Relocating Powder Room (home renovation)

Stangn99 wrote: ↑ Hi all,

We recently moved into our new home. One of the items on our list for renovation works is relocating the powder room from the right side of the house, to the left side.

What's the process for getting something like this done? Some of the questions that come to mind are:

1. Are the walls for the current powder room supporting weight/load bearing?
2. The cold air return will likely need to be relocated, will that be an issue?
3. will the basement ceiling need to be cut open? (it's finished)

I guess what I'm asking is, what type of a contract, engineer, or general company do I need to start looking for?

Thanks for any tips

You’re moving a main floor powder to the complete opposite side of you home and not one question related to the plumbing?
The drainage/venting might be your biggest hurdle in an unfinished space let alone a finished basement. Yes you will likely have to open ceiling and maybe more just to even see if it is feasible


There is no blanket answer whether or not anything is structural, every home is built differently


Tough to say who to call in first being that the space is completely finished. You’re not likely to get much of an answer definitively without opening up walls/ ceilings

Red_Army wrote: ↑ You’re moving a main floor powder to the complete opposite side of you home and not one question related to the plumbing?
The drainage/venting might be your biggest hurdle in an unfinished space let alone a finished basement. Yes you will likely have to open ceiling and maybe more just to even see if it is feasible


There is no blanket answer whether or not anything is structural, every home is built differently


Tough to say who to call in first being that the space is completely finished. You’re not likely to get much of an answer definitively without opening up walls/ ceilings

I forgot to mention the plumbing bit. The proposed location for the powder room will be directly below the upstairs washroom - so drainage, venting, and water supply will not be an issue. Electrical also won't be an issue as power is readily available on that side.

What would our first step be? Calling general contractors for quotes and hope they work with structural engineers? Or contacting a design firm (like "Fresh Home Innovations...which I found on homestars")?

instead of calling general contractors, you can call a portuguese or italian guy and have it done in under 2 weeks, start to finish.

Stangn99 wrote: ↑ I forgot to mention the plumbing bit. The proposed location for the powder room will be directly below the upstairs washroom - so drainage, venting, and water supply will not be an issue. Electrical also won't be an issue as power is readily available on that side.

What would our first step be? Calling general contractors for quotes and hope they work with structural engineers? Or contacting a design firm (like "Fresh Home Innovations...which I found on homestars")?

Is there a future vent connection already? Because if you plan on tapping into an existing drain vent it would have to be above the flood level rim of the fixture that it serves. Likely 40” above the floor

Stangn99 wrote: ↑ Hi all,

We recently moved into our new home. One of the items on our list for renovation works is relocating the powder room from the right side of the house, to the left side.

What's the process for getting something like this done? Some of the questions that come to mind are:

1. Are the walls for the current powder room supporting weight/load bearing?
2. The cold air return will likely need to be relocated, will that be an issue?
3. will the basement ceiling need to be cut open? (it's finished)

I guess what I'm asking is, what type of a contract, engineer, or general company do I need to start looking for?

Thanks for any tips

Call a couple of contractors and get estimates. I suspect from your information you will decide after you get an estimate you will live with the powder room where it is.

Red_Army wrote: ↑ Is there a future vent connection already? Because if you plan on tapping into an existing drain vent it would have to be above the flood level rim of the fixture that it serves. Likely 40” above the floor

Could a cheater vent be used?

You will need to install and exhaust vent in your ceiling
you will need to move heating/cooling ducts work over so that means cutting holes in walls & floors
Just because you have electrical on that side of the home does not mean you can use it. That line may be at its max for number of items on it which means you may need to run a dedicated line from the panel to the new bathroom.
You will also need to run new water lines, new drains etc

To do all of this you will need to open up ceilings and walls in the basement under it so you can connect it all. So its a good amount of work and when you open up the walls you don't know what will be there so you may have other issues.

GoodFellaz wrote: ↑ instead of calling general contractors, you can call a portuguese or italian guy and have it done in under 2 weeks, start to finish.

You won't even need a permit or contract or nothing.
There's only a 50% chance they'll run off with the money if they ask for a deposit upfront.

Eh Badaboom badabing

Thanks all for the feedback. I have someone coming to take a look to determine what's possible based on our budget.

For those wondering, we're planning to mostly gut the house. It was build in the early 2000's (so fairly new), but wasn't well kept.
Items on the list include: moving the powder room, replacing all railing, replace all flooring, replace kitchen, tiles, pot lights, stairs (possibly just refinish), relocate washer/dryer, etc.

Of all the items mentioned, the relocation of the powder room will be the trickiest. We will likely need to remove a bearing wall, so ceiling will get dropped either way. At this point we're thinking of taking all the ceiling down and putting up new drywall, since we planned to get rid of the popcorn ceiling anyway. I'm guessing all of this will be well over $50k, but under $100k. We'll see

Bianco13 wrote: ↑ Could a cheater vent be used?

Yes, so long as you meet the number of code requirements related to the installation. I’ve never been a fan of using AAv’s for anything other than a sink and even then only when there is no feasible option