Cloakrooms & downstairs WCs on the Isle of Wight

What does a cloakroom or downstairs WC cost on the Isle of Wight?

Our guide range on the Isle of Wight is £2,000–£5,000 including VAT. Prices on the Isle of Wight run at about 12% above the UK guide, based on South East England labour rates. Travel and delivery to islands and remote areas are priced on your quote.

Guide prices for Isle of Wight including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.

Which towns do we cover on the Isle of Wight?

• Newport
• Ryde
• Cowes
• Sandown

Water across much of the Isle of Wight is hard. Taps, plug wastes and toilet pans scale up quickly, so chrome copes better than matt black, and a removable aerator is worth having. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. If the only toilet in your Newport home is upstairs, a cloakroom under the stairs or in the utility can save a lot of trips.

What the job includes

• Strip-out of the old fittings, waste removal and making good on the hall side
• A concealed cistern frame or WC unit where the space allows
• Compact sanitaryware: a short-projection, back-to-wall or wall-hung WC and a corner, wall-hung or slim vanity basin
• Lighting wired by a qualified electrician, tested and certified
• An extractor fan ducted to outside, wired with an overrun timer or linked to the light
• A survey that checks the headroom under the stairs, the door swing and how the waste will reach the drain

Decisions to make first

Under-stair layout

Headroom drops quickly under stairs. The basin and the space in front of the WC need standing height; the low end of the room can take the cistern or storage.

Door

An outward-opening door is usually needed so it does not hit the WC. A sliding door suits a narrow hallway where an outward door would block the way.

Finishes

A small room can carry a bolder tile or wallpaper. A feature wall behind the WC costs far less here than in a full bathroom because there is so little of it.

Macerator or gravity

Gravity drainage is silent and needs no maintenance. A macerator lets a WC go where a pipe could not otherwise fall, provided another WC in the house is on gravity drainage.

Rules that apply in England

A cloakroom refit does not need planning permission, and forming a new one inside the house rarely does, although a listed building needs listed building consent for internal alterations affecting its character. A macerator or pumped WC is acceptable only where the home also has a WC on gravity drainage. The water fittings rules in each nation limit a new WC to a 6-litre flush.

In England, a new WC connected to the soil stack or drain is drainage work under Part H, and a newly formed cloakroom without an opening window should have mechanical extract; Approved Document F gives 6 litres per second as the design rate for a WC, against 15 for a bathroom. Because a cloakroom has no bath or shower, adding a light to an existing circuit is not notifiable under Part P, but a new circuit is.