Feasibility/cost of adding a bathroom or toilet

[ScaredSceptic]

We viewed a property that ticks a lot of boxes and is in a great location for us. We'd ideally want a downstairs loo but thought at least there are two bathrooms upstairs.

On viewing however, the en suite is so small it's verging on unusable (used to be a cupboard) and the toilet in there is a macerator. Obviously this was done because the original bathroom and soil stack/sewer is at the opposite side of the house, but it's not something I'd want to live with.

I can't see anywhere obvious where it would be relatively straightforward to have a proper second toilet installed without a great deal of expense and disruption (see floorplan).

Am I right, or is there a possible option I'm missing?

Depending on the drainage routes outside the house: In the back of the garage. The soil pipe could go out the side wall then underground around the back of the house.

Does the garage door really open into the garage? It'd hit a car if one was parked in there!

Does it actually open in to the hall?

Thank you, yes we had thought the back of the garage would be a good place, but I was imagining the kitchen floor would have to be dug up - never considered it might be able to go out the side wall.

As you might be able to tell, I have little knowledge about this sort of thing! And unfortunately we don't know any trusted builders we could ask for an opinion on what may be possible.

It does open into the garage. Which is fine, as I've never parked my car in the garage in 35 years of driving and don't intend to start!

Do away with garage if you don’t use it…toilet, utility and an extra room could easily fit in that space.

Yes that would be an option, it's just how complicated/expensive it might be to get a connection to the sewer from there that we are concerned about.

Can you trace water and waste from inside the house out to the garden/street? Loads of companies do garage conversions these days so easy enough to get quotes. Once the shell is converted you can do each section/room over time to allow you to budget for the works.

A lot of people put on in the under the stairs cupboard.

Or you will have to extend the kitchen and create a loo/ utility room there.

Take a picture of the back of the house to show the soil pipe (The big waste pipe that takes the poo from the toilet) run down the exterior..

Then do a diagram of the house, garden and any manhole covers, plus neighbouring houses, and Mumsnet may have a first stab before you pay for a drain survey.

There is no exterior visible soil pipe and no obvious internal boxing where a soil pipe might be!

Get a builder to look at it.

Depending on your budget , and the space outside the kitchen door, you could perhaps build a small L-shaped extension and use that as a loo/ shower/ utility.

How important is a downstairs loo?

Do you have elderly relatives? Friends with young children? Will you be using all 4 bedrooms for yourselves?

It does look like all the plumbing is at the back of the property.
What is down the left hand side? is this a path and is there visible drainage down that side? If not then that will be the cost of the garage option, getting the drains and drainage in place - I agree with others that using some of that for a loo and utility is a good idea.

Do you need 4 bedrooms?

So the drains are definitely at the back, as PP said look to see if there are any manholes down the left or right hand side

Yes there is a path down the left hand side. We'd have to go back to check if there was visible drainage.

We don't need four bedrooms so could think about converting a bedroom to an additional bathroom, but we would need to think about the potential effect on the value of the house.

A downstairs loo would be preferable for when my elderly mum visits but we could live without it, as long as there are two fully functioning toilets, i.e. no macerator.

Depending on your budget this may not be the best property for you.
The garage is the best and a good option but the cost with the plumping all being at the back is going to be the biggest factor.

You could post a link to the listing.

AFAIAC a downstairs loo is essential. DD once severely broke her leg and could not manage our stairs with crutches when she was non weight bearing. Ditto potty training.

Can your surveyor give a view about the ease the cost of drainage if you convert the gge? Having done a few renovations, I'd put it at £35/£50k for a shower room and utility room conversion.

It certainly looks as if the plumbing is all at the back, but it’s also likely that the drains will then come along one side of the house or the other (assuming it’s detached) to get to the sewer in the road in front of the house. Sometimes it’ll run to a sewer behind, but if it’s a traditional garden backing in to another garden and then house I don’t think that’s likely. You’d need a plumber to come and take a look. In which case the downstairs cloakroom in a bit of the garage option might be possible.

From an upstairs perspective if you don’t ‘need’ 4 bedrooms I think a proper en-suite and a smaller bedroom would be far preferable to a macerator toilet and tiny en-suite. So I’d swap the current bathroom for the bedroom to the right of it on the plan. That room could be split in 2 to create a family bathroom and an ensuite, with what was the bathroom becoming a small bedroom / study.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, it's really helpful. We will mull it over but I think we will keep looking for now as it's not just the cost of getting a toilet in, but the hassle factor. I hate dealing with tradespeople.

I can see there are various options but it's not something we want to spend a significant amount on, and I don't think there's a simple way (such as if there was a suitable space directly under the existing bathroom).