Moving Drain (& supply lines in the way) for shower

[hiperco]

Hi all. I'm working on my remodeling my bathroom and I've been pestering the kind folks over at the John Bridge forums with tile questions for a while now, so I thought I'd give them a break and stop by here for a bit

I need to move my shower drain, strangely it was located at the front of the previous showing. I will need to route it through a joist to get it located where it needs to be (more toward the center of the opening, toward the left in the bottom picture). I should be ok structurally, these are 2x10's and I'm not in the middle third of the joist. As luck would have it one of the supply lines is totally in the way so I need to re-route it as well. I think my path forward is clear, but I wanted to see if anyone has any comments or concerns before I start cutting, boring, etc. Thanks!

[dlarrivee]

I think you're a little confused, the middle third portion of the joist would be in some cases the only place you could bore a hole...

The top or bottom of a joist should never be notched for piping.

[jimbo]

I think he means the middle third of the span

[dlarrivee]

That could be.

[cacher_chick]

I cannot tell from the picture- is that a basement or a crawlspace below the shower? If so, can the drain line be lowered so the line runs below the joists?

[hiperco]

This is on the second floor. Don't ask me why there is insulation there, it's above living space. (So running beneath the joist isn't really an option.). FYI tha main waste line for he second floor is just next to this area but not really accessible.

[hj]

If all the pictures are from inside the shower area, the drain is ALL wrong anyway, (might have been done by a handyman or do-it-yourselfer), because you appear to have an "S" trap which is NOT permitted. As for the hole, your shower appears to be over a lower wall, so the "recommendations" would not apply.

[cacher_chick]

Good catch HJ, looking at the picture again you are right on.

[hiperco]

1) Thanks HJ but can you explain what you meant when you said "As for the hole, your shower appears to be over a lower wall, so the "recommendations" would not apply. "

2) Here are some more pictures. I don't think its an "S", but its close

3) Do you think there's enough pipe to cut the existing run off at the first 90 deg elbow (counting from the drain), then re-connect from there? Although I'm not sure I can still get the location correct starting from there...

4) Out of curiosity, is anyone familiar with the existing drain? How was it constructed? I'm thinking the original drain was all one piece down to the PVC "sleeve" that is connected to the short section of pipe just before the 180 trap?

[cacher_chick]

The problem you face is that you must have a vent coming UP before the point which the drain line turns down. The drain line is going to need to be re-routed to allow for a proper vent.

[hiperco]

The problem you face is that you must have a vent coming UP before the point which the drain line turns down. The drain line is going to need to be re-routed to allow for a proper vent.

Are you saying that technically I need to ADD a vent to this branch?

[dlarrivee]

Yes indeed.

[hiperco]

To clarify, the part of the pipe that extends down only runs for a foot or so before connecting to the main waste line which is obviously vented (you can see this connection in one of the pictures above. Does this change anything? (Adding a new vent to this line would be daunting at best!)

[dlarrivee]

Like she said, you need a vent before the line turns down, not after.

Also, how is obvious that the main line is vented if this fixture never was?

[hiperco]

There's a giant pipe sticking through the roof in the vicinity of this bathroom (and I can just barely see it running up through the far wall in this shower area, next to the toilet flange)

FWIW, I'm certain this is "original issue" from when the house was built about 30 years ago (I guess the inspector was off that day ). I've owned the house for about 12 years, and the trap has functioned fine as far as I know. I know its not correct, but it seems to work Not sure how it could be brought up to code without major intrusion, but I'll ponder it futher (thanks for the replies!)