loft conversion where is your loo????

[SmellTheGlove]

We are about to get started planning a loft conversion - architect coming on sat. It's a rear dormer going onto a Victorian semi, house is small with entrance on the side and stairs going through the middle IYSWIM. The dilemma is where to put the shower room.in terms of space, I think it would be best going in one corner partly under the eaves, but with the shower and loo in the start of the dormer so with full head height. But I'm not sure if it will be possible to run the toilet waste all the way along the back half of the house, and round two corners to join the existing soil stack. What do people do? Do you end up putting an extra soil stack and new connection to the main sewer? We had to add a connection to the main sewer when we put in the downstairs loo and it was pricey....

I think ideally you want it just above the one on the floor below. That makes it easier and cheaper for all the pipework. Is that a possibility?

That is the sensible thing I know! It's just that putting it there would take a big chunk out if the main part of the room, as it would be right in the dormer. But it may have to be that way. I'm finding it quite hard to imagine the layout actually no matter how much I stand in the loft!

Not sure if it helps but we used to have a loo under the slope of the ceiling - you don't need full head height to use the loo!

is this potential bathroom at the front of the house, or the back?

Where do you think the drains run?

What fatoldbag said. We're planning a loft conversion and extension at the moment and almost the entire design hinges on the location of the soil pipe!

Ours has a side dorma thing to accommodate the stairs and the bathroom, as well as the rear dorma. I am sure your architect will have some good design advice.

Maybe get a few different loft conversion companies to come in and give their opinions? We had at least eight companies in, they all had different ideas. Try to stick with what you think is best re layout, maybe one company will be able to figure out a solution where others cant. I had a firm idea in my head of what i wanted, but only one of the eight would even consider it - hired them and now have an amazing loft!! Personally I would recommend a full-service loft company who provide their own architect, rather than hiring an architect yourself and then a separate building company. We paid loads for an architect originally, but i wouldnt have done that in hindsight. Good luck with your loft!

Shower and toilet room in eaves corner at front. Shower went in part just as it got full height, toilet under slope with velux above to give a bit more head height. This left room in full dormer for stairs and bedroom, where you really don't want head height compromised.

We've got our toilet right at the end of the loft, under the eaves. We then have a corner bath the other side, although further foward, next to the door and a basin with vanity unit at the opposite end to the toilet. Our stairs double back on themselves so you effectively walk into the middle of the room (no dormers, just 3 Velux windows). Not our design - we bought the house 10 years after it was converted. The toilet doesn't connect straight to the soil stack though - we have a turboflush macerator that pumps the waste up then round the edge of the room (behind the walls) and joins the soil stack on the other side of the house. The toilet is rarely used and it's liquid waste only!

The loo in my house is under the eaves - so OK for a bloke standing up if he's not too tall! It work. The shower on the other hand doesn't if you are over 5 foot 7....design fail on my part.

Thank you all ! Prospective bathroom would be at the front/side of house. I need full head height over the loo so DH can wee standing up (he's 6'3"). I know the bathroom SHOULD go directly above the one on the floor below, I just don't really want it to! It would look so much better if it wasnt.I also don't want a macerator toilet though! The drains go along the side of the house I think, we have an inspection chamber in our side return area and that's the way it leads. I think I'm going to have to look at all the neighbouring houses with loft conversions and see if I can spot unusual soil pipes - luckily there are a lot of similar houses and similar conversions nearby. PumpingRSI where is your soil pipe??!!

If it's at the front, and the drains run past the side of the house to join the sewer under the road, some work with a spade will allow a connection to be made to the existing drain.

We have a large flexible pipe laid under the floor and out of rear two storey wing in roof to meet soil pipe at rear. No macerator and in 20yrs loft co haven't had one fail. DH is 6ft 3 and can go standing up due to celux position above head. My advice, don't bother with architect. Get specialist loft company in, put dormer in, then have a walk round and see what would fit where. It's so hard to imagine what it looks like and how to use it before you've stepped foot in it.

When thinking of head height you will lose a bi at the top for insulation (lots of this) and plaster. Bit at the bottom for carpet and underlay. It adds up. Head height and insulation both really important in a loft conversion.

Thanks for all the replies! Well I've been peering into people's sideways who have similar style house and rear dormers, and there seem to be a lot of what appear to be soil pipes towards the front of the houses - so it would appear to be doable.pigletjohn I don't see why we cant just join up a new soil pipe either. we actually added the one at the back last year as we had no upstairs bathroom and it didn't seem that complex (just expensive - why is it that anything that involves digging up the ground costs a fortune?) misson we are actually raising the ridge height along with our neighbour so should end up with a good head height.Pumping we have to use the same builder as our neighbour (well, I guess we don't, but it will save us quite a bit of money), and he is independent and wants plans to give us a quote, hence the architect (well, technican I think). Its all been a bit of a rush as we realised that if we don't do a joint planning application with our neighbour, who wants to go ahead asap, we will be screwed because we don't have an great deal of head height currently and the only options are either raising the ridge height (which planning will only allow if both of a pair of semis do it at the same time), or lowering our ceilings if we do it in the future which I don't want to do.