What are these pipes?!

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photojeff3200

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Hi everyone! I'm a construction worker by trade and have dabbled in electric and plumbing during my tenure, but these pipes have me stumped! Seeing as how winter is almost on us in Montana, I'm ready to convert my unfinished basement into a two bedroom one bath paradise but these darn pipes have put a halt on the whole project. I've tried to get a plumber out to the house but they're all a month out on bids. Hopefully I can get some much appreciated advice here. I just need to know what the pipes are for so I can figure out how to frame in the walls. From the pictures, one can see a cardboard box cemented into the basement foundation (there is gravel in it), than a 1 1/2 inch pipe a 4 inch (toilet?) and a 2 inch. In the other picture a 2" pipe is way hell and gone away from the rest. I'm assuming the lonely one is the shower drain but I'm not positive. I read in another thread that these pipes could already be vented under the slab? I need help! Thanks in advance. Jeff

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Frenchie

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Just going by the sizes: 1-1/2 is for sinks, 2" is for showers, (the other one might be the vent), 4" is for toilets. The cardboard box, if you take the gravel out, might be for a cleanout? Or it'll have some 1-1/2 coming out the side, for a bathtub.
 

CHH

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How 'bout the other 2" is for laundry room?

The bathroom group
Tub is the box with gravel, 1.5" is the vent for that and the 2" is the vent for tub and the drain for the lav, wet venting the toilet. That extends as a 2" through the roof.

The lone 2", That's a tougher one.
Terry Love
 
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Winslow

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The 4 inch pipe is the toilet drain
The box with the gravel in it is the shower drain
the 11/2 pipe is the shower vent
the 2 pipe by the toilet is the toilet vent and possibly the lav drain if local code permits wetventing.
The 2 pipe located off by it's lonesome is a sink drain.
 
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Markts30

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The 4 inch pipe is the toilet drain
The box with the gravel in it is the shower drain
the 11/2 pipe is the shower vent
the 2 pipe by the toilet is the toilet vent and possibly the lav drain if local code permits wetventing.
The 2 pipe located off by it's lonesome is a sink drain.

Agreed...
The shower drain is buried in the box-out...
I would have to assume the 2" that is all alone at the other end of the bsmt is for a kitchen sink (for a bsmt apt for example)...
 

hj

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pipes

Without actually looking down the pipes to see how they are connected, we have little actual knowledge of what they were intended for. The box in the floor could be for a shower OR tub. The others might be used for whatever you want them to be. But one thing you can be sure of is that they are NOT vented under the floor.
 

Frenchie

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That'll tell you which one is the shower, but beyond that...

Sinks generally don't have their Ptrap under the slab.



I can only think of one solution, and it's to get someone with a camera snake thingy. Then you could work out how they're all connected.
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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That'll tell you which one is the shower, but beyond that...

Sinks generally don't have their Ptrap under the slab.



I can only think of one solution, and it's to get someone with a camera snake thingy. Then you could work out how they're all connected.



And on that statement....

I recently ordered a RIDGID micro-seesnake with 30" extensions. I can make that 10' long and have every intention of making money with it.

thumbnail.asp
 

Winslow

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Without actually looking down the pipes to see how they are connected, we have little actual knowledge of what they were intended for. The box in the floor could be for a shower OR tub. The others might be used for whatever you want them to be. But one thing you can be sure of is that they are NOT vented under the floor.

How can you be so sure nothing is vented below the floor?
 

Frenchie

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Because venting happens on the other end of the pipe.

One or more of the pipes sticking up, might be connected for use as a vent; but until you connect to it & run the vent up through the roof & etc... it's not vented.


Rugged - I was eyeing that one... finally an affordable one! How is it?
 

Winslow

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Because venting happens on the other end of the pipe.

One or more of the pipes sticking up, might be connected for use as a vent; but until you connect to it & run the vent up through the roof & etc... it's not vented.


Rugged - I was eyeing that one... finally an affordable one! How is it?

Venting begins at the point where the trap arm meets the drain. From there it continues up through the roof (or is tied in to aanother vent above the flood rim). On a toilet, tub, shower, floor drain, ect this happens below the floor, so the 11/2 and 2" pipes near the 4 inch are most likely vents for the shower and toilet, whether they are currenly tied in up through the roof or not. The fact that the system has not yet been topped out doesn't change their intended purpose, it just isn't a completed system yet. The original owner wanted the option of adding fixtues later on without having to break the floor.
 

Herk

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Looking at the layout, it's hard to tell what the original installer intended. I'm guessing that the 2" is a vent for the closet (and good luck getting a flange on that!), and the 1-1/2" is the vent for the tub, which is the box in the floor. But the box is close to the toilet stub. Here, in the UPC code, we aren't allowed any pipes beneath the floor smaller than 2", and every stack needs a cleanout on it before it drops into the floor.

Of course, you can't tell if it's vented on the horizontal or vertical. I used to always try to get enough depth to put my vents vertical as required by the continuous waste and vent system, or, as a plumbing inspector used to say, "Horizontal venting is only to be used when it is structurally impossible to use vertical vents - and being too lazy to dig isn't a structural condition."
 

Winslow

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Looking at the layout, it's hard to tell what the original installer intended. I'm guessing that the 2" is a vent for the closet (and good luck getting a flange on that!), and the 1-1/2" is the vent for the tub, which is the box in the floor. But the box is close to the toilet stub. Here, in the UPC code, we aren't allowed any pipes beneath the floor smaller than 2", and every stack needs a cleanout on it before it drops into the floor.

Of course, you can't tell if it's vented on the horizontal or vertical. I used to always try to get enough depth to put my vents vertical as required by the continuous waste and vent system, or, as a plumbing inspector used to say, "Horizontal venting is only to be used when it is structurally impossible to use vertical vents - and being too lazy to dig isn't a structural condition."


If you want to know if its vented horizontally or vertically cut the pipe about 4 inches from the floor then look down it. If it is turning towards the trap it is vented horizontally, if it doesn't it is vented vertically. You can also compare the depth of the drain with the invert of the vent. If they are nearly the same it is vented vertically.

When did the UPC prohibit 11/2 below slab? Are you sure that isn't a local ammendment?

The real question is was this rough-in inspected before the slab was poured? Was it on the original plan or was it added after inspection before the slab was poured. If it has been inspected then you can be reasonably sure it was installed acording to local plumbing code (at the time of installation).
 
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