I am finishing my basement and am a little confused about the plumbing. I've looked over some past threads but am still confused at what exactly I'm looking at. Basically I have three pipes sticking out of the slab plus what I am assuming is the vent pipe (see picture). From what I've found online I'm guessing that the pipe that is more or less flush to the slab is for the toilet, the smaller of the two sticking up is for the tub/shower drain, the pipe that extends up and to the right is the vent and drain for the sink, but what is the wider pipe to the right? Since I'd rather not guess at this stuff I'm hoping that someone can help me identify which pipe is for what and what I need to do in order to put in a tub/shower, toilet, and sink?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Your picture failed to post. Do you need directions on how to post attachments? Regards,Tom

Actually that would be great (feeling a little inept at this point). I attempted to add the photos again but was unsuccessful.

Thanks,
Max

Hit the go advanced at the bottom right, then hit the paper clip (third one in from top right, ( on mine it shows an A, then a smiley face, then the paper clip), then hit browse, select a pic and upload.

OK, so I tried to figure out the picture but a link to picasa was the best I could do... thanks for your help.

http://picasaweb.google.com/maxfletcher/PlumbingPics?feat=directlink

Here it is again...

http://picasaweb.google.com/maxfletcher/PlumbingPics#

HI Skypilot...

I'm pretty sure I have this deciphered but the first thing I want you to do is to remove that screw in cap from the pipe that is flush with the floor... thinking that's a cleanout, not a toilet pipe, OK? Confirm this by having someone flush a toilet upstairs a few times and let me know if you see water flow by the cleanout. If no water flows by then pour water into the drain and see if water remains in the pipe... would suggest this is a trapped drain pipe for the tub or shower.

With that being said, the other large pipe on the right coming out of the ground will be your toilet pipe. The pipe on the extreme left is most likely the sink drain and vent or it could be a tub/shower vent... it will connect into the other vent alongside it later. The other vent pipe (with cleanout) going vertical is either the toilet vent or it could be a wet vent made to service the sink drain... see image.

To narrow this down better... you need to find the tub or shower drain by tapping around on the floor until you hear a hollow sound... would be the drain box which either got filled with small rocks and then cemented over or there may not even be a tub/shower drain which would mean that the plumber's only roughed in for a 1/2 bath... maybe?

Unfortunately, I need more info.from you to be 100% sure on all this so check the things I mentioned and get back to us.

I attached a photo below so others could see what we are talking about.

Back to you...

Mark

Massplumber,

Thanks for your help and the to do list, this is great, as is the diagram.

So I unscrewed the cap on the pipe and flushed the upstairs toilets (3) and could see plenty of water flowing by. I'm guessing that means this is the toilet pipe?

I then did the tap test and the larger pipe on the right did not sound hollow at all BUT the pipe on the far left sounded more hollow though it was not an obvious echo.

Where do we go from here?

Thanks again for the help.
-Max

MAX...

Nope, that flushing water rolling by confirms that the unscewed cap is a CLEANOUT. The toilet pipe is the large pipe sticking up out of the ground as I thought.

And I wanted you to tap on the concrete floor and look for a hollow sound... reread my first post please.

Back to you...

Thanks for clarifying the CLEANOUT pipe. What should I do with that pipe/cap when I finish the bathroom?

Also, I tapped on the floor and found a hollow sound near the smaller vertical stub on the left...

Thanks for the help. Back to you...

OK... the cleanout will require a finished access cover plate if it will be in the finished bathroom... see images... available online or at any plumbing supply wholesaler.

Next would be to break out the floor in the area with the hollow sound.. should be a 12" x 12" box (or so) and you should only need a hammer and cold chisel to break through as the cement should be very thin. Once you have found the box empty it out of the rocks and expose the pipe. Let me know what size the pipe is and if a PTRAP is present and I'll let you know if a tub or a shower was planned for.

Back to you...

Mark

Great! Thanks, will do. I'll let you know what I find out...

Hi Max...

I got to thinking that the tub/shower box (if present) should be closer to the cleanout. Tap around the floor near the cleanout end of the bathroom... or even further out than indicated in the pic. Below... would be where I would put a box for the tub or shower.

You should also investigate the hollow sound you found, too, but wanted you to know what I was thinking.

Let me know what you find.

Will do, thanks for your time and thoughts on this, your pictures/diagrams are really helpful.

I will investigate further and let you know what I find.

Glad to help. Keep me posted!

OK so I've been doing some investigatory pounding/chipping but no luck so far... How deep should I go with my chisel? Also when I pound on the slab I find that there are faint hollow sounds in a few places but nothing definite. Any ideas or thoughts?

Wouldn't have to go too deep to find the tub/shower drain... would find skim coat over the box out and would just crumble in.

It could be possible that the bathroom wasn't roughed in for a tub/shower... maybe?

Check the floor off to the right of the toilet... could be they planned to put the tub/shower over there.

Mark

Mark, thanks again for your help. I checked to the right of the toilet and in various places but still no luck. I'll do more research and let you know. If it is only roughed in for a 1/2 what would I need in order to add plumbing for a tub/shower?

You could break up the floor over by the toilet and cut a fitting into toilet drain line, or if WET VENTING is allowed in your area you could cut into the sink drain underground and use the sink vent to also vent the shower. Check on wet venting on your area... have another idea that may only require a little floor removal, but codes would need to allow wet venting. Let me know on this...

Another alternative that doesn't require any jackhammering of the floor is to install a macerating pump such as the sanishower system...

Check them out at Saniflo macerating and gray water pumping systems (http://www.saniflo.com)

A pump is not the best way to go here, but I wanted you to know all options available, OK?

Mark

I called the city and Wet Venting is allowed so as long as it follows code (of course)... This option sounds better and potentially cheaper than a Saniflo system, though those are pretty sweet.

Thanks... back to you...

Ok, so I did some research (city inspector) and Wet Venting is allowed so long as it is done according to code...

Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi...

I'm off to work now, but I'll pop in later tonight and work up an answer, OK?

Mark

Great, thank you so much!

OK... sorry, I've been straight out lately.

Next thing I need to know is how you want to lay out your fixtures.. If you can explain it great... if fuzzy draw it up in your paint program and post it as a JPEG file.

Still so darn hard to believe there isn't a tub/shower piped in for this... UGH!

Yeah it's hard to believe that a tub/shower rough in was left out...

As far as layout goes I would like to put the sink more or less in the left corner, the toilet to the right of that, and then have the tub/shower in the area of the circle you drew in your first suggestion of where to look for the hollow sound oriented parallel to the seam that is visible in the foreground of the picture.

I think this makes sense but let me know if a pic would be more helpful.

Thanks so much!



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