Plumbing Project Thread

Hey Guys,

I'm closing in on finishing up a full gut and remodel and have now come to the plumbing portion. House is freshly drywalled all but the bathroom and surrounding area walls so I can get to everything until the plumbing is complete. House is a one-story with full basement built in the 60's which is why I decided a complete gut and remodel was necessary. I've decided on PEX for the plumbing. For now there is only one bathroom until we can do the addition next year. So now on to the plumbing questions.

Like I said the house has a full basement and the septic drain is about 5-6ft off the ground. The way our bathroom is setup now is if your looking into the bathroom from the hall the tub/shower is on the far wall (which is an exterior wall) running parallel with the door opening. The sink is on the left next to the tub and the toilet on the right facing the tub. I have installed a pocket door in place of the regular door to eliminate wasted space as the bathroom isn't the biggest 9' long x5' wide I believe (the tub takes up the whole wall). The opening for the door (24" door) is at the far right when looking at the bathroom. I did this so I could move the toilet to the left side with the sink and have both on the same side to reduce clutter. That gives me 36" from the left wall to the door opening which is plenty of room for a toilet to be facing out the same way as the sink. Now my problem though is the wall on the left where everything will be. On the other side of the wall is the staircase going downstairs (which is finished aside from the plumbing/laundry room under the bathroom). There is a floor joist directly below the bathroom wall, it is over to the far edge though but would still have to be cut for a 2" drain but I could get a 1 1/2" pipe through to the basement without cutting the joist (which really isn't an option since it is one of the side supporting joists for the stairwell opening). I know everyone says 2" drains are better. So finally to my first question: Would it be better to run the 1 1/2" in the wall
or I could run 2" straight down from the pedestal drian through to the basement and then put the trap in the basement after the drain comes through the floor? I'll get some pics up to help better illustrate my issue, not to mention probably give you pros something to laugh about, cause the plumbing in this house is just plain crazy! We bought it last december and are trying to bring everything up to current standards.More questions to follow.

Thanks,
Brian

In my state the minimum drain size on a Lav is 1.25". If you can get an 1.5" drain in, that would be larger than required and would work well. I personally think that a trap larger than 1.5" on a lav would remove it's self scouring properties.

That's why I'm here, thanks for the info. Now, I'm wondering since I'm going to be using PEX if I could still go straight through the floor with the drain, that way I could hide both water lines and the drain in the depression in the pedestal instead of having the drain sticking out the back of the pedestal going through the wall?

Livin4Real said:

That's why I'm here, thanks for the info. Now, I'm wondering since I'm going to be using PEX if I could still go straight through the floor with the drain, that way I could hide both water lines and the drain in the depression in the pedestal instead of having the drain sticking out the back of the pedestal going through the wall?

Click to expand...

using pex doesn't dictate where the drain can go.

this basically comes down to how long your juristiction allows a tailpiece to be. Here, 24" is the max. So, since a p-trap below the floor would be at least 3' from the lav it would be illegal. If you have your trap above the floor you have an S-trap and will be subject to siphonage.

You need the waste and water in the wall. Plumbed tight and together so there is minimal reveal.

Understood. What I meant by the pex comment was that by using the pex I would be able to squeeze everything into the pedestal's depression, hiding it all. I was just trying to avoid any unnecessary pipes coming out the back of the pedestal for strictly aestetic reasons but still wanted to stay in code.
I have plenty of work cut out for me, as the house has only one vent and that's the one hooked onto the septic I'll get some pics up. I do have a manifold with indiv. shutoffs coming for the pex, plan on doing the home run setup with it.

Water softeners: I know I should buy one with the clack or fleck valves but is there a particular brand that anyone here would recommend? Also most of the ones I've come across online have two tanks instead of the one unit like in the big box stores. Is this the recommended setup or is there a quality all-in-one unit instead?

Here's the mess I'm getting into, beauty ain't it
Basically all but about two feet of the main waste that comes through the wall will be ripped out.

Well, there are a few things wrong here. I have to run off to work, so will just add this quick comment: I see a lot of mixed material, not necessarily "wrong" but an indication of amateur work. Is that duct tape wrapped around the small elbow???

lol, yep but it was actually just there to hold another pipe and yes there is just about every kind of material you can get in the mess.

The pic is deceiving as to the septic line. I have about two feet of straight pipe coming through the wall before any fittings so I won't have to go through the whole digging up process. This is just bathroom plumbing, the kitchen plumbing is another mess as well. I plan on hiring someone to do the drains, I'll do the incoming lines. It does have two cleanouts installed outside along the line to the septic tank, the first being just on the other side of the wall. I just got my manabloc in today for the pex, looks nice, can't wait to get this mess sorted out.

So any recommendations on water softeners with clack valves? Also I'll be putting in a one piece fiberglass tub/shower. The wall in the bathroom is bare studs so I'm just going to cut a couple out and slide it in from the stairwell side. Are aquaglass any good?

it looks like ASTM3034 mixed any thing avalible.Cut it all out .
Then have pro reinstall it all.
good luck.

A couple more questions. The main waste is a 4" line all the way from the wc to the septic tank. I've read several posts on using the 4" to 3" reducing toilet flanges, would it be ok to do this and run 3" to where the 4" line comes through the basement wall from the tank and then put a 3" to 4" coupling on it to go back to 4" to hook back into the main waste line or should I just stick with 4" from the wc to the wall and not reduce to 3" then back up to 4"?

Second question, what's the smallest vtr I can put on the wc? My problem is where I'm relocating the wc it will be on a 2x4 wall and floor joist placement only allows 1 1/2" through the wall the wc is on (the wall sits partly on top of a floor joist and I don't want to cut it because it's the side of the stairwell so it's stressed already) OR I can run 3" from the wc
over to the opposite wall (5' away) and up through the only 2x6 wall in the house? The vtr turns into 3" in the attic before going through the roof.

the smallest VTR on a WC is 2", in my area.

the only place where it is ok to reduce from 4" to 3" is at the closet bend. if you need to increase later to a 4" pipe go ahead.

my concern on the main waste going from 3 to 4" came from looking at the fitting and the sharp "drop" it makes to increase the 1", I was worried about stuff getting hung up in the fitting as opposed to just being a smooth straight stretch. Also the toilet flange is one piece that immediately reduces to 3", sounds like it is just going to be easier to stick with a 4" flange and pipe all the way to the wall.

Now on the vent, would it be ok to run the vent 5ft. horizontal over to the other wall then up? I'm sure I coud get an inch or so of rise in it in 5'.

piping

Why haven't you been asking why you have a sewer gas odor in the house, at least during the winter? That AC drain connected directly to the sewer is sucking sewer gas into the AC and blowing it throughout the house anytime there is not enough condensation to keep the trap full.

actually I disconnected that pipe from the a/c last winter, I have clear tubing running from the condensation pump to the sump pit, just across the floor until we got to the remodel which we're there now, so it's not hooked up through the septic line.

So would it be better to run the 2" wc vent across 5' horizontally then up or I can run 1 1/2" right behind the toilet? I realize this is most likely not to code but where we are and with it being an inside remodel it won't be inspected.

Also would it be ok to use an 1 1/2" vtr on the tub (drain will be 2" but once again I'm stuck only being able to fit 1 1/2" through the wall due to floor joist placement) so i was going to use a san tee off the trap arm under the tub then reduce to 1 1/2' before going up through the floor from the basement. All vents will ty into a 3" line in the attic before going through the roof.

remodel

I realize this is most likely not to code but where we are and with it being an inside remodel it won't be inspected.

That is immaterial, because if you area has a code and building department, you are required to have a permit and get it inspected even if it is "an inside remodel". But if you are not going to get an inspection why are you even worried about minimum sizes. Just use whatever you think you can get away with.

ok, let's try it this way. Will 10' of 1 1/2" turning into 3" in the attic effectively vent a toilet? That's what they have on it now.

Just because it won't be inspected doesn't mean I'm cutting every corner possible.

I just went back and re-read the code book and the way I undertand it is that since I had planned on joining my wc and lav vents together (seperate 1 1/2" vents meeting in the attic before going through the roof as 3"), they meet the requirement of the vent being one-half the size of the drain (4" waste). Does this sound right or am I reading it wrong?