Tying in - in a tight space

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YankeeGirl

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Hi everybody! I'm new to this forum and hoping for some guidance. Here's the situation: Old house, one and a half baths, one connection to septic. I need to add a clothes washer to the current plumbing (it's currently a grey water nightmare) and it's tight. The existing plumbing has a closed permit and I'll need one for this change.

I've uploaded a photo of the existing PVC in the floor of the half bath going out to the septic. Everything is currently tied in at the back of the toilet drain at the right. The drain pipe for a sink at the left runs under what you're looking at and also ties in at the back.

I need to add a clothes washer to this floor, and it could go on the right or left. The plumbing would be coming from the lower part of the photo on either side.

I'm looking at this and not sure how to do it. Also not sure if I've given enough info for a possible solution!

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

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YankeeGirl

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I'm open to that, for sure. But just so you know, for the current plumbing, I did call a "real plumber." The largest plumbing company in town, in fact. After the inspection, I had to redo the plumbing. No big deal, but that's the way it was. So before I search out a different local plumber, I was hoping to find out what was involved in this and whether I could do it myself. I was a licensed contractor in CT, NY and MA, and a licensed construction supervisor in NYC. I always contracted the plumbing out, but I have some idea what's going on here, and it looks gnarly to me. Sorry if I'm wrong, but I came here looking for some practical advice. Any of that would be greatly appreciated!
 
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hj

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If it failed inspection, WHY did YOU redo it? If you paid for the work THEY should have corrected it. Being the "largest plumbing contractor" in town does NOT necessarily mean the plumbers doing the work are competent. Unfortunately, the picture is not a lot of help, because there is no place, in the piping shown, where you can install a new connection, at least not easily. You might be able to replace the street 45 with a street "Y" to give you an opening, but then you would have to figure out how to go from there with your drain and vent.
 
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YankeeGirl

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Oh for heaven's sake. Of course the plumbers came back and fixed it, but dealing with their incompetence was a PITA. My response was to your less than helpful suggestion that I should just call a "REAL plumber who knows what he's doing and can do it properly." What I'm getting from you now is that there's no place to easily install a connection. ..and if I install a Y, I have to figure out the rest. Thanks. I got that. I got that before I posted my question in this DIY forum. I'm hoping someone else has an idea.
 

Reach4

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I suspect that is 3 inch ID pipe.

How about tying in farther upstream? Is that photo from a crawlspace? A wider photo might show a better place to tap in. If you tapped in upstream of the toilet, the washer could help move solids along.
 

YankeeGirl

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Hey thanks for the ideas!

Reach 4 -- I took the photo standing in the half bath, looking down on the plumbing in the crawl space under the floor. The drain you're looking at is 4" ID and I need to use 2" for the washer drain. The expansion joint is connected to a cast iron pipe which goes through the foundation wall and then joins PVC out to the septic. Behind the toilet drain on the right, are all the PVC connections for all the other plumbing and the granite foundation wall of the original house (the half bath/mudroom is in an old barn attached to the house).

Thanks for the suggestion of tying in upstream. On the face of it, that would be easier. I originally worked through putting the w/d in the second floor bath, but it would involve a lot more construction since the nearby drains are all 2" and the toilet drain is 12' away from where the washer/dryer could go. If I put the units next to the half bath, I can put them in a mudroom with tiled floor and I have only minor demo, so I'm willing to try to work through the problems for this installation.

I've taken a couple more photos. I had to use what I had lying around and I know the sizes are all wrong (!), but this is what I'm thinking...
Take a Y like the one I've laid in there but a 2" to a 4". I know I don't have the space to just put it in, with all those joints, and it would need to be set at an angle. I'm thinking I'd need to cut the cast iron further out and that's a little scary because it's old and short...

Maybe it will all work and I won't need to cut the cast iron at all it just seemed kind of tight. I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something, since I don't do this every day. What do you think?

cacher_chick -- Thanks for your "outside the box" idea. I'm in NW CT and I'm guessing you're in Wisconsin? I have the vents running through the unfinished space to the left of the half bath and mudroom, and the copper pipe inside an interior "exterior" wall of plywood in that unfinished space . That whole area is all up for grabs. Are you suggesting that I run the 2" from the washer out a space like that and tie in to the PVC outside the foundation wall? I think it's a 5' run from the foundation wall to the septic.
 

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