I live in a unit in a house built in the late 1800's. The bathroom is built about a foot and a half above the floor level of the rest of the house so there are steps to get in to the bathroom. I can't only assume it is because the bathroom was added after-the-fact and so as not to lose ceiling height on the floor below, the bathroom was built up so that the plumbing could be run under the floor. I would like to renovate my bathroom and make the bathroom floor level with the rest of the house. Is there a way to run the plumbing in the walls so that I don't have to raise the floor. Or, if I do need to keep it in the floor, how much height do I really need? A foot and a half seems a bit excessive.

Not going to work in the walls if you have a shower or tub but you could get the toilet and sink to drain to pipes in the walls, not easy, not cheap. What is underneath the bathroom floor?

I'm not quite sure what is underneath. I haven't taken up the floor yet, I was afraid to remove it until I knew what I could do. There is a unit below me so I can't go below the floor level of the rest of my unit. I do have a tub and I've been doing a little research on recessed tubs/drop-in tubs. I was wondering if that would work so that the entire bathroom floor could be lowered?

I wasn't asking about the flooring as much as was there space below your unit. If the floor joists between your unit and the one below are normal size by today's standards you might be able to get your drains to work under your floor. It would be much easioer if your neighbor allowed you to remove his ceiling and then reinstall but I doubt if that will happen. You could totally remove your floor and work in the floor cavity, it would be difficult. Sinks and toilets can be purchased and installed to drain into the wall rather than the floor, not so with tubs and showers.

I wasn't asking about the flooring as much as was there space below your unit. If the floor joists between your unit and the one below are normal size by todays standards you might be able to get your drains to work under your floor. It would be much easioer if your neighbor allowed you to remove his ceiling and then reinstall but I doubt if that will happen. You could totally remove your floor and work in the floor cavity, it would be difficult. Sinks and toilets can be purchased and installed to drain into the wall rather than the floor, not so with tubs and showers.


Assuming there is nothing preventing me from lowering the bathroom floor level to that of the rest of the house, could I install a platform tub to accommodate pluming underneath? I'd be fine with the tub higher than a normal tub.

Your present bathroom has raised floor because plumber who plumbed it didn't want to cut into the joists.

You need 2" x 10" joists to install your largest fitting - toilet bend. If you have this much space ( actually, 10" means 9 1/2" ) you will be able to rough-in all your drains inside your floor. All other drains are 2" and 1 1/2" and will not interfere with your installation.

You will have to drill through the joists. Use angle drill and self-feed bits. They sell them in O.D. of every pipe you will be installing. This makes nice, clean, tight, cuts, and won't disturb structuality of your floor / ceiling.

Plan well. Measure your slopes twice before you drill.

Since your new bathroom is above a living space, you may want to consider Cast Iron as choice of materials for your drains. They mute the running waste water to minimum. If noise is not an issue, use ABS or PVC. However, all vents can be in ABS or PVC regardless.

Thanks for the information, given how many of the things were done in my condo that makes perfect sense. I think I'm going to hire someone to do the re-plumbing. Would this be very expensive or is this pretty standard work for a plumber?

You probably will need a professional to rough it in for you. Use of proper bends and fittings is essential. Old house always presents unforseen problems and you want to have somebody who knows what he/she is dealing with on hand.