Downstairs toilet options (looking for advice)

[n0deity]

Looking for some general advice/options round our downstairs toilet as part of our renovation. We moved in to the house and the toilet has not been planned well. As shown in the picture the soil pipe runs through the under stairs, through the stairs and joins the vertical soil pipe coming down from the upstairs toilet. In this house, the soil pipe is internal and runs down a cavity in the wall. He had hidden the socket part that exited the stairs with DIY rounded stairs to cover it up, which restricted the front door from opening fully. I've not seen an installation done as badly as this, but I'm sure they exist.

Any ideas for general options?

We'd prefer to keep the toilet, but we're open to removing the toilet altogether and using the space for something else.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Could the toilet, be put at what is at the moment the bottom of the stairs, discharge straight to the vertical soil pipe, then the base of the stair turned through 90 degrees? Turn the area around it, into a room.

Forget that idea, I have just reread - it's at your front door.

 

[johnny2007]

WTF!
Who's done this???
They've just made your house unsellable.
Imagine people coming for a view and not being able to open the front door.
Then find out that this pipe welcomes you into "what else is wrong with this house?"

 

[n0deity]

Could the toilet, be put at what is at the moment the bottom of the stairs, discharge straight to the vertical soil pipe, then the base of the stair turned through 90 degrees? Turn the area around it, into a room.

Forget that idea, I have just reread - it's at your front door.

It is yep - toilet door is accessed from the hallway that's only 3 foot wide or so.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

What is the other side of that wall - the wall facing the second photo, and to the left of the toilet, in the first photo?

 

[n0deity]

WTF!
Who's done this???
They've just made your house unsellable.
Imagine people coming for a view and not being able to open the front door.
Then find out that this pipe welcomes you into "what else is wrong with this house?"

The previous owner, but we're at fault for not seeing why they'd done it. I think we found and fixed most other things, but this is the main one where haven't got a decent solution. Worst case scenario I think we can remove entirely and maybe use for under stairs storage and larger kitchen.

 

[n0deity]

What is the other side of that wall - the wall facing the second photo, and to the left of the toilet, in the first photo?

That's the exterior wall - semi detached house with no neighbour on that side. In the toilet, that's the electric box to the left of the toilet. I suspect a soil pipe running that way wouldn't hit anything within the meter box if that's what you were thinking.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That's the exterior wall - semi detached house with no neighbour on that side. In the toilet, that's the electric box to the left of the toilet. I suspect a soil pipe running that way wouldn't hit anything within the meter box if that's what you were thinking.

That was roughly, what I had in mind....

Out through the side the the toilet pot, through the outside wall, along the outside wall, to the existing soil pipe. The existing T, into the pipe, would need to be removed, and a new one fitted. Be aware the new T, might need to be lower than the existing one.

If that is not possible, another idea to consider, is a macerator system, and a replace the large soil pipe, with a much smaller one.

 

[thomp1983]

You could get a socket bend which would allow the pipe to follow the line I've marked in orange, you could at least then box that bit in and have a chance of making it look reasonable once you repair the stair.

 

[ree]

OP,
You say that you've only just moved into the house - and the pipework is very recent & so is the bottom tread & two risers?
Why would a seller go to all this trouble plus the trouble of installing a WC just before a sale?
So, did you do this yourself or somehow missed it when you bought the house?
How could you possibly miss the understairs soil pipe, & the "DIY rounded stairs" that prevented the front door from fully opening?
Any kind of Surveyor would have red flagged what you show because its a clear & present danger, & in contravention of the Regs. for stairs.

Your best & safest bet would be to remove all 110mm pipe back to the WC & make good to the bottom of the stairs.
As above, a Macerator might be a possibility but you still cannot pierce thro the stairs without contravening the Regs. Is the WC floor solid or suspended?

 

[johnny2007]

That's the exterior wall - semi detached house with no neighbour on that side. In the toilet, that's the electric box to the left of the toilet. I suspect a soil pipe running that way wouldn't hit anything within the meter box if that's what you were thinking.

So the wall next to the toilet, right when you're sitting on it, it's an external wall.
Just get the pipe cored through that wall and run outside as it should've been done at the beginning.
That butchering on the stairs is in the top 10 most bodged jobs I've ever seen

 

[n0deity]

OP,
You say that you've only just moved into the house - and the pipework is very recent & so is the bottom tread & two risers?
Why would a seller go to all this trouble plus the trouble of installing a WC just before a sale?
So, did you do this yourself or somehow missed it when you bought the house?
How could you possibly miss the understairs soil pipe, & the "DIY rounded stairs" that prevented the front door from fully opening?
Any kind of Surveyor would have red flagged what you show because its a clear & present danger, & in contravention of the Regs. for stairs.

Your best & safest bet would be to remove all 110mm pipe back to the WC & make good to the bottom of the stairs.
As above, a Macerator might be a possibility but you still cannot pierce thro the stairs without contravening the Regs. Is the WC floor solid or suspended?

I didn't say anywhere that I'd 'just moved in, nor is the pipework 'very recent'. It's 5-6 years old I would estimate. You can see the notch on the second step where the other steps were, I removed those and then later 'fashioned' the 'taped' steps to at least be walkable. While it's great to establish some elaborate mystery story like you're catching people out in some way, you're not and it's not helpful. What I'm describing is the case. Maybe you can tell me why it wasn't specially noted on the inspection, but I'm guessing it's because at the point of sale, the soil pipe did not pierce the staircase because there was another rounded set covering it.

The WC floor is concrete.

 

[n0deity]

That was roughly, what I had in mind....

Out through the side the the toilet pot, through the outside wall, along the outside wall, to the existing soil pipe. The existing T, into the pipe, would need to be removed, and a new one fitted. Be aware the new T, might need to be lower than the existing one.

If that is not possible, another idea to consider, is a macerator system, and a replace the large soil pipe, with a much smaller one.

Got you thanks. Why would the new T need to be lower? Thinking about externally where/how it would enter the exterior wall.

Trying to avoid macerators with the noise. I think I'd rather remove altogether with the expense and possibility of still needing to run a pipe through the stairs.

 

[Murdochcat]

Is it the 1st April already?

 

[Elsa TLC]

I've not seen an installation done as badly as this, but I'm sure they exist.

I read this and thought.....I bet I have.... but I'm not sure I have. I've seen some shocking plumbing. ...... This is shocking.