we are buying is a small 2 bed terraced. We intend to convert the loft to a main bedroom with ensuite bathroom. Having looked at a lot of houses for sale that have already converted we saw the majority have put the en-suite in loft at the back - which we hated, terrible use of space! But we later realised that this is obviously because of the waste pipe needing to be at the back. We've spoken to a couple of builders, one came round for a quote and they seem to suggest the only way to put your ensuite at the front of the loft was to have a chemical flush thingy (I've forgotten the term ) or your waste pipe going down the stairs, boxed in etc. Hmn.

The few houses that had the bathroom at the front of the loft, well it provides so much more space in the room especially as our stairs will come up into the rear. Hiding the bathroom in the front eaves (dormer on the back) just makes the room so much bigger.

Any thoughts or grand ideas how this can be done? Obviously we don't want a chemical loo and the builder was telling us how having the waste pipe going through the house would be a nightmare if anything went wrong, you got a blockage etc. (Sounds grim!). We are getting quotes from a few builders so it'll be interesting to see what they say.

 

[Slade2]

Its fairly simple actually, you just need a macerator to grind up the solids and a pump to then pump the waste away to the soil pipe so you will need a run to that pipe and a pump of sufficient size to pump to it. So as long as you are happy with that arrangement it does work. With that being said they tend to be for toilets or bathrooms that get little use and I wouldn't be installing them in a daily use area. Also they can be a bit noisy when the pump is running but this only happens when you empty the bath or pull the flush.

 

[Derek W]

One of these https://www.saniflo.co.uk/, take the pipework behind the coomb of the other rooms (so its away from stair), drop it down between the floor joists then run it back into the existing soil pipe and bobs your uncle.

 

[peige]

Its a thing that could go wrong and will be pretty unpleasant if it does. Its not so say you can't as has been shown but the builders are frowning for a reason in that your pushing away from the tried and tested and onto a weaker more expensive solution.

If I did it i'd want the whole lot accessible, hatches or straight forward access to the pump and pipe beginning and ends so if the worse happens you can get to it.

 

[200sols]

You can run a soil pipe horizontal for about 6m to a vented stack if you can, the required fall is 20mm per meter so you be able to run a soil pipe through the floor depending on the setup. Obviously without seeing the floor and loft it is impossible to say with any accuracy. I would avoid a macerator if this will be a well used toilet.

 

[HangTime]

Its fairly simple actually, you just need a macerator to grind up the solids and a pump to then pump the waste away to the soil pipe so you will need a run to that pipe and a pump of sufficient size to pump to it. So as long as you are happy with that arrangement it does work. With that being said they tend to be for toilets or bathrooms that get little use and I wouldn't be installing them in a daily use area. Also they can be a bit noisy when the pump is running but this only happens when you empty the bath or pull the flush.

My old office had a macerator and it was both noisy and prone to failure (with expected results), although to be fair it was getting a lot heavier use than a domestic property would.

Having internal waste pipes all boxed in without easy access sounds like a potential minefield and that's maybe why the majority have positioned the toilet differently, but I guess only you can weigh up the benefit of improved use of space vs potential risks.

Have you got your heart set on an ensuite as opposed to just having a bigger room?

 

[Scam]

You can run a soil pipe horizontal for about 6m to a vented stack if you can, the required fall is 20mm per meter so you be able to run a soil pipe through the floor depending on the setup. Obviously without seeing the floor and loft it is impossible to say with any accuracy. I would avoid a macerator if this will be a well used toilet.

Yeah. Not sure I want to post the floorplan here but the layout on the ground floor is essentially a short 'L' shape meaning the stairs (and thus the potential loft ensuite) would be along the left side - along the longest part of the 'L'. So longer than 6m. Not by much mind. The soil pipe down is on the back right of the house as you look at it, i.e. opposite side of the longest part.

Have you got your heart set on an ensuite as opposed to just having a bigger room?

There's only two of us but yes we definitely want two toilets in the house. We've put up with 2 bed/1 bath flat for long enough! It's a very small Edwardian terraced house, think as small as they get (biggest room in the house is the current primary/front bedroom at 4.63m wide by 3.47m). Squeezing in a toilet on the ground floor (sort-of under the stairs) might be do-able but will remove a nice chunk of kitchen/dining space. We could do that and just have a shower room in the loft but it's not half as nice as having a full bathroom each. Could you even put a shower room at the front (no toilet)?

 

[gc123]

we have a downstairs loo and basin with macerator , toilet is used nearly everyday and to be honest in 20 odd years i have replaced the macerator once. cost around 300 pounds as long as access is left to get near it then no problem , as regards noise, yeah little bit like a sink waste disposal unit (well same thing if you think about it) but not all the time only when flushed.
worth thinking about , is getting a plumber out, when ours went wrong i tried the house insurance due to having emergency cover and they didnt want to know , apparently macerators are not covered. and plumbers round here south derbyshire dont seem to like them either, hence me replacing it my self (not a big job and replacement sourced off the internet about 2 hour job and nowadays they come with one way flap valves on the pipes so no great amount of mess all contained ). our waste pipe goes up into the ceiling and above the kitchen to the outside waste stack.

oh and when it was originally installed i had plans for a shower in the same room but they got shelved, but both macerators have and had inlets for showers baths etc so very versatile.

 

[Scam]

apparently macerators are not covered. and plumbers round here south derbyshire dont seem to like them either

I appreciate the info. As my girlfriend says is it really worth the extra hassle for the sake of having a slightly larger/better laid out attic room. She doesn't seem keen!

 

[LuckyBenski]

My house has this arrangement - landlord had the loft converted, toilet/shower in the front of the house half-eaved. He had a Saniflo and when he was visiting (occasional weekend) it ran a few seconds every 8 minutes because of a slow leak into the toilet. A bit annoying having that noise in my ceiling.

I think it failed twice in about 8 years, so he then had a full waste pipe fitted. This drops 2 feet to avoid the steel joist used during loft conversion, into my room. Then it runs (boxed) along the entire width of the house (inside my room) and pops out the side wall (end of terrace). It's exterior along the side of the house and joins the main stack round the back.

Sorry, that's a terrible description - can draw a diagram if you like