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>Plumbing is easy, pressurized pipes and pumps can deal with that just fine. The bigger problem is finding space for pipes. Many commercial buildings have spec

>Plumbing is easy, pressurized pipes and pumps can deal with that just fine. The bigger problem is finding space for pipes. Many commercial buildings have specialized vertical tunnels for plumbing. The bathrooms in these buildings are usually adjacent to these tunnels, and there are no provisions for expanding plumbing to other areas of the floor in order to separate the floorspace into apartments with their own bathrooms. The vertical tunnels are also designed to contain some number of main pipes with capacity based on N bathrooms per floor that you'd typically find in an office, with no room for expansion to handle N*10 bathroom capacity.

rightbyte 3y ago
Is that a problem though? Office toilettes are used way more often then residential. You can just put more residential toilettes in series than you could put office toilettes. Pipes dimensioned for an office floor is surely enough for flats.
- CapstanRoller 3y ago
  It really depends on the building. I've seen some older office buildings with 2-4 toilets per floor. Not sure how those can be retrofitted for more capacity...
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    My point is that people don't poop or pee less at the office (I guess?), so those 2-4 toilets should be flushed about as much as if they all lived there and had a toilet each. And offices have more people per sq feet, so residential conversions should not flood the pipes. Although showers could mess up my 'theory'. But the sewer from those is easier to get flowing than toilettes I guess.
    - CapstanRoller 3y ago
      What you're saying makes sense. However, I think the capacity requirements for water/sewer are determined by law, much like the hard requirement that habitable residential spaces must have egress windows. In the USA there are similar laws around septic systems for detached houses, where the capacity/size of the septic system is determined by the number of bedrooms in the house.

rightbyte 3y ago

Is that a problem though? Office toilettes are used way more often then residential. You can just put more residential toilettes in series than you could put office toilettes. Pipes dimensioned for an office floor is surely enough for flats.

CapstanRoller 3y ago
It really depends on the building. I've seen some older office buildings with 2-4 toilets per floor. Not sure how those can be retrofitted for more capacity...
- rightbyte 3y ago
  My point is that people don't poop or pee less at the office (I guess?), so those 2-4 toilets should be flushed about as much as if they all lived there and had a toilet each. And offices have more people per sq feet, so residential conversions should not flood the pipes. Although showers could mess up my 'theory'. But the sewer from those is easier to get flowing than toilettes I guess.
  - CapstanRoller 3y ago
    What you're saying makes sense. However, I think the capacity requirements for water/sewer are determined by law, much like the hard requirement that habitable residential spaces must have egress windows. In the USA there are similar laws around septic systems for detached houses, where the capacity/size of the septic system is determined by the number of bedrooms in the house.