I want to convert a fairly narrow room into a bathroom. It will have to have a toilet and bidet opposite the washbasin, so to maximise the space between I'd like a bog (and bidet) which doesn't extend too far into the room. 500mm would be nice.
Simple! Use one with a high level cistern. Surely that means the bog can be further back?
But from the ones I've seen, that doesn't make much difference. I'd like to sit (typo?) with my back to the wall, and I don't want something out of a doll's house or caravan.
We solved a similar problem by fitting a "back to wall" toilet which only projects 480mm and "stealing" some space from the room on the other side of the wall for a boxed in concealed cistern.
You need to be careful with choice of cistern to do this because the cistern on the other side of the wall is fitted "back to front" compared with the conventional arrangement. Some of these cisterns have a rigidly fixed flush pipe which cannot be swung round towards the wall.
What about one of those posh Japanese toilets that have a bidet built in with remote control, hot air blower, heated seats, etc. ?
(So only one unit rather than 2?)
My mother in law has one - it was installed when she had some wrist issues (not sure exactly what it was, but she had an operation to fix it) I've not used it but my wife likes it...
LOL. Further down this page is a humourous escapade involving expanding foam. About 50 years ago a schoolchum of mine built a small sailing boat (MiniSail) in his fathers garage. Eventually comes the time to fill it with foam. Supplied by Strand Glass IIRC. Having read all the destructions the two parts are mixed, administered and left to expand for whatever the stated period was. After double that period nothing had appeared. So, whilst I shone a torch in one of the filling holes, my mate Tony had a look in another. We hadn't taken into account the coled temp that day. You got it, at that moment the foam spewed from the hole like a hosepipe. Fortunately he was wearing his specs but he was covered in the stuff from head top to the waist. Of course he spun around so that his back got a good dosing as well. Hospital job. Cut his clothes off and shaved his head, eyebrows and eyelids. Minor surgery to the nostrils. Lucky he had his specs on otherwise he might have lost his sight. To this day his hair and eyebrows look rather odd. But we lived to tell the tale.
Thanks all for the input. This is on an outside wall, so 'back to the wall' types aren't suitable. The best so far (including SWMBO approval) is a high-level cistern type with the downpipe bend radius decreased, which will get to about 580mm. I'd like a bit less ideally.
You can certainly trim the pre formed downpipe subject to not getting too close to the bend - or make your own in plastic or copper with a tight solvent weld/soldered bend.
However, with a rear facing spigot you are likely to only be able to get the loo 2" further back than mine and that's still >4" out from the wall.
Two problems. #1 - You would need a side exit soil pipe (even a compact elbow takes up sp ace). #2 - Remote cistern, bizarrely these are just not seen in the UK. I presume people fitting understairs put the toilet UNDER the stair area and not on the back wall - fine for ambulatory, but usually wheelchair or disabled nee d a different access method which can force the toilet to be on the outer w all.
Solution Side outlet in 32mm solvent weld pipe + Cisternless design = Saniflo Comp act. Note there are various sizes, I think C43 is the most compact.
Downside It is a saniflo!! It does NOT have a proper grinder like Grundfos (better) or Sanicubic, so has a miserable cutter & miserable starting torque. If Gru ndfos would come out with a Grundfos compact toilet they have probably won.
Upside The FRONT of the toilet will easily be 500mm, you might get to 480mm. That is a GENUINE from the wall measurement, not from any rear partition to hide pipework. With the front at 500mm, the rear of the ceramic is at 70mm and pipework only extends a little into that area so it could be reduced furthe r, non-concealed pipework allows you to shrink it right down or even elimin ate it. You need a 300mm horizontal run from the sanicompact as I recall, h ookup is via 3/4in BSP because I think it uses a washing machine solenoid v alve to get around water reg restrictions - not the defacto 1/2in bsp that every damn toilet uses. You might be able to get a custom hose made up if y ou want a nice wall outlet rather than crappy washing machine hose or use a 3/4-to-15mm in-wall adapter and elbow etc.
NOTE If you run the saniflo mini soil pipe downwards outside (to a dedicated was te stub stack) then you MUST either a) change to a larger diameter pipe to break any syphon at same floor level as the Sanicompact or b) fit an AAV ca pable of withstanding 10psi. No manufacturer will rate any AAV to 10psi, the pressure a Sanicompact crea tes against a blockage ... which would mean you know what will ERUPT from t hat AAV inside any partition etc. So defacto BREAK the syphon by switching to larger pipework.
Good thing about a Sanicompact is you can lift it up, encase in concrete an d just go buy another. Do not send it to BNFL, they will not reprocess it, send it back to France with no return address on it :-)
If you can use a Grundfos solution, they have proper grinders and SHOULD be a world away in terms of actually engineered fit for idi^purpose.
Note that for a high level cistern, you need more resistance in the flush pipe, or it empties into the pan too fast to go around the U-bend, and you don't want that ;-)
This means you can use a narrower flush pipe than with a low level cistern, and probably also a knuckle bend behind the pan. Maybe you could even recess the knuckle bend into the wall.
With a modern pan designed for a 6 litre flush, and if you have a good mains water flow rate, you might be able to rig something up that flushes the pan direct from the mains, with no cisterm.
I would have to admit there is no restriction in my high level flush pipe and it works fine - this pipe is about 40mm or the nearest standard copper pipe size - I know because I have a standard pipe clip supporting it.
500 mm is the front to back dimensions of a Thetford caravan toilet, so if it's going against an outside wall perhaps you can adapt the cassette waste to discharge into a soil drain.
More seriously, don't discount the "bidet seat" idea. I bought a cheap Chinese one years ago (cold water only) but it's ine for my purposes. Ladies may be more particular though but there are plenty of options available. Combined with a corner toilet you may find the overall depth less critical.
Had a quick look at my layout and I wouldnt want less than 500mm between front of basin and front of wc pan. Offsetting them would improve things but might look unbalanced.
If it's just for handwashing, that's fine (although I hate it when the basin is so small you can't get your hands in it under the tap).
If it's for face washing, I would suggest one with a normal size bowl so you can still get your face over it, but short projection. These have the bowl going to the back, with the taps and soap areas to the side, so the front doesn't need to project out so far. You can't fit anything projecting above it (such as a cupboard).
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