Putting Bathroom in Centre of House ??

P

pod

Guest
Did anyone see the Property Ladder programme yesterday on C4?

Anyway, on the ground floor of the mid terraced house, there were three rooms. i.e.Front Living room, centre kitchen, and back bathroom.

The presenter said they would have been better putting the bathroom in the centre room and the kitchen at the back.

I was just wondering, is it possible (in this scenario) to put a bathroom in the centre room which had no windows, and as it's a mid terraced house the walls in the centre room do not have access to the outside. So where would the waste pipe go?

Normally one of the walls in a bathroom has access to the outside, so the waste pipe goes through the wall.
 
Yes it is possible, I live in a house designed exactly like that.

You would have to have extractor fans or vents hooked up to the exterior of the building for fresh air, in our case to the roof.

Our waste pipe runs from the bathroom to underneath the house and discharges into the foul sewer to the front of the house.

Personally, I would prefer to have a bathroom with a window but with a mid-terraced house, placing a bathroom to the interior, gives you more living space for bedrooms etc. Afterall, a window in the bathroom is used mainly for light and ventilation, if you can replace the window with artificial light and ventilation you should have no problems.

Does this answer your question?

MO
 
Did anyone see the Property Ladder programme yesterday on C4?

Yes. Made for very interesting television.
I've never understood why people agree to go on that show and then point blank ignore all the professional advice they get from your one (what's her face!).
I know they got £95k in the end but they made such a balls of most everything. I suppose it woudn't make for a very interesting programme if they did everything the right way and on time though.
 
Thanks MO!

quote:
"You would have to have extractor fans or vents hooked up to the exterior of the building for fresh air, in our case to the roof."

Oh right, so the extractor fans would presumably have to have a pipe of some description coming through another room and into the bathroom (as the bathroom walls would not directly access the outside).


quote:
"Our waste pipe runs from the bathroom to underneath the house and discharges into the foul sewer to the front of the house"

I was wondering if/how this might work as the waste pipe from a house usually goes out the wall and goes vertically down, so gravity helps disposal.

So does it not matter that the waste pipe goes horizontally underneath the house and does not have a vertical drop?
 
We live in a timber framed terraced house so all our services run in ducting the height of the house.

Our vents run vertically, through the attic, to the roof, if that answers your question?

Same with the foul drainage, it runs vertically through the house, it might even discharge under the house. That would make more sense actually, although, dont hold me to that, I'm not a professional ;-)

Mo
 
Thanks again Mo

quote:
"Our vents run vertically, through the attic, to the roof"

Oh right, I hadn't thought about the vent going directly upwards to the roof. So in the case mentioned in the tv programme they could have run the vent directly upwards from the ground floor bathroom to the roof.

Good idea.

Thanks
 
..

To make another interesting point. When running pipes horizontally, you need to have a slight slope and then gravity will help the waste along. Remember even in a bathroom with an outside wall, the waste nearly always goes along a horizontal pipe for maybe 2/3 feet from back of toilet to the down pipe outside.
The thing about a pipe taking waste horizontally for a big run, like 10-12 feet is that you have to be careful to have a shallow slope. If you actually have the pipe overly sloped the water will fall away so fast that it leaves the solids behind = NASTY!
 
Pod,

When we had serious condensation problems the bathroom was the main cause because we did not have enough ventilation. We tried ducting out thru the ceiling and pipe ran out to the eaves of the house but it was not a success. As Mo says it is best to have a window.
 
Grand Design church

Did anyone go on to watch the Grand Design programme after Property Ladder? The one where the Irish architect created a unique living space out of very old and a derelict church near Westport?
Sadly I missed the entire middle of the programme. The challenges posed by the project must have put those faced by the more average ones undertaken by those on Property Ladder.
Last I heard the church renovation cost €350,000 and they owners didn't reveal how much the finished building was valued at.
 
Grand Design church

I watched. It was inspiring and the finished project looked stunning. Of course what was NOT "factored in" was the combined design expertise. Few could afford an architect with restoration experience visiting and personally supervising on a weekly basis followed by a fortnight living on site for the final fixing, plus his wife's bespoke interior design.

The workforce were impressive and I felt proud to be Irish that Paidraig "wanted to do" this very difficult and potentially dangerous contract! The restoration and remortaring was brilliant and it was enjoyable to see (and understand at last!!) a geotheramal heating system in aerial perspective. Great stuff.
 
expensive design

€350.000.Is that right bricky?For that money one could build 2 homes running on renewable solar power ,independent for ever.And what did the heating cost per annum(and to build incl.the land)?There is a tendency in these programs to hide the important points we are facing -money,energy,sustainability.And when the drawings/calculations where done-at what price was electricity calculated?Do the numbers still ad up?I doubt it very much,but I stand to be corrected.
It looks so ......TV.
 
.

quote:
"And what did the heating cost per annum(and to build incl.the land)?"

I seen that programme as well. As far as I recall the derelict church cost 35,000 punts. It was purchased a quite a few years ago.
 
quote:
"The thing about a pipe taking waste horizontally for a big run, like 10-12 feet is that you have to be careful to have a shallow slope. If you actually have the pipe overly sloped the water will fall away so fast that it leaves the solids behind = NASTY!"


legend99 - that's what I had wondered about!

But I suppose as long as the builder knows precisely what angle to tilt the pipe at; and to remember to tilt it, and not to have it perfectly horizontal!
 
sueellen - so did you manage to find a solution to the condensation?

Did your bathroom not have a window either, is this why you tried ducting out through the ceiling and out to the eaves of the house?
 
pod - don't assume your builder will do it right. If the guy that puts it in decides he will just estimate the drop or reckons that the correct drop would have the toilet too high (to achieve the desired drop for the distance) and makes a few adjustments you might find yourself with a bit of a re-work to be done, and given that the pipe will be going through one of your living rooms, this will not be pleasant.

Best bet is to address it directly with him and get him to specify where (vertically) the toilet will be. That way if there subsequently is a problem you can be sure you raised the issue with him.

z
 
Hi Pod,

The heavy steam from showers each day without the window open were what caused the condensation problem originally. Have had to admit defeat and just leave the window open constantly which causes problems in itself with heating/open window/reheating!

Have been told by a few experts that windows even in winter time need to be open for approx. an hour a day especially in houses with double glazing. When the heating is on this is even more important if you want to avoid condensation problems. IMHO its not leaving the windows open for this amount of time each day that causes a lot of the black mould/mite problems that so many people experience in their houses these days.
 
ventilation/insulation

Apropper insulated wall in a habitated room gives condensation no chance.Condensation occurs only on a cold wall-that is around 6 degrees lower than air temperature.
Keeping the window open for an hour-suellen!-will reduce the temperature around the opening even further and therefore enhance the problem.Insulate well and ventilate thoroughly in short intervalls.The window fully open for a few seconds(depending on the size of opening and the amount of air to be exchanged) and then close it again,repeat.I think there is a little sentence about aeration on the the home page of the Irish Energy Center. www.irish-energy.ie
 
ventilation/insulation

A propper insulated wall in a habited room gives condensation no chance.Condensation occurs only on a cold wall-that is around 6 degrees lower than air temperature.
Keeping the window open for an hour-suellen!-will reduce the temperature around the opening even further and therefore enhance the problem.Insulate well and ventilate thoroughly in short intervals.The window fully open for a few seconds(depending on the size of opening and the amount of air to be exchanged) and then close it again,repeat.I think there is a short chapter to be found about aeration on the home page of the Irish Energy Center . www.irish-energy.ie
 
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