New house planned: What's the best plumbing designs in the world?
I have a tiny and dumpy house that is ripe for teardown. I'd like to build a house that will last 150 years. I'm all thumbs so I'd like something bulletproof that will last without any repair. What should I do about plumbing? Here are some of my ideas, please improve on them.
1. Use copper water lines. Most longevity? Anyone install grade L copper plumbing inside?
2. Should I use 1 1/2 inch in baths instead of 1 1/4?
3. Place hatches (?) on the walls with plumbing so you can access it without knocking a hole in the wall?
4. Limit plumbing to a small area of the house so pipes aren't everywhere?
5. Water heater ideas? Hot water recirculation pump? (We have one at work).
6. Place floor drain in the basement?
Keep those answers coming!
Keep those answers coming!
Not well water, but city water. I think the pH is not acidic.
I'm an idiot. I don't understand "To no5: indirect off a mod-con boiler for the suggestion"
Should the drains be as big as possible to they are harder to get stuck? What are the common sizes?
As far as more information, I can build anything. There is no limit except the lot size (and zoning). Behind the tiny house is room for a 2,500 sq. ft. house, 5,000 if one builds 2 stories.
floor drain here there and everywhere
in the basement, place the washer on a platform, and the HW heater on another one. Built with sides so that they hold a lot of water, as much as old fashioned laundry tubs, they work well. They need drains too. It makes sense to assume that your "appliances" will spew out a lot of water every ten years. So, arrange for drainage. A floor drain is good, too. The more drain holes and traps the better. Know what trap primers are and get those installed. I know plumbers who don't install them even though they are code required. Mkae sure the hoses that supply water to the washer are inside the area of the platform. It is safe to assume that these hoses will leak.
I have floor drains in my bathrooms. Each floor is pretty much one plane sloped in one direction so it doesn't look like a shower floor, and the drain is hidden out of view in one way or another. The door sill is extra high. The bathroom is like a boat, made to hold water. I used square nickel plated shower type floor drains, so when people see them under a shelf or step they look "better" than the $10 kind of floor drain. That was overkill. It should be easy to arrange for most of the plumbing to be inside the floor drain drip envelope too, if you put the pipes in the ceiling and have them come down wall areas that are actually flat rectangules extending into the room, above the floor. It is reasonable to assume that the pipes behind the shower head will need access at some time, and there is often leakage behind shower heads and shower mixer valves, so putting the floor under them is smart.
Floor drains are practical too, when you want to clean. Just push pure water over to that drain, and you have gotten rid of 99% of the dust. Bathrooms built this way are called wet rooms in the UK. In Japan too.
About pipes: I would use Pex-Al-Pex almost everywhere. It is both a metal and Pex.
David
It's The Newest Tech. Most Won't Know On This Board
It's called pipelees plumbing by WEEZBOW ! It's sad to say the Europeans
beat us again!
Keep those ideas coming! Thank you.
To clarify after reading some of the responses. The current, dumpy, small house is going to be torn down. It's in bad shape, very old, very small (1 BR, 1 BA). As far as the new 150 year lifespan house, I'd like to consider what to do if "cost is no object" then economize from there.
For example, I'd like to consider copper first and PEX only as a cheaper choice, not PEX first.
Thanks for your ideas. My conclusions so far,
Copper
2 inch pipes
limit plumbing to a small area of the house
(no recirculation pump)
washer and hot water heater on a platform with sides, drains
access panels behind certain walls (like shower, maybe along stairwell if the pipes go up in the wall along a staircase)
floor drains in bath
cast iron drain (maybe PVC, not ABS)