Hi! My wife and I are getting ready to build a 20X24 garage with a concrete floor. At this time, we are undecisive whether we want to have water. I'm thinking possibly a sink later on. What is the bare minimum we can do to save our self a lot of work later on? Can I dig a "trench" about 2-3 feet and put a water line down, and L it to come up inside the building, capping it off at at each end? What type and size line should I use?

Hi Scott:

If you're thinking of a sink in the future... you will need water and waste pipes underground.

You could run either type K (most areas) or type L (some areas) copper tubing or maybe even black poly. pipe depending on where you live. The water line will need to be at least 6 inches below the freeze line (check with building department for depth in your area). No joints underground so you will need to purchase piping material in a COIL that is long enough to go between buildings. Cap off for now as you said.

I would also run a 3" PVC waste line over to the garage... this way you could add a toilet and a sink in the future. Here, you would pipe 3" directly to where you MIGHT install a toilet in the future and stub it up and out of the ground for now (wrap foam around the pipe stub ups). Install the sink into the toilet drain line by installing a 3"x2" wye and run that to where the sink might go..stub up and out of ground and cap off for now. When you go to complete the 1/2 bath you will run this 2" up, pick up the sink and run the vent up and through the roof.

Most likely you will also install a point of use electric water heater (6 gallon minimum) in the garage... meaning you will also need electricity into the garage.. but you probably already planned on electrical receptacles, etc...

Let me know what you think...

MARK