Backflow in kitchen sink

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Rmk9785e

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We have a first floor condo and in the past water from units above has backed up in our kitchen sink. We're in the middle of remodeling and the contractor has re-routed the drain as shown in the attached photo. We just had engineered wood floor installed in the kitchen and tonight it happened again, this time flooding on our new floor (photo attached)
Kitchen drain.jpg
Flooding.jpg
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The contractor says he should have capped it. Probably we'll have the replace the engineered wood floor and underlayment in this area. So here are my two questions for the experts:
1- Does this drain pipe look properly installed? Is the slope sufficient?
2- What can we do to prevent the back flow into our kitchen sink in the future?

Thank you.
 

Cacher_Chick

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When the piping is properly installed to a sink, the sink would have to fill all the way up and overflow before there would be any issue. If that happens, the problem is a clog or restriction in the building's plumbing. A ground floor or below grade unit will always bear the burden of the building drain being plugged as that is where ALL of the waste from above will end up.
 

MichaelBukay

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He SHOULD have capped it. I learned the hard way when this happened to me (the contractor). The home owner's insurance agent told me it was MY fault for not having a cap on the line. They had to lay new hardwood.

1. can't tell if it sloped correctly from the picture. need a straight on pic or a level on it.
2. have the HOA fix the source of the clogged drain if that is their responsibility. have them camera the line and find the obstruction.
 
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Rmk9785e

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Thank you both. Even though we're on the first floor, (it is above the garage level) we're still the recipients of when comes from above anytime the drain is clogged below. Is there a valve we can place between the disposal and the drain connection shown in the photo to protect us?
What should be the slope of this drain pipe to consider it "installed properly"?
 

MichaelBukay

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Thank you both. Even though we're on the first floor, (it is above the garage level) we're still the recipients of when comes from above anytime the drain is clogged below. Is there a valve we can place between the disposal and the drain connection shown in the photo to protect us?
What should be the slope of this drain pipe to consider it "installed properly"?

1/4" of fall per foot of pipe. so basically 2' of pipe should fall 1/2". I don't know if there is a backwater valve you can use for your application. There is a guy on here named HJ that may have some info if he sees this post. He always has an answer for my questions. Im sure you can get a backwater valve in 1 1/2" but it appears it has to be on the horizontal pipe off of the sanitary t. Like I said before, if you have an HOA, get them to fix the root of the problem. It shouldn't have to be your problem.

http://www.canplasplumbing.com/Portals/9/ProductDownloads/BWV sheet.pdf
 
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hj

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There is nothing "wrong" with the piping. There is nothing you can do to prevent it if the line becomes obstructed. Any backwater valve would be compromised by the material going down the drain and would either NOT prevent the backup, or clog your drain, depending on how the material accumulated. If you do not have a disposer, you can install "Spin-N-Grin" sink drains that screw down to seal and keep backflows out. You ALWAYS cap an open drain line it water flows down the drain pipe from overhead fixtures, not matter what they are.
 

Rmk9785e

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Thank you HJ and Michael,
I'm following your advice and not searching for a valve anymore. A disposal will be installed and hopefully it will suffice. My contract called for work being done by a licensed plumber but I failed to ask the GC for the license # and he used a handyman for the job. My HOA emergency service sent Roto-Rooter to clear out 75 feet of the drain system below. They were kind enough to plug the open drain. They also recommended that we have our contractor plug the toilet drain openings in both bathrooms first thing Monday morning.
 

WJcandee

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I hope you said that backwards.

That's funny. It took me a second. He meant "cap" the open sink pipe.

I don't know that the disposer being there is going to help; I think what HJ meant was that the Spin & Grin sink drain only can be installed where there isn't a big opening for the disposer.

What you need is for the HOA to really, really get that drain clean below/beyond your connection to the building's system. Just getting it open is different from getting it really clean; whether they use the big snake that gets the whole width of the thing, or water jetting it, might reduce the number of times it clogs in the future. The pros may be able to say it better than I'm saying it.
 

Rmk9785e

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Funny things can be said when amateurs like me are just learning the lingo. Yes, it was capped (photo attached) and he advised us to cap the open toilet drains until the toilets are installed.
If I was still in school, my teacher would probably have me write this on the board 7 times: I will ensure I have a licensed plumber working on all my future projects. This drain not being capped is going to cost about $600 in floor replacement and impact the project schedule by a few days.
I followed the big snake through the drain pipes in the garage below our unit. It went about 75 feet to the end wall. He also water jetted it afterwards. We're going to ask our HOA board to have some regular cleaning of all the building drains.
plugged drain.jpg
 

hj

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the "Spin-n-Grin" strainer is a "full sized one, just like a disposer, but it does no good to just install it in one sink if the other one has a disposer since the disposer will just overflow or backup. That IS a 'plug' and they would have "plugged" the toilet also. They would have had to cut "things" off to use caps.
 
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