Basement bathroom now easier to install

Steve Maxwell, Ottawa Citizen 



Fall is the season when Canadians think most about finishing their basements and while installing a bathroom down there is usually a necessary part of the plan, it can also be a big challenge, too. At least it is when gravity isn't on your side. The need for a bathroom where large drain pipes don't already exist below the floor is a common problem, but a Canadian company is solving this difficulty around the world.

All bathrooms with toilets need three-or four-inch pipes that slope downward so waste water drains away, but many basements have sewage pipes that exit the basement up above the floor.

Even installing a bathroom in an above-ground room is a pain if big, black pipes weren't installed originally.

But imagine the possibilities offered by a toilet that reliably drains through nothing larger than a ¾-inch diameter pipe. And imagine if this toilet system could also pump its own waste water uphill, to wherever the nearest drain pipe exists.

One company that's been making this trick happen is Saniflo (saniflo.ca; 800-363-5874). They began in the early 1960s, and I've watched their development over the last 15 years.

What I hadn't seen until last year is how their systems work on a mechanical level. How is it possible to hook a toilet to a drain that's 95-per-cent smaller than the usual pipe used to handle the waste water? How is it possible to reliably pump waste water up to drain pipes? What I discovered after taking a Saniflo unit apart in my shop is an impressive example of heavy-duty simplicity.

The heart of the system is the macerating unit. Think of it like a fully enclosed blender. A specially designed, six-litre-per-flush porcelain toilet connects to the macerating unit, with additional ports for accepting 1½-inch and two-inch drain lines from a sink and shower.

Inside the macerator is an oil-filled, motorized assembly that unbolts from inside the reservoir after opening it up. A pair of thick blades spins over the intake ports of the unit, slicing everything to smithereens before pumping it out via the spinning action of the blades themselves. I apologize for this less-than-pretty image, but all the dirty work happens behind the scenes, completely enclosed. No one ever sees it. While it's true that macerating operation is noisier than a conventional flush toilet, the sound only happens for a short time after flushing.

Installing a full bathroom without pre-existing pipes requires a few externally mounted sections of ¾-inch diameter pipe on the inside face of bathroom walls connecting the toilet, sink and shower to the macerating unit. These need to be sloped the standard ¼-inch of drop for every 12 inches of horizontal run, but that's it.

The model I looked at is strong enough to lift waste water 18 feet up, while also driving it horizontally anywhere from 60 to 240 feet. That's way more than would ever be required in any home, no matter how large.

Even though only a small hole is needed through a foundation wall for a Saniflo system, the work of making this hole is still more challenging than boring through wood. If you're doing the work yourself, rent a tool called a rotary hammer. It's like an electric jack hammer that vibrates the drill bit as well as rotating it. A tool like this makes short work of drilling through any kind of masonry foundation wall, either blocks or solid, poured concrete.

Building a bathroom without big, pre-existing, sloped drains demands more expensive, more technically complicated hardware than an ordinary toilet, shower and sink. But when the only option is this or nothing, it's good to know that today's technology delivers more choices than ever.
