I 'm doing a remodel of my laundry room. I received some really great advice when I was doing the laundry stand pipe. Thanks massplumber,again for your diagram. This was the before:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3352963964_a9d9cc7e4c_m.jpg and this is the mostly after:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3413147491_0d284b8d91_m.jpg
Anyway, I have the main stack pipe coming down right in the middle of the room.
I wanted to enclosed it in a column, but with the cleanout at the bottom and a curve at the top, it would be too big. Can I loose the cleanout and move it farther down the line.
The pipe goes into the floor and comes out in the basement about 6 or 7 feet away.
I been in this house 16 years and never needed the cleanout.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3413953488_189a9d8835_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3413147709_e098972f48_m.jpg
Does anyone have any good ideas to cover or dress up the pipe?
Thanks Jim

Hi LJim:

You could lose that wye cleanout and install a dandy cleanout... see picture. This is a much tighter profile than the wye and is actually the right cleanout at the base of the stack (a wye like is present is not a correct cleanout for the base of the stack).

By code the cleanout needs to be at the very base of the stack like it is, but if you use the cleanout I posted a pic. Of it should fit fine and reduce the width of the column.

What is at the top of that stack... 2 45s? If so, you may be able to installa 3" long sweep 90 in in place of the 2-45s... reducing the entire pipe to the width of the pipe and cleanout... ;) Let me know.

MARK

Thanks mark
I didn't think of a dandy cleanout, but I like the idea. The clean out and those 45's at the top are 180 degrees out, so that's what making the column so wide. So if I did change it , could I put the cleanout going the same direction as the bend at the top?
Which brings me to my next set of questions. How do I change it. There's only about 1 " of pipe sticking up from the floor, before it hits the wye cleanout. Also would i be able to use a 3" cleanout. The pipe coming down is 3" into 4" wye , then 4" pipe into the floor.
Thanks Jim

A 4" fitting requires 2" of pipe so this won't be super simple, but it can be done using a trick or two... ;)

First, you would support the pipe before cutting into it. Use a 2"x4" stud from under a horizontal section of the pipe in ceiling to the floor...even if hanger present above.

Next, these options could fail and worst case scenario is that you crack the pipe and have to dig up underground...O.K.?


You could:

1) Cut the wye fitting off above the bottom hub (see 1st picture) of the wye and cut out some pipe above this. Then you could make a series of cuts using a hacksaw to the depth of the fitting wall of the hub (see 2nd picture). Here, you make a number of cuts around the hub to the outside wall of the PVC pipe (without cutting into the wall of the pipe). Then you would use a heat gun to heat the sections of the cut hub and peel off the hub in sections until the last one got peeled off. You would use pliers, screwdriver, dull chisels, etc... whatever helped to get in under the hub of the fitting.

This can be quite tricky, but with patience it can be done. It is easy to burn the pipe/fitting and you don't want to burn the pipe at all... if possible. I would recommend that you PRACTICE on the other hub of the wye fitting before you go for the one headed into the ground.

Note also that the fumes can be quite toxic so wear a mask and open windows around you for extra protection.

If that failed to work...

2) You would then remove some of the tiles around the base of the stack and you could chip out about a 1/2"to 1" of concrete all around the stack(thickness of the fitting wall) and then cut the pipe to highest point you can.

Installing the pipe from there would require me to know if you will change the fittings in the ceiling or will just swap out the cleanout..?

You would definitely need PVC primer to clean all pipes/fittings.

Finally, because you have a 4" pipe underground you really need a 4" dandy cleanout. It can be faced in any direction you want.