I have a house that is about 8 years old and has an unfinished basement. I have some pipes (PVC) coming out of the concrete basement floor. One is four inches and capped. I'm sure this is for the toilet. There are two others (all three are in the same area) that are both 2" and capped and both have some kind of foam plastic wrap around them. One has a coupel wraps and the other has 5-6 wraps. I'm thinking these are for sink drain and shower/tub drain, but don't know what the foam is for. Can / must it be removed? I gently tried to unwrap it and it seems stuck / partially sunk into the concrete. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Those are styrofoam wrappers that we use to protect pipes from the cement pour. . On toilet stub-ups we use a wrapper so that a closet flange may be installed without having to chip around the pipe. The five or six wrappers sound like the plumbers idea of a tub dap-out. They will have to be removed so the trap and tub waste can be serviced. To tell you more I will need the lay out of the pipes in relation to the walls. Good luck, Tom

Hi Leoh:

The foam around the 4" toilet pipe is so you can remove it (pull it up and out if lucky), cut the pipe to about an inch below the floor (using an inside pipe cutter..see picture), and install a closet flange (see last picture). You could also cut the pipe FLUSH with the floor and install a TWIST AND SET closet flange (see last picture) inside the pipe instead of over the pipe (easiest really).

The foam around the other two pipes may just have been to keep the concrete off the pipe...can be removed or not!!

One of these pipes will be for the sink (it will need to be pipe 2" all the way until it connects intot he vent system upstairs or at the FUTURE VENT that should be in your basement if house only 8 years old (look around for pipe with FV written on it and capped off). This pipe remains 2" because it will act as a WETTED vent for the toilet as well as an individual vent for the sink.

The last pipe should really be installed inside a tub DAPOUT (a 12x12 boxout in floor). If no dapout then probably for a shower. First thing to do here is to remove the cap off this pipe and pour some water down the drain... then look inside pipe and see if water is standing after poured. If it is then it is trapped and probably piped for a shower (as long as a 2" pipe. Here you may just need to chip back around the pipe for 6 inches or so to make enough room for the shower strainer to be installed.

Let us know if need more... especially if installing a shower. Glad to help...

Looks like me and Tom posted on top of each other...again...;)

MARK