Transcript
LESLIE: Jan in Texas wants to know if she can swap toilet, shower locations. How can we help you today?
JAN: We have a – it’s a very small bathroom and they had built a tile shower in this – like the middle of the room. And I want to know if you can change the places where the shower and the toilet are: if you can just reverse them and use the existing drains.
TOM: No, because the shower drain is about half of the size of the toilet’s drain waste/vent pipe.
LESLIE: And it’s a gray-water line, too.
TOM: Yeah. It’s not – well, they’re going to drain to the same place but you would have to reconfigure the plumbing. So it’s not quite that easy to swap toilet, shower locations but not impossible. What is this bathroom built on? Is it over a crawlspace or a basement, by any chance, or is it over a slab?
JAN: It’s on a slab.
TOM: Very expensive project to swap toilet, shower locations. I would think of something – other way to redecorate that bathroom and make it pleasant for you. Because switching those is a big job; you’re going to have to tear up the floor to do the plumbing.
JAN: Oh, wow. OK. Well, I guess we’ll just leave it the way it is.
TOM: Looking better all the time, isn’t it, Jan?
JAN: Well, no. But I mean it is what it is.
TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
Lynn M Polinski
We would be completely gutting a second story bathroom. We would like move toilet location to the current 32×32″ shower location and put the shower in the toilet spot. Plumbingwise It sounds like it can be done, but what is involved plumbing wise and what might the price range be? The old ceramic floor will be removed and I would assume( really hope that the plumbing reroute can be accessed by removing the current subfloor only and not having to get into the drywall ceiling on the first floor?
Ruth Brigman
Is it expensive to swap a toilet and shower if you have a crawl space and are already planning and budgeting to remove the tile on the floors. My master bathroom is small 10’ X 4’ 2” . I would like to put the toilet in the shower stall so to speak which is 32”x32” and then make a shower 50”x36” also requiring a barn door installation instead of an in swing ?
Tom Kraeutler
That’s actually a potentially big project as the drain sizes for toilets and showers are quite different.