brainstorming for new laundry room

[coldsolderjoint]

So, my beautiful fiancee decided to play architect AFTER i finished the floor in the small bathroom She came up with a good idea of creating a small laundry room next to the existing bathroom. Problem is that the pipes are hard to get to and/or buried. I have a 3" PVC pipe under the toilet flange, and there looks like there is 18 to 24" of "drop" before it bends and goes into the dirt. I was brainstorming the easiest way to connect a new laundry room into my existing plumbing. How far under a toilet must you be to connect, if this is even a good idea? I've drawn a crude ms paint drawing (I forgot about the trap in the laundry, and the vent is easy.. I will just go through the attic and roof with a 2 inch pipe). The crawlspace is pretty damn tight, and this is all assuming i can get under there without ripping up my new floor. I have to go buy a plastic suit and try to crawl to this part of the house.

I also had the idea of a saniflow pump.. but that really doesn't sound right either.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Kreemoweet]

Go for it. You only need a 1 1/2 in. vent for the laundry drain. You don't show the toilet drain vent, but your new laundry drain should connect
downstream from that.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

The washer can connect ANYWHERE below the toilet as long as it is after the toilet's vent connection. You only need a 1 1/2" VENT for the washer, but you DO need a 2" line for the drain.

 

[coldsolderjoint]

Cool thanks guys! I'm gunna investigate some more and make sure of where the drains are,

 

[coldsolderjoint]

Still haven't bought the plastic suit yet to try to crawl around in the tiny space under the house.. but judging by the vents coming out the roof, I have a 1.5 inch vent for my kitchen "group" and a 3 inch vent for my bathroom.. Those seem to lead to a a new "horizontal stack" that is about 6" from the outside of my foundation.. I'm guessing that joins the old cast iron "stack" somewhere in the front yard..

a 3" vent.. seems to me like I have either a very unstable wall somewhere or a very thick wall I don't know about...

 

[hj]

"Seem to" and "guessing" are NOT good options to determine whether you can connect your laundry where you want to. Connect it wrong and it will suck the water out of the toilet EVERY time the washer drains.

 

[coldsolderjoint]

"Seem to" and "guessing" are NOT good options to determine whether you can connect your laundry where you want to. Connect it wrong and it will suck the water out of the toilet EVERY time the washer drains.

Sorry for the last premature post. I should have put some pictures and had more info as it's hard for you guys to give any advice without being here. I will def figure it out before I cut any pipes.

Another general question.. for the water supply lines.. is is ok to run water pipes up into an attic?

I was thinking it would be easier to open up the wall in the closet to the "right" of the diagram and tap off the faucet supply, and go up into the attic and back down into the new laundry room. It would be easier in terms of having plenty of room to solder and being able to work with enough room. I'm eventually planning on putting drywall in that room anyway. But.. I've never seen any water pipes run that way in houses around here. It will require probably double the piping, but a lot less destruction to the other rooms.

My entire house is plumbed with 1/2" pipe. I'm not sure there is a realistic solution if there is a flow problem. I have a 3/4 main line for about 12 inches, and then that is reduced down to 1/2".

There's a possibility that we might be getting a gas dryer from my friend, if that happens, and we want to use it.. I'll have to supply gas to this new laundry room. I can tap off a T in my furnace room and run it up through the attic the same way. I know I'll have to look at the BTU requirements and see if my pipe is large enough for the demand, but would running it vertically into the attic be ok?

Here is a new crappy diagram I drew. I know the toilet vent is still missing and that is the key part if this is possible.

 

[Suceress]

Is the toilet vent missing from your diagram because you didn't feel like drawing it, or because you don't know where it is? I'm curious about that. How far in is this plumbing. I've found that sometimes when I can't really see into an area, I can stick a flash camera in and point it in the general direction and snap a photo while holding the camera as still as possible. I was able to see inside a crawlspace that way without having to climb in it. Obviously if stuff is far away you wouldn't be able to see it.

I like your diagrams.

Do people have to get permits if they re-route plumbing like this?

Sorry I can't be of any help, but I do hope you get this sorted out and post pictures of whatever you end up with.

 

[coldsolderjoint]

Don't know where it is yet. I hope to be crawling around in there this weekend and will post some photos of what I find.

 

[Suceress]

Don't know where it is yet. I hope to be crawling around in there this weekend and will post some photos of what I find.

Ok. Good luck! Hope you don't run into any spiders or critters.

 

[coldsolderjoint]

We decided not to put the Washer and Dryer in this location, and instead put a large walk-in closet with lots of ikea shelve's for my wife's clothes and shoes. At least she likes it and it is done :-D