Relocating a bathroom and adding a WC

[Fritilleries]

Moving to a detached 30s house. Needs renovating. How big of a deal would it be to remove a wc from bottom/back of the house and relocate to the front? Upstairs, the bathroom is also at the back.

Would it be better to relocate the bathroom as well so it's near the downstairs WC?

We're in the middle of doing something similar. I can look the prices up if you want once I'm home after Christmas?

Moving soil pipes is expensive and it hasn't been a simple operation!

its the waste pipes that are the problem and it can be messy (the digging work/trenches for pipes connecting to mains sewerage)

I would check with the local councils planning department, in some areas ie conservation areas you may need planning permission or building control permission.

it’s not normally a problem gaining permission if it’s required, (we are in a listed building - it was listed after we bought it, and we did need permission for another bathroom we did a few years ago) although I’ve found the planning departments are normally very helpful.

Do you know where the sewers run? If the loo at the back has a sewer pipe that runs to the front alongside the house, it might not be too hard to connect a new loo into that.

That would be great, thanks. Thanks everyone for replying. :)

Aside from the waste pipe location once it reaches ground level outside, I found the biggest headache was working out where to put the soil pipe from first floor level. I didn't want to have the pipe appearing out of the front wall of the house at first floor, and running down to the ground, as that ruined the look of the house. Instead we went for an internal pipe that is boxed in, thankfully hidden behind a door downstairs so it's less noticeable.

You also need to plan where the pipe exits the wall/floor in the new room as that determines if you can have a wall-hung toilet for instance. Our builder went ahead with his idea, I didn't think ahead to ask about it, and now we can't have the wall hung toilet I'd planned.

Right, so costs for us to do similar:

Strip existing bathroom (wet room with shower, loo and basin): £352
Make good walls and ceiling: £935
Create new room for loo: £624.54
Supply and fit loo, basin and towel rail: £450
Drainage alterations (inc moving soil pipe about 5 metres): £878
New door: £146

These are all materials, labour, plant and any subcontractor needed. Skip costs not included. And before VAT.

Hope that helps!

🙌thanks 😊

Good luck! I'd get a builder in to look if you can - ours was really helpful with some pragmatic solutions to several things!