How To Raise the Floor in 2nd Story Bathroom

oneangie

Hi all, I've read many posts and responses to try and prepare myself for a hellacious bathroom remodel project in a house built around 1920. Everything is torn down to the studs, just some flooring left to go. Being an old house, I've been told my 8" floor joists aren't uncommon, but will make running new plumbing very interesting. Since fitting all new drain pipe in the existing joist space will be difficult, to say the least, my wonderful boyfriend has the genius idea we should raise the floor. I agree we need to scab on more joists since they notched the existing for the old lead plumbing, but does anyone have pictures of how a raised floor will look? I'm having a hard time picturing a decent looking rise without it appearing like a small step up into a room, which is what it would be. We have the clearance to do this and still have 8' ceilings, but every time I picture the awesomeness the bathroom will be after all the new fixtures, tile and window go in, my mind's eye still draws down to the step going up into the bathroom. Any alternatives??????

ropers

sounds interesting...the step into the bathroom sounds to me like a terrible idea if more than an inch of so....you have to ask yourself how much more space you are going to gain and how much easier will this make the plumbing (unless you raise it like 12 inches.).....7.5 inches is enough space for the plumbing and yes it will be tricky at times.....but with osme specailly parts that are now available it won't be that big a deal.... you will find that the 8 inches won't be as frustrating as the 16 or 20 inches you have between joists to work in......good luck

oneangie

Thanks for your reply. I think we should be able to replumb without doing something this drastic. Like you said, there are now specialty plumbing parts that should allow enough clearance.