Moving a toilet.

[Mark]

I have a long (12 ft), narrow (3ft) bathroom which I'd like to divide into two rooms each being 6ft by 3ft, by putting a stud wall partition halfway down the room.

The rear half will be a shower-room, accessible through a new side-door. The front half will be a WC - sink and toilet.

Currently the toilet is at the very back of the room i.e. 12ft away from the door. So basically I'd like to move it approx 6ft nearer to the door.

What's the easiest way to achieve this? I guess the difficult part will be running the waste pipe along a greater distance.

I understand there are some pumped systems available which can grind the waste and move it through a smaller diameter pipe to the soil-stack?

Any info is much appreciated!

Thanks, Mark.

[EricP]

Look for "macerator". You can stick them in most places.

[Grunff]

Will the toilet be backing onto an external wall? Where are the external walls in this arrangement? Where does the soil pipe go from the current position?

Yes, but they are evil. *EVIL*.

[usenet]

Is there any reason why it has to be this way round? I.e. could you not swap the functions around so the toilet doesn't have to move (or at least not so far)?

[Steve Harvey]

> Yes, but they are evil. *EVIL*.

[Christian McArdle]

They get a bad press. However, they're fine, provided you avoid the following user groups using them at all costs:

1. Children. (They stick too much bog roll, or peach stones down there).
2. Visitors. (They always manage to screw them up, normally by being also (3) below.
3. Women. (No matter how many times you explicitly tell them not to insert vampire's teabags down, they will continue to do so. The only really effective technique is to make it clear that you will have to manually remove said items from stalled macerator and will present them on a tray for the perusal of your other guests).

Christian.

[gribblechips]

We`ve not had any problems with ours, despite the evil reputation. The kids have to use the outside toilet for a few days if they eat cherry pips or the like and we have a prominent sign with a big list of forbidden items on the top of the cistern. It helps with visitors if there is a bin beside the toilet within reach to dispose of the stuff they can`t flush.

Be aware you must have another (gravity) toilet on the premises if you have a macerator on the main one. You dont want a bowl filled to the brim with bangers and mash if the power goes off.

Will

[Mark]

This arrangement is the best we can come up with. The back half (i.e. the shower-room) will be accessed via a new doorway to the bedroom.

The front half will be accessed via the hallway. Making the back half the WC means the visitors would have to pass through the bedroom to use the facilities.

Mark.

[Mark]

No..it is currently backing onto an external wall with the soil-stack immediatley outside. I'd like to move it about 6ft away from the wall.

[Mark]

Thanks for the usefull info!

Can they be fitted to a standard toilet? Is there some type of large diameter to small diameter coupling?

And since it's pumped, does the waste pipe have to be on a gradient to the soil-stack? Or can it run uphill?

At the very least I'd like it to be on the flat...running under the floor of the shower-room. Is this do-able?

And a slightly related question...I'm not sure which direction the floor-boards run...so I'll assume the worst, which is that the joists will be at 90 degrees to the path I'd like the waste pipe to take. Is it safe to cut a notch into the top of each of the joists for the pipe to pass through? Or would this weaken them too much?

Thanks!! Mark.

[Grunff]

Your 2m run (from toilet to external wall) would need a slope of around

1:50 - 1:25, so a drop of 4-8cm. You can either raise the toilet by that much, or lower the exit hole for the soil pipe (by enlarging the hole in the wall).

[gribblechips]

Yes - they fit directly on to the back of the pan with a ribbed rubber connector.

A gradient would be better - it will ensure the pipe empties when the pump stops - this is important if any pipe is run outside to prevent the sludge from freezing. Usually any pumping up goes directly from the unit to a high point and then down.

Could be a problem as well as a lot of work. Take the waste straight up into the loft space then out at the eaves.

Will

[The Natural Philosopher]

But the best place is in the skip.

ANYTHING tougher than a sloppy turd and soft tissue will destroy them.

Thats disposable razors, matchsicks, sanitary towels and all the other things that fall down the loo.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Whlst I admire in principle the admonition to avoid women children and vistors, its not always a practical proposition, so its easier to avoid macerators in practice.

If there is enough depth to the floor, or height to the room, use a normal soil pipe and put it under a (possibly raised) floor.

[Christian McArdle]

However, it might be workable in an en-suite, where you can control the users. As a main downstairs toilet in the midst of a drunken (or children's) party, they may be less appropriate.

They're even better if you have a "Number 1" rule.

What you have to face is that the choice is often between the macerator and a bucket, not between a macerator and a conventional toilet.

Christian.

[Huge]

If you put anything like that down the loo in my house, then you are the one that gets to rod the drains. (Private drains, see.)

(In our last house, I got to extract a disposable nappy from the drain running through our garden. On Christmas Day. Charming. I'd have put it back through the door of the originating house, if I'd known which one it was.)

[Owain]

"Christian McArdle" wrote | What you have to face is that the choice is often between | the macerator and a bucket, not between a macerator and a | conventional toilet.

And given the choice between emptying and rinsing the bucket of an elsan toilet, or dismantling and cleaning out a jammed macerator, I think I'd be choosing the bucket.

Owain

[John Rumm]

Also remember that you do not actually need that much fall on a soil pipe. Building regs specify a figure of between 18 and 90mm fall per meter. So you could get away with a total fall of only 4cm over that distance.