Savvy Transformation of Unfinished Basement Creates Two-Bath, Home-within-a-Home for Extended Family, Saving Owner $10,000

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Bathroom additions almost always pay off at resale. But when it comes to basement renovations, the expense of digging plumbing lines can make adding a bathroom financially impractical. So homes with plenty of sub-level promise often go underutilized. A savvy alternative is Saniflo above-floor plumbing.

"Saniflo technology makes it simple and cost-effective to install a bathroom virtually anywhere in the home, without breaking through floors," says Bob Lechner, national sales manager for SFA Saniflo Inc.

Instead of routing waste and water through a conventional floor drain, Saniflo plumbing moves the effluent to a macerator pump, housed in a small plastic box that is installed at floor level behind the toilet. The macerator uses a fast-rotating cutting blade to break up waste and toilet paper. The resulting fine slurry is quickly and quietly discharged under pressure through small-diameter piping to a septic tank or the sewer system.

It's a simple solution. But many homeowners don't realize it's available, so many lower level renovations needlessly omit a bathroom. "I see a lot of basements in my work," says Brentwood, Tennessee, real estate professional Daniel Pitman. "Owners just don't know what to do with them. Installing sump pumps is expensive and leaves a big mess."

Pitman should know; he experienced this challenge himself. He and partner Duane Enoch bought a 6,300-square-foot house with the intention of converting the large basement into a home. The idea was to provide an inviting living space for Pitman's grandmother and great aunt, so they could live independently. When they planned the project, the couple got a bid for traditional plumbing, but they avoided excavation by choosing Saniflo above-floor plumbing instead.

The sub-level home has its own entrance, kitchen, and laundry room and two luxury master suites with full baths. Saniflo was used for all their plumbing needs. "I didn't want my grandmother and great aunt to go to a retirement community," says Pitman. "Now they have family upstairs, and we have family downstairs. They are absolutely in love with their new home."

Enoch and Pitman's expansive home is typical of the upscale community in the rolling hills just south of Nashville. But, says Pitman, because many homeowners don't realize they have an alternative to costly floor excavation, it's not uncommon to see Brentwood homes sell with only a portion of their livable space fully utilized, wasting valuable real estate.

Knowing they could easily convert the basement into a comfortable home-within-a-home for their extended family is what sealed the deal for Pitman and Enoch, a former pipe-fitter plumber and now a home inspector. The couple estimates that going with Saniflo saved $10,000. With no digging to make drainage connections, the bathroom installations only took a little over half a day.

Enoch especially liked the fact that the macerating pumps can be concealed behind the wall, an important advantage in a luxury setting. "That's what sold me on the technology," he says.

When an existing plumbing configuration makes adding a bathroom impractical, Saniflo is the time-saving, cost-effective answer.