Putting a false floor over basement concrete

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JohnyChevyEG

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I'm thinking about putting a false floor on top of 2 X 4's in a new bathroom. I would like to just add this to half of the bathroom and make a step up type thing for the sink and toilet. What is the best way to go about this? SHould I first drill the flat side into the concrete and then add 2 X 4s to the wood that I attached? This bathroom is my first attempt at this sort of thing. What type of building codes are there that covers this thing? I could then just run copper secured to the floor studs right?
 

Gouranga

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In response to the building codes, one thing you could do (depending on how pleasant they are) is contact your city engineer on your plan and ask his/her opinion as far as the building codes go. I have done so in the past (ours has an email address which makes this easy). They have been very courteous and thourough in their answers, as long as you are not sending them 10 emails a day. Not to mention when your complete the project, and it comes up for inspection, it is tough for them to argue a point when you have an email from the city engineers office backing your project.
 

hj

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floor

If you are planning to just do the raised floor in half the bathroom, you will create a tripping hazard, and a "dumb" looking installation. You need to have a building permit, including a plumbing permit, and probably an electrical one also. You can put the copper lines under the floor, but you have to protect them from any possible damage.
 

Prashster

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I wouldn't do a step up. a 2x4 on it's side would likely not give you enough height and slope to reach your pump basin. Anyway, it'd look like a hack.

You have a couple options:

1) Use an aboveground pump unit (Zoeller and Saniflo make them). The toilet and sink drain above ground into these units. The downside is that they have smaller discharge ports than standard sewage ejectors, so I've heard rumors that they can clog more readily. This is the easiest.

2) Bust up some concrete and install a sewage basin. This is the most professional looking and reliable, but also intimidating. Not hard, though. Just messy. Can you say 'dust'?

3) I'm not a pro, but I think there's a way to do a hybrid. If you're only doing a 1/2 bath, you can use a wall hung toilet. This kind of toilet has a rear discharge. With clever placement, you can drain the toilet and sink above ground to a sewage basin. The basin still needs to be submerged in the concrete, but doing that is easy with a rotary hammer and shovel (virtually dustless). This method allows you to avoid having to dig trenches for the drain lines. IMHO, that's the hardest part for a diyer.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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its a very bad idea you propose...

I just repaired a leak today in a concrete slab home....

had to get to a broken copper pipe and make repairs....
right in the hallway of a bedroom by a shower and bath..


the stupid thing about this house was the person that built it
in the 60s decided to lay 2x4s flat on the slab floors and build
up all the bedrooms ... WHY????

I dont know what possessed the dumb ass to do this.

so I had to

1 pull the carpet and pad..

2 cut the plywood 1/2 inch

3 drill down and then bust out

.about 7 inches of concrete WITH rebarb wire..

NOW THAT WAS FUN but I got very, very lucky and I wish
Ihad my digitle camera with me .....


NOW they were VERY VERY lucky that this leak in the slab floor did not
find its way up through the concrete through a crack and get the
2 inch area between the slab and the wood soaked throughout the home.......

then you got a horrible mess on your hands with MOLD and everything
that MOLD implies.....

how would you deal with this?????



YOU < > MY FREIND are walking down the same path in your basement..

and wether your basement stays dry or not, all it takes is one flood

and you got a total mess on your hands.....

THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULD NOT WISH ON A DOG


find another way,

like lay tile or someting to the concrete floor.....

thta way it wont be as RIGGED UP looking
and future water damage wont be
as catastorphic...
 
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Lakee911

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It's common to put down a subfloor over concrete. Plastic over the concrete, then lay down sleepers and ply over top. Keeps the floor from being so hard on your feet and coldness and little moisture at bay.

Jason
 

Master Plumber Mark

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not in my house

this was a mess today and I would not recommend putting

any kind of floor over concrete, especially when you are putting

down a pad and carpet anyway... I have never seen it done before

in all the rooms of the house......


and like I stated if you got a feew hunderd gallons of water under that
floor, it would be a living hell to get it dired up and mitageted for mold


basically an enjeneer designed and built this house

so its still a nightmare waiting to happen....


I hope that they decide to run the copper overhead some day
soon, the copper did not look too good.
 

Prashster

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There are subfloors and there are "Subflor's".

If you're thinking to build a subfloor to conceal drain lines, the consensus is it's a bad idea.

If you're thinking to build a subfloor for warmth and feel, then there are options. Subflor and Dricore make floating OSB panels adhered to channeled polyethylene bottoms. The plastic bottoms create air channels for flooding and drying. They click together, so if you have serious damage, you can remove them easily. If you really want a subfloor for aesthetics, my vote is for this type of product. Neither are that expensive. Both available @ home centers.
 

HarleySilo

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Wow, I'm glad I found this thread. We close on a home with an unfinished basement, however quite of bit of work has been started, including walls studded up, most electrical done. However, the previous homeowner decided to do a sub-floor over the basement slab. The main level toliet was leaking and water has pentrated this subfloor in an area 10'x10' already, I figured it would be o.k., maybe pull up a couple pieces of plywood and take a look.

I had not even considered the possibility of a water leak flooding the basement and the resulting damage/work that could be required to fix it. Sounds like tile will be my new friend at our new-to-us 20 yr. old home.

Sorry the quality of the sub-floor pic isn't very good, he laid down 2x4's, and screwed plywood to them, caulked the joints and painted it all brown.

Any opinion on the wood around the toliet leaks? Not sewage by the way, tank valve leaking spraying against top of toliet tank and then leaking down back of tank.
 

Huskymaniac

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Here is an alternate idea

I was checking out the Global Industrial catalog and saw these plastic pallets:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs...entCategoryKey=172&infoParam.itemKey=30116066

I was thinking, can't someone just lay a bunch of these over a basement floor, put plywood on top of them and then install the flooring of their choice? It would give you a 6" raised floor which would leave plenty of space for water leakage from a storm, leaky water heater, etc. If you have the head space (our basement is 8 feet from floor to "ceiling") then the loss of 6" shouldn't be a big deal. If you have a sump pump, 6" of space for water should be more than plenty unless you have a New Orleans situation on your hands.

Any comments?
 
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