Hello,
I'm looking to finish a one thousand square foot attic into a three bedroom two bath apartment for my family in my mothers home in Greenfield, MA.
My question is what should I expect see for estimates from plumbers that I have look at bringing drains, vents, and supply into this space? There are three full bath on the second floor along one side of the home already. I wonder if these pre-existing baths will be a help or a hurt to this projects costs?
I was planning on locating the baths and kitchen directly over the baths below.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Joe

Hi Joe,

It's impossible to make a estimate without being there to access material and labor costs. Each remodel's different. You will be getting into major surgery this will be like roughing a two bath home except that new construction runs less in labor costs. If you don't have 3" run to the attic you wi;ll have to have that done and if you have a 3" vent stack from the second floor and you convert it to a stack vent to pick up the two baths in the attic you will have to extend the vents from the two story bath up past the flood rim of the highest fixturein in the attic baths before you may revent back into a dry vent out the roof. Get at least three estimates from local contractors before you contract the job out. You've just asked about plumbing. Will you be doing the carpenter, electrical, tile, drywall, AC, and paint work or are you going to job this entire remodel out to a general contractor? Regards, Tom

Hello,
I'm looking to finish a one thousand square foot attic into a three bedroom two bath apartment for my family in my mothers home in Greenfield, MA.
My question is what should I expect see for estimates from plumbers that I have look at bringing drains, vents, and supply into this space? There are three full bath on the second floor along one side of the home already. I wonder if these pre-existing baths will be a help or a hurt to this projects costs?
I was planning on locating the baths and kitchen directly over the baths below.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Joe

A lot of this depends on the existing plumbing.

Given that the original structure had only three bathrooms, it's likely the building drain exiting the building is only 3", which isn't going to handle two additional bathrooms, let alone even one more bathroom.

Yes and I will assume you have had the attic appoved by the building inspector to be safe to use.

But you can spend 15,000 per bathroom if you use some fixtures and stone and other items, or are you going to use off the shelf things from home depo. And are you not gettng a contractor to give you a complete bid ?

Let's see here,
First the home is a monster with four full baths and two half baths. Secondly the plumbing is the only system I have not had experience with and no professional connections to assist me in determining costs and materials. There are three 3" vents exiting the roof already. I was planning on getting a few estimates and was hoping by posting here that I would have an idea of what was reasonable or some things to ask to help determine what is a good estimate or what's junk. Next the attic is definitely habitable as there is one finished bedroom up there already. The house is four thousand square feet at a thousand per floor. It is post and beam as well. The roof is gambrel and over eighteen feet from attic floor to the ridge pole with collar ties at about ten and a half feet from the floor. It is wide open. I will be doing the rest of the work myself a little at a time. I am a minimalist and will be getting most of my fixtures and furnishings second hand and what I can't get that way will come from the big box most likely. Thanks for all of your time and patience. I look forward to your responses.

"Given that the original structure had only three bathrooms, it's likely the building drain exiting the building is only 3", which isn't going to handle two additional bathrooms, let alone even one more bathroom."

It all depends on which code you're working under. In my area we are held to 4" toilet branches and sewer mains under the slab. At 1/4" fall this gives us 216 fixture units to play with. We pick up our second toilet branches with 3" but we exit the house with a 4" main. Check your local code. Good luck, Tom