Building an ensuite

[curlyrebel]

So I've seen a lovely house. The only issue is that the bathroom is downstairs. However the main bedroom upstairs is large enough to have an ensuite built in. I'm thinking shower and toilet. Has anyone got any idea how much these things can cost? We're based in Greater London.

Following ...

Standard london terrace 5kmin up to 10k depends on drainage but finding a good builder and not having to wait ages might be a problem

Thanks Alexalee. Waiting not a huge issue since we could live with a bathroom downstairs temporarily.

drainage is your issue. would en suite be the same side as the soil stack?

AJPTaylor no it doesn't look like it going by the floor plan

Where would you put the ensuite

If you put the en-suite where the cupboard is (blocking the door) in the main bathroom - do you have enough room to run a new soil stack on the LHS of the house (looks to be an outside wall)? If so, you might get lucky with the plumbing.
Otherwise you may need a macerating toilet or more significant work. Suspect you'll be looking at around £10k for the work in greater London, maybe more depending on the spec you're going for.

Do you need the third bedroom up there? If you move the whole family bathroom up to the box room, you would likely have less of an issue with moving pipes and could either

1. open up the kitchen diner space completely
2. make the downstairs loo room slightly bigger to be a study come guest room
3. make the downstairs loo just a powder room and use the rest of the floor space to have more room in your kitchen diner.

Obviously with the caveat that if you need all 3 bedrooms upstairs to have all the children on the same floor, then it won’t work...

Thanks all for the ideas. I wouldn't really want to move the third bedroom downstairs. I like the idea of using the space in the main bedroom next to the stairs. Could we have a toilet accessible from the landing even? Or perhaps we could build a toilet where the 3rd bedroom is and move the wall between the 2nd and 3rd rooms to even out the space. Is that possible? I would be happy as long as we had a toilet upstairs.

When I view the house what should I be looking out for? How would I know if there's enough room to run a new soil stack?

This is the sort of thing I was wondering. Not clear from the plans whether there would be enough room in practice to fit it in though.
I suspect there is a soil stack on the LHS of the house already for the current bathroom. You'd need to either get a similar additional soil stack installed on the outside of the house by the stairs or be able to get a pipe from where the proposed en-suite is to the existing soil stack.

As long as the left hand wall as you look at it is external you have no problem putting it by the stairs. If not then you cant do that.
Why is there an external door coming out of bed 1?

Hello OP

I'm currently rennovating my Victorian end-of-terrace three bed house.

The bathroom was originally downstairs off the kitchen. I've turned what was the middle bedroom into an ensuite and a master bathroom. The third bedroom is now in the loft conversion.

The old third bedroom will be extended to the full width of the house; the new soil stack will run between the master bathroom & what will be a new cloakroom on the ground floor (where the original back porch used to be).

I'm in Greater London too. I have no idea how much the ensuite would cost on its own, but I can ask my builder?

Good luck!

Parkview094 yes that could work going by your diagram. Is that a soil sack where the cupboard is? Alexalee yes the LHS is external. I was wondering myself why there is an external door coming out of bedroom 1. I can see a drainage pipe at the front of the house from the photos. Could that help?
Goldierocks, that looks good what you've done. If you don't mind asking your builders although I guess it would be difficult to say without proper plans or seeing the house itself.
Hopefully when I see the house I can work out what's feasible.

I guarantee it would cost more then 10K. I was quoted 10K to redo my ensuite in SE and that was without the need to put up walls etc.

I think you will really struggle with this - the bedroom is just over 14’x10’ which isn’t huge & taking out enough space for an ensuite will make the room 10x10 which is tight for a double bed, wardrobe, drawers etc. I don’t think you’ve taken into account that you need to be able to open the door to the loo so can’t have a bed in the way! You may squeeze just a toilet in but shower as well I can’t see working ... You would need a macerator system as it’s so far from the soil stack and that’s noisy ... also would you want the children traipsing into your room in the night to use the toilet or would they need to go downstairs?

Hi again OP

My builder says anywhere between £9k - £15k, depending on structual works (e.g. if you are having a window & need a lintel) and quality of sanitaryware.

He also said if you want a bath in your ensuite and not just a shower/basin/loo you'd need to have the joists underneath it checked (full baths are very heavy) as you may need a steel.

Good luck

So I went to see the house today. It was a lovely house with lots of character. It's such a shame about the downstairs bathroom. The EA was suggesting putting a toilet in where the cupboard in the main bedroom is. We definitely couldn't have a shower there unless we got rid of the 3rd room. Apparently a lot of houses on the street have had loft extensions so that could be an option further down the line. We're still thinking about it! Thanks goldierocks for asking your builder. LucyFox yes you're right about children traipsing through our room to use the loo. Not ideal