Q. I live in a three-bed semi-d in the suburbs. The house doesn’t have a downstairs toilet. Where is the best place to locate it?
I have a cupboard under the stairs (no real height in it) and backing on to it, from the dining area of the kitchen (the kitchen back wall), is a full-height storage closet. I also have a garage, which adjoins the house and is on the same side as the stairs, also partially behind the back kitchen wall.
Would it be possible to install a WC by converting the under-the-stairs and kitchen closet combination, or are their requirements regarding a foyer? Or should I break through from the back wall of the kitchen and incorporate part of the garage to create a new WC and foyer?
A. A new WC seems like a small addition to your house, but it is the highest-cost-per-square-foot room because of the need for a sewer and the level of fit-out required, and, in your case, you have to build the room.
I have not seen your house, so I assume that you have adequate free space in your garage to accommodate this new room (after all, no one keeps their car in the garage anymore). Make the entrance to the WC from the kitchen.
This will allow for more space in the lobby to access your WC and help create space aligned to wheelchair accessibility. This would be best practice in a WC downstairs and add value to your home.
You will need to break out from the kitchen back wall to the garage and insert a concrete lintel. It may also be that your garage floor is lower than your house, so you will need to create a new floor slab to make up these levels as you build the new structure. You will also need to form a small lobby and then the WC enclosure room.
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