Moving tub and sink?

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KatyE

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Hi all. I am looking for advice about my upcoming bathroom remodel. My biggest problem is that the bathroom entry door is in the kitchen. First, it takes up valuable kitchen space, and second, I HATE having the bathroom right there. When we have guests, and people gather in the kitchen, it almost feels like you're going to the bathroom right with the crowd surrounding you. We would like to close that door off and put a new door off of another (less used) room. The problem with that is that the new door will be located right where the tub currently sits.
I have always heard that, if at all possible, you should leave fixtures where they are, because moving plumbing is expensive. So I came up with a way to at least leave the toilet where it is, and we would really just be switching the tub and the sink. We plan to put a clawfoot tub where the sink is currently, with exposed plumbing. The new sink is a porcelain console sink.
SO the question is, will the fact that we already have water running to each location and drains at each location help with the cost? Or are shower and sink plumbing completely different? I ask because, we have to really budget carefully before getting started on this project. I have endured too many projects that drag on for months and months (and sometimes years) because we started without having an honest plan. I know we need to have some wiggle room left in the budget, but plumbing is a big part of the budget, so I want to have a good idea what we are looking at before we jump in.
Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Yes, we have access in the basement, which is unfinished. The subfloor is wood, and we are planning to replace it. The walls, too. It'll pretty much be a gut job, so everything will be accessible.
 
Yes, it is possible the supply lines and drains will help reduce the total cost of the project. The tub drain plumbing will have to be modified so the sink will drain into the wall. The sink plumbing will have to be moved from in-wall to in-floor. Both these steps will require demolition of some degree but not the destruction of the entire room. Similarly, the supply lines may have to be adjusted in height and location but this sounds like minor plumbing.

To create a tub drain, an in-floor p-trap will be required. Hope you can get at the floor from underneath because that will make it very easy to reframe and add drain pipes.
To create the sink drain means cutting the existing tub plumbing out and inserting a drain into the existing drain stack. All other needed plumbing is there! Again, access from underneath would be really helpful. Plan on breaking out the wall and cutting the drain stack.

This is a project can be done by a confident DIYer ... or a DIYer with competent help ...

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It’s funny you mention this as our first floor bathroom is off the kitchen and off the bathroom is the laundry room. We were doing a total gut to the house and moving a few walls and doorways around and it would have been fairly easy to redo how you gain access to both rooms and I had made plans to move them as what do I know I’m a man. The one thing she insisted on is I leave them two rooms alone as they were. She’s a multitasking type person and loves to be able to jump between rooms when cooking and doing laundry and using the bathroom. The house came with that bath being wheelchair accessible and when we have older relatives over they like that fact and its close by. It isn’t our only bathroom though and if we are having a party some people use that restroom while others use the second floor I gather because it is more private. A secure lock on the door and an exhaust fan that makes some noise also helps. :eek:

As to your question having the plumbing close by is always better. Supply lines these days with the newer flexible lines it doesn’t matter too much about location but drain lines are a little harder to move a great distance. The best way is to make a layout to scale and then lay your new layout on top of it and see what has to move. As Neal said if you have a basement or crawl space below its not that hard. If your house is on a slab then it becomes a project.
 
The drain for the tub is bigger than the one for sink so you nay have to do some work with that. If you are doing a complete gut this shouldn't be a big deal. Depending on how the tub drain works with the joist is a consideration and it dosn't want to be centered on a joist so if it does some framing in the floor would be needed.
 
The drain for the tub is bigger than the one for sink so you nay have to do some work with that. If you are doing a complete gut this shouldn't be a big deal.

The new connection into the drain stack will reduce (maybe) from the sink plumbing p-trap into the stack. This is a common transition. The slightly more subtle one is the 1 1/4" sink tail pipe which has to transition into the 1 1/2" p-trap plumbing. That requires an adapter.

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Oh, that is good news! I had a feeling it should be doable without major money, but what do I know? Yes, it will all be gutted anyway, so no extra expense for that. We will get the plumbing done while the room is empty. It's a small bathroom, and there is easy access in the basement. I would love to do it ourselves. I'll have to see how my husband feels about that, but I'm game. Fortunately, it's a very small area. Thanks for your help!
 
We do have an old cast iron stack. Not sure if we have the tools to work with that. Maybe we'll have to have a plumber out after all?
 
can you make a drawing of the room with the current plumbing
and another drawing showing the new proposed location of the fixtures
also, pictures of the plumbing in the ceiling of the basement

with that info, I [we] can pretty much tell you exactly what needs to be done.

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Well, let's see. Basically, what you labeled as existing is the future layout. The current layout is pretty much like what you labeled as new, except for the placement of the door, which is on the adjacent wall, same corner. But as far as the layout of the fixtures, yes. That's the switch we are making. I will try and post actual pics of the pipes in the basement tomorrow. Hate to admit it, but I can't remember how to hook the camera up to the laptop, and my husband has already gone to bed. I did tell him how helpful you all have been, and he is on board. Not sure how quickly we can make it happen financially, but having the fear of the unknown plumbing cost tamed will help to get things moving along.
 
need you to do some homework. the existing toilet, we do not want to move, [expensive]

so, need to know the measurement from the wall where lav is to center of toilet.

a tub is 30'' then, by code you need minimum 15'' to center of toilet from tub

so from the lav wall, needs to be 45'' minimum for your flip to work

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Okay, we're good there. Barely. Like I said, it's a small room.
Here are the pics. I had to figure it out on my own. :)
The stack runs right through the bathroom. It's right in that corner. I am going to assume you know which pipes are which, but if you have any questions, let me know.

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Frodo should be along soon but I would like to know if you know what the gray tup is? Is into the pipe or does it go outside or something. And next time you're down there take a screw driver or something and poke around at the floor joists, just to see if one has really soft spots where they are stained.
 
Frodo should be along soon but I would like to know if you know what the gray tup is? Is into the pipe or does it go outside or something. And next time you're down there take a screw driver or something and poke around at the floor joists, just to see if one has really soft spots where they are stained.

That grey tube...is a lead drain line..which may need to be replaced. If you are not already, I would also look into replacing those red and blue painted water lines... they are most likely clogged. ;)
 
Frodo should be along soon but I would like to know if you know what the gray tup is? Is into the pipe or does it go outside or something. And next time you're down there take a screw driver or something and poke around at the floor joists, just to see if one has really soft spots where they are stained.

The tube does go into the pipe. I think it's the drain from the sink, but it's hard to say for sure. I was concerned about those joists, too. Never noticed it in the dim basement, but the flash of the camera highlighted it (and the many cobwebs--ahem). It is not wet, and it is solid. Looks like it might have gotten wet at some point, and it is just below the sink, which did leak badly some years back, but we fixed it and never seemed to have any other trouble from it. There is a problem with the joist closest to the wall, right under the tub, though. There has been a persistent leak from the tub. We fix it, it goes away, and then it starts again. It is leaking again, which we just discovered. That is why the corner is so wet. But it seems to have chipped off a bit of wood from the joist, right next to the stack. It still seems solid, but I think we have decided to cut off the water to the tub for now, until we are ready to proceed. We do have another bathroom upstairs, so it's workable. I just don't want to do any more damage, and we can live with just a half bath on the main floor for a while. Glad Frodo asked for pics. I wouldn't have noticed that otherwise.
 
my suggestion would be to completely remove and replace all the plumbing in the bathroom
including the water lines. is this going to be a diy or are you wanting to hire it out?
 

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