Toilet under the stairs

Relentless81 · 1 Sep 2020 at 13:21

No its not a bad horror film, I'm considering getting one installed but one of the main things that put me off was the guy that came to have a look at the job stated that I would need a pump and piping that would go up the exterior wall and around the house to the soil pipe located at the back of the house which puts me right off.

I'm sure the soil pipe runs down the driveway next to the stairs. What is the easiest way to find out the path that the soil pipe takes? Is there records I can get hold of, has anyone done anything similar and found this information?

The other option is just to go for an extension but obviously this is a considerably more expensive option.

Thanks

pp111 · 1 Sep 2020 at 14:10

I can understand why he said that. It's far easier from his point of view.
OK I am not familiar with these devices but you can hire signal generators and detectors for deep pipe location. You feed the transmitter down an access then you can detect it. Move it three feet at a time and you can trace it.

Relentless81 · 1 Sep 2020 at 15:06

pp111 said:
I can understand why he said that. It's far easier from his point of view.
OK I am not familiar with these devices but you can hire signal generators and detectors for deep pipe location. You feed the transmitter down an access then you can detect it. Move it three feet at a time and you can trace it.

Ok cool thanks, sounds like this isn't the type of trades person I'm looking for because I need someone to tell me if it can be connected up to the current waste pipes

Semple · 1 Sep 2020 at 15:47

How old is your property/when did you purchase it?

Ours is under 10 years old, and i do recall seeing a utilities drawing that showed where the sewage/water was connected to the main system.

I suspect for older houses that these details wouldn't have been kept.

LabR@t · 1 Sep 2020 at 15:51

Macerators are awful things if they get blocked. I would get someone to do it properly.

Relentless81 · 1 Sep 2020 at 15:52

Semple said:
How old is your property/when did you purchase it?

Ours is under 10 years old, and i do recall seeing a utilities drawing that showed where the sewage/water was connected to the main system.

I suspect for older houses that these details wouldn't have been kept.

It's a 1960 semi, we bought it in 2018 but I don't recall seeing and documents regarding the waste pipes only the boundary drawings

tom_nieto · 3 Sep 2020 at 00:29

Your local water board might have records of the drainage. If not, you’ll need a CCTV survey to find out where they run. If it runs down the drive, you’ll be able to tap into it and avoid a pump/macerator.

ik9000 · 4 Sep 2020 at 00:37

if the pipe is on private land chance is the water company records won't show it. Building control archives for your property/development might, but most councils have ditched most of those in cost-cutting exercises , but you can try your luck.

What I would do is get a drainage CCTV survey and specify you want pipe tracking and surface route tracing with a CAD output. They will want a CAD floorplan/topographical survey if possible to plot their data onto, but this will then give you all the information you need. If no CAD plans+ topo survey the alternative output will need to be based on sketch drawings and less accurate, but will establish the general route. For short domestic runs this can often suffice.

You're right to want a mavity drainage toilet if possible. Mascerators are a PITA, and noisy. Avoid if at all possible.

Also don't be scared about getting a new drain laid outside if there isn't a pipe there now. Provided the run can be taken to an existing manhole and the MH levels are deep enough to achieve the falls then making a new connection is usually not too difficult. It's only a massive pain if the manhole is not on your land, or worse a new connection to the public sewer is required. Even then it's just cost, time and paperwork, but might skew your budget target to not-worth-it.