Bathroom Refit

[securespark]

Sorry, guys, ignored GD for a few days.

The cutout is actually a recess on the landing, housing a bookcase.

The airing cupboard is opposite this recess on the other side of the landing.

The recess intrudes on the corner of the bathroom, forming an alcove into which the bath fits neatly. On the other side of that naked plasterboard behind the pullcord is the bookcase.

That bare wood to the left is the door casing.

The door behind the cable reel is the airing cupboard.

 

[conny]

I would be tempted to lose the bookcase then. Give yourself a lot more scope, and as its a major 'makeover' anyway, a bit more work won't be too much trouble.

 

[securespark]

Can't I'm afraid.

Next to the bookcase is a recess with Matthew's bedroom door in it...he won't be best pleased if he can't get to his room any more!

 

[conny]

Send him to boarding school. Sorted!
Notice a few 'Mysteries', (Ruth Rendell, PD James) and a few 'Horror', (James Herbert), nicely balanced with a few 'Classics', (Woolf, Shelley, Elliot etc). Various family members have their own genre or mainly for one person? Nothing like a good book to wind down with sometimes.

 

[Space cat]

Two things:

1) Moving the soil stack might not be as simple as you think because, unless you want to start digging up your outside drains, you've still got to get it back to the same point outside. Then there's the holes in the wall to consider: a new one needed and an old one to block off. I would avoid moving the toilet if you can.

2) Running drains across joists is a pig.

don`t forget to plan around your service conection`s

Sound advice indeed!

Nookie indeed. At our age???

You surely can't be 150 yet?

 

[securespark]

Conny:

JH is mine, plus I have all the Dick Francis books. All the cultured stuff belongs to Mrs Secure!

SC:

Not moving the stack, although the feed into it from the bathroom is inch & a half, going down to inch and a quarter: I've been advised to up it to 2 inch as the bath takes 5+ minutes to drain. Therefore the toilet has not been moved.

Yes, running waste pipes across the joists is indeed a pig. We have to do this as the only places to put the cubicle were on the wall opposite the outside wall...

Going to raise the tray up on a step to give some fall, run the pipe along an internal wall above floor level and drop it into the stack. Then we'll box it in.

Maybe not 150 yet, but I feel it...

Recently come out of hospital after suffering what was diagnosed by exclusion as ocular migraine. That attack started on 11 March. I had a brief 2 day spell without it, then it returned. I still have it now. I have just yesterday been prescribed medication for it, which I must take for 20 days, upping the dose each few days until I am on 4 a day.

Possible problems include glaucoma and kidney stones & side effects can be severe drowsiness.

"If affected do not drive or operate machinery. Do NOT stop taking the medecine."

More bathroom photos:


The loo, fitted a while back.

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• securespark
• 19 Apr 2012
• 1

The area where the shower is going, which is in front of you if you're sitting (yes, I did say sitting) on the loo. Edit: sorry, it's side-on. I did not edit it.

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• securespark
• 19 Apr 2012
• 1

The basin unit is going here with a vanity unit so we can store towels etc...

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• securespark
• 19 Apr 2012
• 1

 

[Space cat]

the feed into it from the bathroom is inch & a half, going down to inch and a quarter

When you say "going down" I hope that means looking upstream. Going downstream into a smaller pipe is never a good idea. Apart from the loss of flow rate, it invites blockages that could be very difficult to shift.

All other things being equal, the flow rate through a full pipe is proportional to the square of its cross sectional area so, if you have any 1.25" pipe in the bath waste, increasing it to 1.5" would make quite a difference. For a very long run it pays to step up to 2" after the first couple of metres, not just to increase the flow but to stop the moving mass of water from sucking out traps. The flow from the 1.5" pipe can't fill the larger size. This allows air to come in upstream, breaking the suction at the junction.

Recently come out of hospital after suffering what was diagnosed by exclusion as ocular migraine. That attack started on 11 March. I had a brief 2 day spell without it, then it returned. I still have it now. I have just yesterday been prescribed medication for it, which I must take for 20 days, upping the dose each few days until I am on 4 a day.

Possible problems include glaucoma and kidney stones & side effects can be severe drowsiness.

Ouch!!! Even so, that shouldn't preclude some gentle, horizontal exercise. If you're really drowsy you can always take turns.

 

[pred]

Spacecat, re waste pipes.

Thanks for the info on anti-syphonage. most helpful will remember on my next refurb.

 

[conny]

Secure, sorry to hear about the migraine. Does 'ocular' mean its something to do with your eyes? What is the long term prognosis?

 

[securespark]

SC:

Unfortunately, no: I meant going down both in terms of size and direction. The pipes leaving the bath and basin are both 1.5".

Then they join another piece of 1.5" and just before it enters the stack, it goes down to 1.25".

I guess, like most things in my house, it is bodged because the previous owners down the years could not be bothered to spend the money to do it properly, ie in this case open up the duct in the master bedroom and boss on a new waste pipe into the stack.

Thanks also for the drainage info. As you know, I'm a sparkie, but I know next to nothing about plumbing. Well, now it's nearly next to nothing...

Horizontal exercise? That's just about the only bit of me that is still working, unfortunately for Mrs Secure!

Thanks for both your sympathies.

Conny: Yes: I have ocular migraine which is a migraine involving the eyes.

As I understand it, there are two main types of migraine: Common and Classical (No, you don't hear Beethoven... ).

Common migraine is throbbing headache plus at least 2 other symptoms: nausea or vomiting, light, sound or smell sensitivity.

Classical sufferers also experience visual disturbances and these, I am told, affect around 10% of the population.

Migraine affects the blood vessels in the brain, causing them to constrict.

Ocular migraines occur without a headache. In my case, my neurologist tells me the problem is not with constricting blood vessels, but with electrical activity (ironic, huh? ) in the visual cortex. This is the area of the brain that processes the information received from the optic nerves.

Oh well. Just another tick on my medical condition checklist!

For anybody who has arrived here using "migraine" as a search word, you can find useful information at www.stroke.org.uk and a factsheet on migraine can either be dowloaded from the link below, or you can order paper copies:

http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/our_publications/factsheets/migraine.html

 

[securespark]

What is the long term prognosis?

Sorry, conny, missed this out.

Not sure at the moment. Everything I have read about migraine so far indicates it is fairly short-lived, but my experience so far is anything but. I have had two ocular migraines since 11 March and am still suffering with the second, although the lights are fading...

I have to take the afore-mentioned drug, 1 for 5 day, 2 for 5 days, 3 for 5 days and 4 for 5 days. The hope is that this will diminish the visual disturbance and with a bit of luck, the attacks will not return. I'll try and remember to let you know how I get on.

 

[Space cat]

Then they join another piece of 1.5" and just before it enters the stack, it goes down to 1.25".

Eliminating that piece of 1.25" pipe would be high on my list of priorities. If you're lucky, the stack boss will be for 1.5" pipe with a reducer in it.

PS: Good luck with the migraine.

 

[securespark]

1.5" OK??

When I posted here, they reckoned 50mm was the way to go.....

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2356443

 

[Space cat]

It depends on the length. I took a quick look at that link and you mention a distance of seven metres. That's a hell of a length! If your current job is similar, I would step up the diameter to 50mm after the first couple of metres or less.

 

[securespark]

Thanks, SC.

After a re-think of the pipe run, I've got it to 5m from the furthest point.

Would it be OK if every appliance (bath, shower tray, basin x 2) had its own 1.5" waste feeding into a 2" pipe which then goes into the stack?

Or is it best to step up to 2" ASAP for each appliance?

If 1.5" is acceptable each basin need its own waste or can they share?

The stack is internal, but the wastes would have to exit the bathroom wall into a run of 2" pipe which then re-enters the building to join the soil pipe.

Piccy:

Yes, I know it's somewhat of a pig's ear; I inherited it all from the previous owners.

EDIT: Looking at the photo now, can I raise the point at which the feeder pipe joins the soil pipe? Where it is at the moment looks distinctly dodgy...