How to Add a Bathroom Without Breaking Up Concrete

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Basement bath, garage half bath, an in-law suite on a slab: if the drain isn’t where you want it, you have two choices. Cut the concrete, or pump up and over it.

Option 1: cut the slab (the traditional way)

We saw-cut and jackhammer a trench, lay the drain pipe at the right slope, often add an ejector pit, then re-pour and patch. It works and it’s permanent, but it’s loud, dusty, slow, and usually the most expensive way to get there.

Option 2: an upflush system (no trenching)

A macerating toilet sits on top of the finished floor. Its pump sends waste through a small pipe that runs inside the wall, up to your existing drain. The sink and shower can drain into the same pump.

A typical no-concrete bathroom layout

• Toilet with the pump hidden behind a short false wall or access panel
• Vanity sink draining into the pump’s side inlet
• Shower on a raised base so it can drain into the pump
• Discharge and vent lines run up through the wall
• Dedicated GFCI outlet for the pump

Products for this kind of build

Comparing costs? See macerating vs regular toilet.