Bathroom additions in Lancaster and Chester County, PA

A bathroom is decided by the drain. Water can be pushed anywhere, but waste has to fall to the main stack or the sewer line, so the first question on a site visit is where the existing plumbing runs and which walls and floors can carry a new line to it. Above a kitchen or under a bath is easy. Across the house from the stack takes more work.

Inside the house, the usual places are a walk-in closet next to a bedroom, the end of a long bedroom, under a staircase for a powder room, or a corner of a laundry or mudroom. In an addition the bath sits on the side closest to the existing lines. On a slab floor the drain means cutting the slab, which we do, but it changes the plan.

Adding a bathroom does not change a septic system’s rated bedroom count, so it usually does not trigger a septic review the way a bedroom does. A permit is still needed for the plumbing, the electrical, and any framing, and the plumbing is inspected before the walls close. We walk you through the permit every step: the application, the drawings the township asks for, and the inspections. In most townships the permit itself is in the homeowner’s name, and we handle the rest with you.

Houses on well water sometimes find the pressure or the water heater is already at its limit. We look at both on the first visit so there is no surprise when the second shower runs.