New utility room -removal of toilet and installation of electrics??

shegirl

Currently,my house has an external toilet and an outside cupboard attached to the side of the property either side of the back door.

As most of the neighbours have done,I wish to turn this into a utility room.

Closing it off and putting a door and window on is no problem.

What I'm wondering about is the toilet and installing electrics.

The neighbours seem to have kept their toilet,but as it's just me and DS we don't really have a need for it (may be handyish at some point but not really needed) and haven't so much as gone in there.

How easy would it be and how much would it cost to remove the toilet and fill in the pipework/whatever would need doing?

I'd then be looking to remove the separate doors to each area (toilet and cupboard).As it stands,as much as I love my house,it doesn't have the built in storage that I'm used to (good job it's bigger really LOL) and just has small understair cupboard,larder and two cupboards built into my bedroom. So the extra space would be handy for that!

I'd also like to be able to have a tumble drier in there (as well as use space to air dry washing without it cluttering up the house and sitting on all the radiators) as DS goes through clothes and bedding at a ridiculous rate and is very specific in what he wants to wear (severe autistic with sld).So it would be very handy and save him throwing wet clothes off the radiators around the house:rotfl: Obviously,on dry days I can use the washing line lol

So,how easy and how much would it be to install the electrics into the room? It will lead directly off the kitchen if that helps,with one side being close to the consumer unit (in understairs cupboard)

LEJC

We have recently done something along these lines....

Basically we had a downstairs bathroom off of the kitchen and in between the kitchen and the bathroom we had a cupboard that housed the hot water tank...

We had the whole area stripped back in order to create a utility room and downstairs toilet

It was done as part of a renovation on the whole house and I would estimate that it probably cost in the region of £5000 to do.

We had several sockets installed and followed the same kitchen work tops through and have been able to create a room off the kitchen that has the fridge and washing machine in along one side and a small corner sink and radiator on the other side....this then leads on to the downstairs loo which also now houses the new boiler...
We used spotlights in the ceiling in both the rooms following on from a similar set up in the kitchen.

Your best place to start would be to find a builder or as we did was found a plumber who also did building...he actually gave us a quote for the whole job which did also include the refit of the kitchen and the tiling following through on both the walls and floor into the new bit.
our electrics were done as part of a rewire but as an approx price it was about £50 per unit that was installed....ie each socket and spotlight...Thats a general figure and probably you would need to get a quote from an electrician and go through what sockets/lighting you want and where.
Your room may need replastering or at least skimming and we worked off a figure of about £100 per surface so 4 walls and a ceiling were about £500

loracan1

There's something in the building regulations about not being able to remove a downstairs toilet - no idea of the specifics or whether it only applies if fitted from new. Would be worth checking.

shegirl

loracan1 wrote: »

There's something in the building regulations about not being able to remove a downstairs toilet - no idea of the specifics or whether it only applies if fitted from new. Would be worth checking.

Really? Even if it's technically an outdoor toilet that's just attached to the side of the house?

How odd.

shegar

You would have to have building regs , I do believe......

We had a small utility room extension put on our back kitchen to house the washing machine and dryer, so we had to put a extractor fan in , and vent put in for the TD , it was done by a electrican and we had to have a Part P cert for it, the size of the extension is only 3 mts by 2 mts......

Best to check it out with the council first, to see what the requirements are, I dont know anything about your loo etc, but I expect someone with know how will be along soon...

southcoastrgi

part M building regs here according to the new building regs if you have a downstairs wc not only can't you remove it but it needs to be big enough for disabled access, if you are removing walls then you will prob need building regs & if you tell them (or they find out) then they prob won't give you permission

shegirl

southcoastrgi wrote: »

part M building regs here according to the new building regs if you have a downstairs wc not only can't you remove it but it needs to be big enough for disabled access, if you are removing walls then you will prob need building regs & if you tell them (or they find out) then they prob won't give you permission

Surely,technically it would be classed as an outdoor toilet though? Although it is attached to the house it's only attached via the outdoor 'room' it's in that's attached to the side of the house? It's also only accessible from outside

Or is this why all the neighbours who have converted theirs into utility rooms have kept the toilet?



I won't need to remove any walls as the toilet and cupboard face each other with their doors facing inwards.So can take the doors off and put the new door and window across the 'front' which is effectively to the side of each.

keystone

Whilst I hate to disagree with SCRGI I don't think Part M would apply to an old outside loo as OPs case is neither a new build nor a total refurbishment/renovation of the property.

Anyway we all interpret these things differently don't we?

Cheers

southcoastrgi

very true KS i didn't know about this & tbh i wouldn't even tell BC as there are no walls to remove, but you know what the powers that be are like they may decide that part M does apply which is why i'd just do it & not say a word to them

keystone

I must be brutally honest and say that I only looked into it in depth about 7 years ago when I caught a sparks trying to tell a client of mine that it was absolutely necessary to fully comply with Part M (raising heights of sockets and dropping light switches down for ease of use by disabled people) for a rewire. That is total b.ll.cks. A rewire on its own does not count as a complete refurb of the dwelling nor was it in a new build and it is only in those circumstances that Part M applies so he was talking the job up to his own advantage. I didn't believe him and made it my business to look into it in detail and have never forgotten it.

Cheers