Converting downstairs cupboard into toilet

MARKSPICE

Hi - We are thinking of converting our downstairs cupboard into a toilet probably with a Saniflo system. With a young family we think this would make life easier as one bathroom is proving tricky.

I was wondering if anybody on here has done this to their house? If so, how did you find it and what were the approximate costs?

Thanks in advance

Mark

BuntyB

I'm watching and waiting for replies as I'm thinking of a similar project as well

Pickle29

Hi
I looked into this last year and as our electric meters and fuse box are in the said cupboard, we were advised they would need replacing as latest electric regs wouldn't allow them to keep existing one! This would involve rewiring the whole house in order to comply! This would cost about £3k plus the cost of the loo etc - bout £4-5k in total! We decided not to in the end.

muckybutt

If you can run foul waste to the sewer then do so, Saniflo systems are a right royal pain in the bum to maintain and keep clean, they also smell and are prone to breaking down when they are full of whatsit !

yangptangkipperbang

muckybutt wrote: »

If you can run foul waste to the sewer then do so, Saniflo systems are a right royal pain in the bum to maintain and keep clean, they also smell and are prone to breaking down when they are full of whatsit !

I can guarantee that the person who said this has never had a Saniflo !!

I did just what you are thinking of doing (some years back !). Can't really remember the costs, but I bought all the hardware and got a plumber to install it. A neighbour who is a builder had one installed several years before me.
Neither of us have had any problems.

Saniflos are great IF you follow the instructions/warnings ! They don't like sanitary wear, condoms, quilted toilet paper, string, Lego, plastic combs, etc, etc ........just as the manufacturers says !!!
Human waste and toilet paper - and they are brilliant ! Mine was clean, it never smelt and never broke down.

Unfortunately many people seem to be totally incapable of reading and following the instructions - then they blame the machine instead of their own stupidity !!!!

phoebe1989seb

I have to agree with yangptangkipperbang - we had to have a saniflo installed to enable us to have an en suite in our stone-built Georgian house. It carries not only waste from the loo, but also bath water etc. It was fitted 18 months ago, the room is used on a daily basis and we haven't had a single issue - and certainly no nasty aromas

pollypenny

We converted a cupboard in our bedroom to an en suite shower room, with a macerator.

It's fine. We had to have it built out a bit, but it cost about £3000. That was in 2007.

macman

Cost will be determined by the distance you have to run the services: water supply, waste, and power. The waste being the most awkward usually.

kevsan

we did this in our downstairs cupboard, cost just under £1k inc materials using a builder we new and trusted.

Biggest issue was running the waste, which effectively was a big hole though the kitchen floor for 2 days...

Definitely worth it in the end, but depending on your layout dont underestimate the amount of mess and aggravation during the install!!

kronenbourg

that seems a really expensive way of doingf

save money and just whack a bucket in there and a toilet roll

same thing and much much cheaper

BillTrac

I did this last year as I wanted to remove the old toilet to extend my kitchen. The house was two flats when I bought it and although there is a great bathroom upstairs I thought it would be better to have a downstairs toilet as well. I converted the space under the stairs (2 x 2 metres)
As said up-thread, as long as you restrict the kinds of solids put down the toilet then Saniflo(or equivalent) are ideal for this. You need hot and cold water feeds, and a 40mm waste pipe. The Saniflo units can pump uphill approx 3 metres which was ideal for my situation as although the new toilet was on a solid floor I had suspended floors either side so no digging up floors needed.Waste leaves the Saniflo, drops down about a metre, across under the floor and then up and out to the waste pipe.
It can seem a bit noisy until your used to it as you have the noise of the macerator and also the water flushing.
As I had already made the area into a cupboard several years ago for storage, including plastering, basin and unit, wc, and tall cupboard it ended up costing me approximately £1000. But very user seems impressed by it. And meant I could extend my kitchen by a metre so win-win.:rotfl: