Can I move the toilet or shower location in my condo unit, or am I locked into the existing plumbing stack?

In most Toronto condos, you are largely locked into the existing plumbing stack location for your toilet, but you do have some flexibility with shower and sink positioning — within limits. The plumbing stack is a shared vertical pipe that runs through every unit on your line, and it is owned and maintained by the condo corporation. Moving a toilet more than a few inches from the stack centre is extremely difficult in a condo because the toilet drain requires a 3-inch or 4-inch pipe with a minimum 1/4-inch-per-foot slope to the stack connection. In a typical Toronto condo with a concrete slab floor, there is very little depth available to create that slope over any significant distance.

The practical reality is that your toilet will almost always stay within 6 to 12 inches of its original location. Some contractors can shift a toilet slightly by using an offset flange or by carefully routing the drain within the existing slab depression, but anything beyond that typically requires cutting into the concrete slab — which most Toronto condo corporations will not approve because it affects the building's structural integrity and the waterproofing membrane between floors.

Shower and Sink Flexibility

Shower and sink drains are smaller (2-inch drain for showers, 1.25 to 1.5-inch for sinks) and need less slope, which gives you more room to reposition them. A shower can often be moved 3 to 5 feet from the original location if the contractor can route the drain with proper slope back to the stack. Some modern Toronto condos built after 2005 have a raised slab or dedicated drainage channels that make repositioning easier. Older buildings from the 1970s and 1980s typically have less flexibility because the drain routing was cast directly into the concrete.

Before planning any fixture relocation, you need to get your condo corporation's written approval. Most Toronto condo boards require a plumbing drawing prepared by a licensed plumber or engineer showing the proposed changes, and some buildings require an engineering review to confirm the work will not affect the stack or slab. This approval process can take 2 to 6 weeks and may involve a refundable deposit of $1,000 to $5,000.

Cost Considerations

Relocating plumbing in a condo bathroom adds $2,000 to $5,000 to your renovation budget compared to keeping fixtures in their original positions. The cost depends on the distance of the move, whether the slab needs to be modified, and the complexity of the drain routing. In the GTA market, a licensed plumber will charge $85 to $150 per hour for this type of work, and condo plumbing modifications typically take 2 to 4 days.

The smartest approach for most condo bathroom renovations in Toronto is to work with the existing plumbing layout and focus your budget on upgraded fixtures, quality tile work, and better waterproofing rather than fighting the building's plumbing infrastructure. If you do want to explore relocation, have a licensed plumber assess your specific unit before committing to a design — what is possible varies significantly between buildings and even between floors in the same building.