Help with basement bathroom rough in

[Marko]

Hi all,

I am renovating my basement and am looking for some help in how to properly run the plumbing so that it works well and is vented correctly.

I have dug up the old plumbing, as you will see in the photos below. Previously there was a washing machine drain, which i am removing as it is no longer required (green lines in photos).

There is a vent rough-in in the ceiling, above the shower approximately. I will be adding a wall along the green tape line as can be seen in the bottom left of the first photo.

All images are here: https://imgur.com/a/OPKxLyG

I am looking for advice on how to ensure that all three (shower, sink, toilet) are properly drained. The line from the shower is 2".

Additionally, I am wondering what is happening with the shower drain before it connects to the main drain. It connects to another line, which is buried under the concrete, and I am not sure where it goes, as it does not come back up anywhere to the left, which is an exterior wall. Should I leave this in place?

I was thinking of extending the sink drain up the ceiling to connect to the venting that is already there, and then running another vent across the new wall, and down to connect to the shower drain before the toilet drain. Does this make sense?

I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks.

 

[James Henry]

Cut it all out and start over.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Marko]

Cut it all out and start over.

I was planning on doing so, but am looking for advice on how to correctly vent everything.

Also, not sure as to what the pipe that’s parallel and connected to the shower drain is, so was wary of cutting that out. I am not sure where it leads to, and wanted to know if it looked familiar to anyone.

 

[Marko]

Hi all,

just wondering if anyone has any diagrams on how to place all the drains and proper venting. I will be cutting everything out and starting fresh at the main drain.

a sketch on how to put it all together would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

 

[Stuff]

You still haven't identified the pipe the shower strangely connects to. Also what is upstream of the toilet?

 

[Marko]

You still haven't identified the pipe the shower strangely connects to. Also what is upstream of the toilet?

Upstream of the toilet was another toilet (2nd bathroom) which will no longer be there. So I am not concerned with that.

You are correct that I have not identified the pipe connecting to the shower. I am still not sure what to do. I was thinking of reconnecting it to the shower drain as it was previously.

 

[Stuff]

That other pipe could be a vent or floor drain. Until you know what it is you shouldn't proceed.

The 3/4 bath should be your goal: https://terrylove.com/images/upc_wet_venting_bathrooms.jpg

 

[Marko]

Hi, thank you for the link to the diagram. Appreciate it.

in the absence of knowing exactly what that other pipe is, I am thinking to perhaps connect it back to how it was originally connected.

I made a diagram to show what I mean. The black lines are the unknown pipe.

Couple of questions:
- is the venting from the Lav up sufficient, or should I add in another vent going up between the shower and toilet and connecting to the lav vent? Is that required?

 

[Stuff]

If you don't know what the other pipe is then anything is a guess. How things were connected before was strange so no clue there.

Venting from lav is sufficient. Shower should tie into the 2" lav drain for the vent to work best.

 

[Marko]

Hi,

I realized that the vent in my ceiling for this bathroom is 1 1/2”. So I’ve revised the plan a bit.

I read elsewhere that for the toilet to use the lav as a wet drain the shower should be downstream of both. Is this right?

if so, I’ve added in venting for the toilet and shower. See attached photo. Will this work?

Are all three vent lines required?
I was planning on venting the toilet, with a vent connection behind it. And the shower vent to come between the shower and the toilet drain. Does this make sense?

 

[Reach4]

I read elsewhere that for the toilet to use the lav as a wet drain the shower should be downstream of both. Is this right?

No. The toilet should be downstream of both normally.

 

[Marko]

No. The toilet should be downstream of both normally.

I see. So will I have to re-route the lav drain to be upstream of the toilet?

I ask as I already have the lav drain connected to the main drain but it is downstream of the toilet. Just wondering if I have to remove this?

If so, does that change how I am venting? And will I still require all three vent lines? Or is less sufficient?

 

[Reach4]

Your diagram does not show the lav wet venting the shower, since vent 3 does that.

If the black line with the squiggle (resistor schematic symbol), that says 1-1/2, is a callout rather than representing a pipe, the shower wet vents the toilet OK with the 2 inch drain pipe. As I understand it, IPC would want you to increase the wet vent portion of that to 3 inch, but UPC lets you keep it at 2 inches. I expect Canada is OK with 2 inch for the wet vent portion. So vent 2 is not required, but would be permittied.. Vent 1 is venting the lavatory. If you wanted only one vent, you could rearrange things. With vent 1 and 3, you are fine with things in the order shown.

 

[Marko]

Your diagram does not show the lav wet venting the shower, since vent 3 does that.

If the black line with the squiggle (resistor schematic symbol), that says 1-1/2, is a callout rather than representing a pipe, the shower wet vents the toilet OK with the 2 inch drain pipe. As I understand it, IPC would want you to increase the wet vent portion of that to 3 inch, but UPC lets you keep it at 2 inches. I expect Canada is OK with 2 inch for the wet vent portion. So vent 2 is not required, but would be permittied.. Vent 1 is venting the lavatory. If you wanted only one vent, you could rearrange things. With vent 1 and 3, you are fine with things in the order shown.

just to confirm my understanding, the order shown as is is fine so long as vents 1 and 3 are there? Vent # 2 is not required. Is there an advantage to adding vent 2 or is it pointless?

also the black line shown there is another drain/vent, I am not sure what it is as I don’t see it going anywhere up the exterior wall closest in the direction it is going. Rather than removing it I am keeping it connected as it was previously since I’m not sure what it is or what purpose it serves.

thanks for the help!

 

[hj]

Vent #2 is pointless. Vent #3 will be 2". You CANNOT make the connections shown by the black lines, to both the 3" and 2" drains. You cannot have those vents running horizontally under the floor.

 

[Terry]

How about like what hj mentioned above? One 2" vent handling the bathroom.

A 3x2 wye to the lav,
A 3x2 wye to the

 

[Marko]

How about like what hj mentioned above? One 2" vent handling the bathroom.

A 3x2 wye to the lav,
A 3x2 wye to the

View attachment 60838

So this is a basement bathroom, and the vent line that comes in above this in the ceiling is 1 1/2”. So am I then only able to run 1 1/2” from the lav up to there?

 

[Terry]

The wet portion of the venting to the lav must be 2", even in Canada.
The dry part in Canada can be 1.5"
In the US that would be 2.0" which is twice the volume of 1.5" in area.
You might was well run 2" to the ceiling. The cost difference is going to be about $4.

 

[Marko]

Thanks for the help. Now I have a good idea on how to put it together.

One item that is bugging me is what the one 1 1/2” pipe is that was connected to the shower. It runs towards the exterior wall. See photos attached.

edit: the opening to the right of this pipe used to have the drain for a washing machine and is not related to this pipe.

what I am wondering is if anyone has any idea what this could be.

The venting for this bathroom is in the ceiling, right by the exterior wall. There is no other pipe in that exterior wall anywhere. So where does this pipe go?

Does anyone have any insight as to its function or what it was meant to do? What do I do with it now?

Do I cap it? Do I extend it and connect to main drain?

 

[Terry]

You have no idea where that 1.5" pipe goes to in the floor? You might tie it into the shower line with a wye fitting.
The vent pipe in the ceiling will need to be tied into.

Have you run everything in the home to find out if any of it goes to those two pipes?