Moving downstairs toilet and rear boundary cover 16 December 2022 at 12:25PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 1 reply 62 views

TwoUpTwoDown

Hi all

Couple of questions I thought I'd put up in one go

We currently have a downstairs bathroom at the back of the house that we would like to move to the under stairs cupboard which is at the front of the house. Our soil pipe runs to a drain in the back garden and the floors of the house are concrete. I've been told that normally, soil pipes should run as straight as possible to avoid any blockages. 
Presume I'm right in thinking that the only course of action would be to dig the floors up to lay soil pipe and then seal over? Would you also then just box over the floor in case you need to access in the future?

The room the pipe would need to go through has underfloor heating so would probably lose that as a result and would plan on laying down a wooden floor or tile as dining room runs in to kitchen.

Has anyone run a soil pipe like this before and is there anything to be mindful of?

Secondly, our neighbour at the back has just cut all of her trees down meaning that we are left very exposed at the back. Could anyone recommend and good evergreen solutions that are not a hedge? (We already have a large hedge on one side of the garden). Would prefer trees if possible - maybe pleated? 
Don't want to wait for years for them to grow and would need coverage from fence height up to 20 feet minimum but don't mind taller as long as coverage below. We are in Somerset so ground is quite 'brashy'/limestone based

Thank you  

Section62

TwoUpTwoDown said:

We currently have a downstairs bathroom at the back of the house that we would like to move to the under stairs cupboard which is at the front of the house. Our soil pipe runs to a drain in the back garden and the floors of the house are concrete. I've been told that normally, soil pipes should run as straight as possible to avoid any blockages. 
Presume I'm right in thinking that the only course of action would be to dig the floors up to lay soil pipe and then seal over? Would you also then just box over the floor in case you need to access in the future?

If the property is a terrace and if it wouldn't be easier to connect to a sewer at the front of the property then yes, running the drain under the floor is the only* way of getting gravity drainage.

You may also pierce any damp proof membrane when you dig down through the floor so this would be something else to look out for and replace/repair as necessary.

Personally I wouldn't 'box over' the pipe, I'd backfill with an easy-to-excavate material and reinstate the concrete floor, but ensuring that the mix is at the weaker end of the scale.

*The alternative is a saniflow-type system, but I just wouldn't unless there was absolutely no alternative.

TwoUpTwoDown said:

Has anyone run a soil pipe like this before and is there anything to be mindful of?

Yes, think carefully if there is anything else you want to run in the trench while it is open - for example a duct or conduit a cable could be pulled through at a later date.  I was advised by a kindly soul to put a spare duct in the trench I had to dig through my hallway which went out under the front door.  I didn't do that because the internal meter/phone/cable cupboard was some distance from the line of the trench and I was already bored hand digging through the concrete.  When the area got (modern) cable TV about 10 years later I realised how prescient the kindly soul's advice was. Too late for me though.