Downstairs wc

[Justkeepswimming4]

Has anyone managed to put in a downstairs wc in a standard 1950s 3 bed semi. Our architects have been so unhelpful and not creative AT ALL, and I'm wondering if it's because it just can't be done.

My mum lives in a 1950's (ish) semi. She wants to put a toilet downstairs. The only place it will logistically go is in the kitchen (where it was when the house was built) but it will decrease the kitchen size by about 1/3.

I saw pictures of one recently built into a hall/under stairs area.

Builders moved the door to the living room from the end of the hall to the top, next to the front door and then boxed off the end so that the loo and sink faced the front door.

@Nutrigrainygoodness

My mum lives in a 1950's (ish) semi. She wants to put a toilet downstairs. The only place it will logistically go is in the kitchen (where it was when the house was built) but it will decrease the kitchen size by about 1/3.

That's what I'm worried about!

@EdgedInBlue

I saw pictures of one recently built into a hall/under stairs area.

Builders moved the door to the living room from the end of the hall to the top, next to the front door and then boxed off the end so that the loo and sink faced the front door.

Yeah, this could be a possibility but I wonder if the living room will then become a bit of a passage way.

You can but it’s not easy, Two problems to overcome, you cannot have the door opening into a living area / kitchen etc. (Seems obvious but would you really want a toilet opening into your kitchen) I don’t think it’s allowed under building regs now, and the second issue is pipe work, if it’s not near the main stack pipe it can be extremely expensive to pipe up

@user1471528245

You can but it’s not easy, Two problems to overcome, you cannot have the door opening into a living area / kitchen etc. (Seems obvious but would you really want a toilet opening into your kitchen) I don’t think it’s allowed under building regs now, and the second issue is pipe work, if it’s not near the main stack pipe it can be extremely expensive to pipe up

Yes, these seems to be the issue. We definitely don't want the wc opening up into the kitchen...don't know about building regs but I've heard from a few estate agents that it really down values the house.

I've been in several with one under the stairs.

The other annoying thing is the gas/elec meters and fuse box are all under the stairs, so we can't propose that space, only part of it, because of where they're located.

During lockdown we’ve put one in under the stairs. Our cottage is older, but has the traditional 3 room layout downstairs. The stairs are on the unattached side, door opens to the hall, the waste pipe goes directly out and meets the main down pipe on that wall. No need for any pipe work underground.
We did have to move the electrics and burglar alarm. The biggest upheaval was moving the main electrical inlet and meter to outside. It had to be done by the Electricity provider.
If your under stairs is in a similar position there shouldn’t be a problem.

Meant to add we kept the fuse box in there, moved to be discrete. But it could have been relocated to the kitchen. All was signed off bu Building Control.

@Justkeepswimming4

The other annoying thing is the gas/elec meters and fuse box are all under the stairs, so we can't propose that space, only part of it, because of where they're located.

My WC has my fuse box in it. I don't think it matters?

@Beebumble2

During lockdown we’ve put one in under the stairs. Our cottage is older, but has the traditional 3 room layout downstairs. The stairs are on the unattached side, door opens to the hall, the waste pipe goes directly out and meets the main down pipe on that wall. No need for any pipe work underground. We did have to move the electrics and burglar alarm. The biggest upheaval was moving the main electrical inlet and meter to outside. It had to be done by the Electricity provider. If your under stairs is in a similar position there shouldn’t be a problem.

I've got the elec network coming out to survey to tell me if they can move it. Was it hugely expensive ?

Sabrinathemiddleagewitch - I don't have a problem with it being there it's just it's location means it's really restricting where the toilet and basin can go which means we end up taking more space out of the kitchen which we really don't want to do.
It's things like this that I just never realised could be such an issue.

just it was £1400, that included digging a man sized hole in the drive. We also had our electrician on standby, to reconnect the fuse box when they’d finished. The price may vary depending on your Electricity provider, our was Western Power.

We looked into it. The issue was something to do with the pipe work. In the end (to avoid it literally being in the kitchen 🙄) we would have had to convert the garage, take some space off the study... the quote was £16k 😱. We’ve moved now but similar houses in that road did it by the above configuration.

Ours is a 30s semi - not sure if the layout of a 50s semi is different but ours is under the stairs (done before we moved in). The electricity meter is still under the stairs too but further down & its partitioned off, so accessed from the hall.

Our 1990s House was built to a Traditional design with the Toilet under the stairs. The internal width is the same as the staircase, and it is tight forward so that the highest part is tucked under the last two top stairs with a slope in the Ceiling. There is also space for a tiny Cloakroom hand basin, and the Toilet door swings outwards into the hall.
The pipework runs down the cloakroom corner at the side of the hand basin, and is neatly boxed in and tiled to match. The sink splashback. The toilet waste goes through the outer wall and connects up to the sewer externally. It is doable, and you get a proper mains toilet, not one of the noisy Macerator Saniflow type that are a real pain for blocking up and needing maintaining to remove sanitary products, and wads of Toliet paper that have got entangled in the internal Chopping mechanism!

This is just the first thought that came to me, as I'm currently in the process of buying a '50s house, and I'm not sure if and how it would work but if you look at old records, did there used to be an essentially an outhouse?

In the old records in our area, all the houses had an outhouse originally - basically they all had upstairs bathroom and a garden toilet with storage as seems to have been the style here. Some people removed these and some basically brought them into the house via a conservatory or lean-to, some of them literally just a short hall from the house to the toilet (not mine but the floorplan gives example of what I'm talking about). I'm thinking that if it was once there and some of the piping might still be there if closed off as I've heard happening sometimes with these things, there might be a way to reopen it if you had someone knowledgeable enough, or maybe you can create a similar conservatory toilet.

I have a 1930s semi with the standard layout, and turned a cupboard in the hall into a toilet. It has a standard toilet and tiny washbasin, with bifold doors. Just about all fits in, but for various reasons I couldn't use under the stairs.

Diagram not to scale!

It is really something you do easily when you extend! Make the kitchen bigger and take a section out for a utility and cloakroom leading off the hall. I hate those tiny ones under the stairs. If you have an architect (surely not just for a cloakroom?) you need to think a bout how the house can be altered to accommodate all you need. Do you have a garage and can you extend along behind it?

Moving a fuse box is not necessary. Box it into a cupboard.

@BiBabbles

This is just the first thought that came to me, as I'm currently in the process of buying a '50s house, and I'm not sure if and how it would work but if you look at old records, did there used to be an essentially an outhouse?

In the old records in our area, all the houses had an outhouse originally - basically they all had upstairs bathroom and a garden toilet with storage as seems to have been the style here. Some people removed these and some basically brought them into the house via a conservatory or lean-to, some of them literally just a short hall from the house to the toilet (not mine but the floorplan gives example of what I'm talking about). I'm thinking that if it was once there and some of the piping might still be there if closed off as I've heard happening sometimes with these things, there might be a way to reopen it if you had someone knowledgeable enough, or maybe you can create a similar conservatory toilet.

I have a 50s (terraced) house and there is an outhouse with old toilet, exactly as you describe. One day we will turn the outbuildings into a small bathroom and utility, if we ever get round to it. There isn't anywhere else in the house that would be suitable for a toilet.