Raising bathroom floor

The drain pipes from toilet, tub, and shower need to go through the floor. If the floor structure is a solid slab, and if neighbor below won't let you lower their ceiling to hang the pipes below the slab, then you have to raise your floor.

City might now allow a raised floor, if apartment doesn't already have a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.

now=not

" if neighbor below won't let you lower their ceiling to hang the pipes below the slab"

If you can find a neighbor who would let you lower their ceiling, it would probably be a first in the City of New York. LOL!

You can't just run pipes horizontally -- they need to be sloped a little bit in order to function well. I think the rule of thumb is a quarter-inch of pitch for every foot of pipe -- Primer or some other contractor here please chime in. Anyway, when you're moving away from the main pipe by a substantial amount, that required pitch adds up, and that gives you the funky raised floors you sometimes see in lofts when someone has installed a bathroom in a nonusual place.

Is the floor being raised because they're installing the tile over the existing tile?

NWT: We had a heated neighbor dispute when the upstairs neighbor installed a sunken Jacuzzi tub. The downstairs neighbor didn't like looking at the bottom of this tub/motor from his bathroom. This became even nastier because they went through the cement slab. MAJOR, MAJOR money for repairs.

I can't imagine a co-op or condo allowing one apartment to remove concrete slab and sink a tub below the downstairs apartment's ceiling. Didn't the downstairs neighbor notice when the jackhammering was going on?

The OP means raised as in one or two steps above the main floor, 8"-12" or more.

yes nwt that's right. i should also mention this apt is a first floor apt.

In most cases you can use a wall hung toilet. You have to make sure you have at least 4" for the carrier (that hold the toilet) in most cases you will have to raise the shower 6-8" not always but usually

front_porch, you now owe Primer05 $18,000.

NWT: the downstairs neighbor was on a business trip when this happened. The workmen were supposed to demo the floor and wall tile, so everyone thought that was the jackhammering. I couldn't believe that the workmen didn't notice the problem they were causing.

jelj, did the building approve of this design?

i just found out that the pipes are in between two slabs of concrete and we would need to cut into the concrete to access them. i've never done any renovating before and am completely new to it but this sounds like a huge undertaking and very expensive. anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

@alan, he's worth it.

When you say first floor do you mean ground floor? You may have a lot more options if you have a basement and access to plumbing below

Talk to the managing agent to see if wet over dry is even allowed, then talk the super about what's been allowed/done in the past. Most buildings don't allow chiseling into the slab from the top (plumbing), or even the bottom (for lighting/electrical). If it's allowed then talk to an architect. If it's basement below, or some sort of commercial space below with a drop ceiling you might have more options for working from below. Wall hung toilet is the way to go and if it's a full bath I'd go with shower stall, which like Primer says would probably have to be raised. Keep in mind a new bathroom is going to have to be ADA compliant... which means large (probably much larger than you think), so I'd talk to an architect. Even if it is allowed it might not be possible. Good luck!

thanks jasonl. why does a new bathroom have to be ada compliant? is that always the case if you are creating a new bathroom? what if you are getting rid of one and adding one so that the number of bathrooms stays the same?

A new bath would have to be built to current code... which follows local law 58 (I think) which is basically following ADA. If you demo a bath then technically it's supposed to be re-built to current code if possible (in a lot of cases it's not possible because you can't make the bathroom larger). The number of baths doesn't matter, anything new will have to be done to code. You should speak to an architect. Just because it looks like a bath can fit doesn't mean it will, it depends on where the water and waste lines are, venting, if the building even allows it, etc.