Refurbishment of Downstairs Toilet

[curry-kid]

I recently refurbished our downstairs toilet. Here are the before pics...

The house had some "interesting" decor in it when we bought it. Most of that has been sorted now.
This downstairs toilet had orange walls originally, but I whitewashed it soon after we moved in, but it still needed gutting.

Note the beautiful softwood flooring. This was throughout the downstairs when we bought the house. This was the last room with it still down. In the hall and dining room, I put down slate tiles, so we decided to continue them into the toilet.

Scuzzy radiator.

The room is very narrow (89cm). so the sink was sunk into the wall.

Love the exposed pipework.

Mains stopcock under the toilet...

 

[curry-kid]

Flooring out. Radiator off. Tiles off.

Toilet out. Soil pipe temporarily blocked off with bubble wrap.

Sink removed. I found the original fitting instructions for the sink online, but like many things in this house, it was not installed correctly. There should have been clips on the sink that you would attached to the wall with screws before plasterboarding. Instead they just used adhesive. So I had to smash the sink in order to remove it.

Filled the hole with hardie backer board.

Capped off the microbore radiator pipes. Did this "live" hence the damp floor and walls.

I cut out the hot and cold sink feeds at floor level and extended them up and out using yorkshire solder fittings. Not keen on pushfits or even compression where I can't get to them. I deliberately put them at a "jaunty" angle rather than parallel, because I needed room to add fittings later on.

 

[curry-kid]

Time for the slate floor tiles to go down.

The red you can see by the soil pipe is "BAL rapid matting". This is a roll of a very thin glass fibre sheet that decouples the floor from the tiles. I used it under the slate tiles in the hall and dining room, and have not had any cracked tiles, which I believe can happen if you tile directly onto chipboard flooring.

We decided to use an electric towel radiator on the opposite wall to where the original radiator was.

Channel cut for cables and backboxes fitted for controller and cable outlet to radiator

Cable capping fitted. I think you are supposed to nail the capping into the block work, but that wasn't working for me, so I pushed nails into the gap between blocks and plasterboard to keep the capping in place.

Filled in ready for tiling.

Tiling underway.
I like using these leveling clips.

 

[curry-kid]

Tiling coming along. Still need to put the bottom row in, as I tiled up from a batton.

Furniture in.
Toilet cistern in.

Stopcock replaced as the old one leaked.
My understanding is that WRAS regs say you have to have a traditional stopcock. But they are a bit crap and can leak (like my old one). So I added a 90 degree turn ball valve (yellow handle) in the accessible side of the cupboard, along with a drain point.

In order to be "eco" and save some waste plumbing , the sink waste goes into the toilet cistern. Although the "grey water" in the cistern could not really contaminate the cold water feed, nevertheless I put a non-return valve in the cold pipe to the cistern. I think this then complies with WRAS.

Hot and cold pipework for the sink. We are using a sensor tap, so the white box is the controller and solenoid valve. The "tap" bit is a thermostatic valve to select the temperature of the mixed feed. Because the cold water feed to the existing tap was at mains pressure and the hot water feed is gravity fed, I added a regulator on the cold feed to prevent the cold pushing the hot back up to the tank...
The slate tile with a hole was a test to see if drilling a large hole in a slate tile would be do-able.

Furniture board worktop base on.
Holes for tap and waste pipe.
The tile edge extrusion has LED tape installed in it, for mood (and emergency) lighting.

Worktop is slate tiles, same as the floor.
Holes line up, phewww.

Preparing to install the pan.
Where is the cat going ?

 

[curry-kid]

After pictures.

I've still got a couple of finishing touches to do.
Need to put a trim piece to the right of the cupboard.
And need to silicone between floor and wall and around the toilet.
But otherwise very pleased.

The worktop edging is actually stair nosing, but has a channel for you to install LED strip/tape light.
This is connected to a sensor switch and a 3 hour emergency lighting unit. So the accent lighting comes on automatically when you walk in the room. But also comes on if there is a power cut. We live in the countryside and seem to get more than our fair share of outages.
So if you are caught pants down there is light enough to complete the task.

 

[ktuludays]

Nice job, looks like you've been through and planned each stage.

My only point would be the sink waste into the cistern. Having seen sink pipework clogged with hair,soap and toothpaste residue I can't imagine a flush mechanism working too long with all that going through it. Also the hot water with soap etc... from sink waste could hold bacteria in the cistern. Most cisterns never fully empty so I reckon it'd be a breeding ground for bacteria and you'll end up with smells. Also you'll have to flush the loo when sink is emptied or let the overflow do the job. I think your setting yourself up for issues personally.

 

[mcprinter]

Very nice job.
Does the cistern come with the hole for sink waste? Clever idea but did wonder how it would work if the cistern was full.

 

[curry-kid]

Thanks mate.

I did think about the points you raise.
The sink is only for hand washing, so should only be water and soap, no hair or toothpaste. You are right that bacteria would grow, but we put a squirt of bleach down the plug hole when the toilet is cleaned each week. That should stop it becoming a problem.
There is no plug in the sink, so when you wash your hands the water goes straight into the cistern.
And as you normally wash your hands after flushing, the toilet cistern is refilling as you wash your hands.
There is some volume between the filling valve closing and the overflow trickling into the pan, so you can wash your hands a few times before that happens.

 

[curry-kid]

I had to cut a hole in the side of the cistern for the waste pipe, but that was pretty easy to do as the plastic is quite thin.
Then I used a "tank connector" to connect the pipe to the cistern:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009NDZO38/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
All modern toilets overflow into the pan now, so you see the water trickling into the pan if the filling valve fails, rather than a pool of water outside.

 

[ktuludays]

Thanks mate.

I did think about the points you raise.
The sink is only for hand washing, so should only be water and soap, no hair or toothpaste. You are right that bacteria would grow, but we put a squirt of bleach down the plug hole when the toilet is cleaned each week. That should stop it becoming a problem.
There is no plug in the sink, so when you wash your hands the water goes straight into the cistern.
And as you normally wash your hands after flushing, the toilet cistern is refilling as you wash your hands.
There is some volume between the filling valve closing and the overflow trickling into the pan, so you just wash your hands a few times before that happens.

I'd be interested in the long term results