New Here - Getting Ready To Plumb an Entire House

Hi,

I'm getting ready to plumb an entire house and realize that even though I've been in the trades for years, I know next to nothing about how a house is actually plumbed in terms of the waste drains. I thought I'd be able to find that info online, but haven't been able to find a comprehensive online resource.

I'm thinking maybe I should purchase a book to make sure I get the vent stacks etc. correct. Can anyone recommend a good book, or online resource?

I'd like to post some questions here, but I'm afraid I will have too many for people to have time to answer.

Right now, I just need to know how to do do the drains. For the supply lines, I plan to us PEX.

Thanks for any info anyone can offer.

Curtis

Plumbers apprentice and go to school for years to figure this out. It is a rare house, especially a re-do where you don't have to get creative. There are often many ways to do it, and some of them will pass code. Even if you follow the old pipes, it might not pass current codes, since they've been updated over the years. This might be more than you can bite off. The code book takes some interpretting and guidance. The first thing I'd do is find out the code your town uses, then get a copy; talk to the local inspector, maybe pay a plumber to give you some advice. SOme of the books available are just wrong, but they mean well. Somebody here may have some suggestions on a good book...see what happens in the next day or so.

Curtis336 said:

Right now, I just need to know how to do do the drains. For the supply lines, I plan to us PEX.

Click to expand...

That would be like me saying to my dentist "Hey I need to know how to work on my own teeth. I don't need to know how to do a root-canal but if you could show me how to do a filling...."

It's just not something you can give someone a crash course in over a forum. There are LOTS of rules and little tricks you need to know to make everything work well but also look good.

Like Jad. said you could possibly hire a plumber to come out for an hour or two and help you lay everything out. It would be much easier and simplistic for you being able to ask a person face to face questions. Instead of going back and forth on a forum and getting 15 different peoples oppinions no how to run a drain line.

Hope this helps.

Check out this thread regarding books.

https://terrylove.com/forums/showth...l-Electrical-Wiring-quot-book&highlight=books

Unless your building department is more lenient than most, you have to submit a drawing of the COMPLETE drain and water systems before they issue a permit. The final installation may NOT be exactly like the submittal, but it will follow the same concepts. It is sometimes difficult deciding HOW to install the piping when you are actually inside the building, much less from thousands of miles away reading from the Internet.

A search on this and other forums will turn up many useful diagrams about how to drain and vent a bathroom group, a laundry, etc. Those diagrams are fairly straightforward once you grasp the basic codes and concepts. NOW, taking that diagram and translating it into actual pipe in a house....a building with beams and joists and walls and electric wires and windows and heating ducts......that's where the rubber hits the road. If you can spring some bucks, you might be ahead of the game to try to find a local plumber who is willing to come in and help you with layout. Not all will do that, but if work is scarce in your area, you might find a guy who will work with you.

For a plumber, he waits until the framers have done their number on the structure. They have a big effect on how the pipes will have to be run.
When the framing is done, you go through and cut out the tub and shower drains, cut in for the toilets, drop underneath and see where the pipes will need to be for the vent and the waste.
A journeyman knows where everything is going in the first 30 minutes.
Without seeing all your obstacles, it's impossible to come up with a sure fire way, it's like hj mentions, you can have a plan, that may dramatically change once you have a visual of the structure.

Every fixture needs a vent, for every pipe going down, there is a pipe going up.
Look at the homes in your neighbor hood. How many pipes are sticking through the roof? You can combine waste pipes on the way out and you can combine vent pipes on the way up. Vent pipes can reconnect 6" above the flood level of the highest fixture, 42" works pretty good for this. It also keeps it away from that frightfully 48" seam that the drywall guys are using. They will put up the ceiling first, then hold up the first sheet up to the ceiling. If you have standard height ceilings, they then put the next board up to the top piece. If there is a bit that doesn't touch the floor, so be it. If you have a taller ceiling, they will be a strip of drywall in the mid section, that makes for a single taped joint that is at waist level. Why make it hard on yourself?
Some tapers will do a coat of primer before the texture. That make the joints disappear. Untreated board sucks up texture more then mud.

You don't want a lot a drywall screws through your pipe.

Vent within
1.5" 42"
2.0" 60"
3.0" 72"

On the horizontal, a wye fitting
On the vertical, a santee.
For a double lav, a double fixture fitting.
Don't put two toilets on a cross of any kind. With the new toilets, they will skip across the fitting and force water out of the other bowl. Code has not changed to reflect the new plumbing fixtures, so this is a heads up to the other plumbers that may not have the new toilets in their own homes.
I will be pulling drywall out of my home and replumbing the toilet waste, pulling out the cross fitting and bringing them up separately.
I see a need for a new 3" fixture cross that prevents "skip over". Maybe a side by side arrangement with a vent in the center that forces the water downward and doesn't allow it to skip across.

quote; Don't put two toilets on a cross of any kind.

I have been saying that for the past 38 years. Ever since I moved to this area.

Best book available would be your adopted code with commentary and then 4 years of apprentice school ( 600 hrs ) along with 2000 hours of OJT.
Sarcastic yes, but truthfully, you can not hope to design and install an entire residential plumbing system without many hours of actual experience.
I have seen lots of folks try to do what you want too and it winds up costing them more than if they had paid a professional in the end. There is
a lot to this. It ain't gluing some pipes together and hoping for the best. Yes.... poo does run downhill but only if properly directed and vented.

You didn't mention if this was your house or is someone paying you to do the work? Alot of states require the plumbing to be done by someone licensed if money or "gifts" are chaning hands. If you're plumbing your own house then the best you can hope for is a very understanding and patient inspector. Usually by the 5th time of trying to pass a rough-in inspection you may find it more cost effective to hire someone licensed. Oh and if you think that anyone can plumb an entire house by finding all of the information online and have it turn out correct and under budget, then there would be no need for plumbers. Save yourself the trouble and hire a plumber to at least get you started. Good luck!