Ask Me Help Desk - What is the difference between a rough in bath and a stubbed bath

We recently had a home built. We asked for a stubbed bath. There are no pipes coming through the floor or the wall. The contractor said that it was stubbed and if what we are asking for is roughing in. I think he is lying. Can you tell me what the difference is between roughing in a bathroom and a stubbed bathroom. Thank you

I think your best bet is to have him describe his version of stubbed vs roughed in. Is this bathroom on a concrete floor(basement) or on wood floor? Im guessing that by stubbed, he means the pipes are there, but just stubbed up. Can you show us some pictures of the bathroom in question. I hope we can help, but I'm really quite possative that the installing plumber would be able to show you or explain to you what he did vs what you want done. Good luck and please let us know how things work out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by k10id7s5

We recently had a home built. We asked for a stubbed bath. There are no pipes coming through the floor or the wall. The contractor said that it was stubbed and if what we are asking for is roughing in. I think he is lying. Can you tell me what the difference is between roughing in a bathroom and a stubbed bathroom. Thank you

In my area,( Tampa Bay) "rough in" means the dtainage's run and the water pipes run above the floor line, manifolds tied together and the supplies capped off but not brought out.
We "stub out" the water run the stacks out the roof and set the tub in the second stage of struction. We call rhat. "tub set and stack out"
If you had been roughed in you would have seen a tub dap-out and a PVC stub-up coming out of the dap out from a "P" trap. If roughed for a shower you would see a short piece of 2" PVC sticking up outta the floor.
You would have also noticed a PVC stub out coming outts the wall to pick up your vanity. If the walls were up there should be a length of 2" PVC inside the wall going up through the roof for a vent.
My take on it? I think your contractor dropped the ball and now he's blowing smoke up your skirt and tap dancing away for any responsibility. But whadda I know? To be really sure I'd have to be up there and read your contract. Does it call for a bathroom to be roughed for future use? Let 7us know, Good luck, Tom

Well what we have is a 3rd bath in the attic and the drains are up to the outside of the bath. They are not coming up out of the floor and the supply lines are in the attic capped off. Nothing is coming up through the floor or through the wall. This bath only has the flooring down and the walls are just studs. In our contract we requested the bath be stubbed so we could later install a 3rd bath. I am trying to make sure that stubbed means that the drains are coming up out of the floor for the shower, toilet and sink, then capped off about 2 ft off the floor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedball1

In my area,( Tampa Bay) "rough in" means the dtainage's run and the water pipes run above the floor line, manifolds tied together and the supplies capped off but not brought out.
We "stub out" the water run the stacks out the roof and set the tub in the second stage of struction. We call rhat. "rub set and stack out"
If you had been roughed in you would have seen a tub dap-out and a PVC stub-up coming outta the dap out from a "P" trap. If roughed for a shower you would see a short piece of 2" PVC sticking up outta the floor.
You would have also noticed a PVC stub out coming outts the wall to pick up your vanity. If the walls were up there should be a length of 2" PVC inside the wall going up through the roof for a vent.
My take on it? I think your contractor dropped the ball and now he's blowing smoke up your skirt and tap dancing away for any responsibility. But whadda I know? To be really sure I'd have to be up there and read your contract. Does it call for a bathroom to be roughed for future use? Let 7us know, Good luck, Tom

Tom,
We put in our contract to have the bath stubbed for a later 3rd bath. What we have is the drains about 3 ft on the outside of the bath in the attic capped off. It is only one pipe. We also have the supply lines up there rolled up tied off to a stud in the attic. The vent is dropped down out side the bath as well. What we wanted was the drains coming out of the floor and capped off for the shower, toilet and sink. So later all we had to do was cut them off and drop everything in. He said that we did get stubbed and that if we wanted that we should have said ruffed in. what is your take on this?

Hi all:

Stubbed pipes for a 3rd floor bath are exactly that... stubbed up pipes that are run upstairs and capped off for future use. There are no pipes/vents run to fixtures. This should have cost you very little in addition to the contract.

A roughed in bathroom is a finished plumbing job that picks up all fixtures... this is usually quite expensive.

I'm sure you won't like to hear it, but in this circumstance the contractor followed the language of the contract to a tee and is in the right... *OUCH*.

Mark

Different areas have different meanings. Stub out means one thing for Mark and another to me.
We do our stub outs on the second rough. That's whwn we srub out the water and run our backing.. install the tub/shower valve and set the tub and run our stacks out the roof.
We then call a second rough or tub set inspection. We ptressure up the water lines and fill the stacks from the roof leaving them set overnight for the next days inspection.
But Mark probably has it right.
Lee was bang on when he said,"i think your best bet is to have him describe his version of stubbed vs roughed in.."
I think it's all in the definition.
I wish you had asked for a stubbed OUT or roughed in bath.
Reading Marks post the contractor will most likely prevail. Good luck, Tom

Yup! In my area most of the buildings are 2, 3 or more stories tall. Here, we will pipe up the basement, the first and the second floor bathrooms and if requested we'll "stub up" for a future bathroom in the attic. With the costs associated with an entire home project it is very rare for us to be asked to rough in a complete bath on that 3rd floor... just stub it up and they'll finish later.

Anyway, I always hate to see when a miscommunication like this occurs... bad for everyone involved.

Good luck K10...

Mark

We are really upset at this point. It is funny that when we did our last walk through the contractor came to talk with us about it. I pointed out that the bathroom was not stubbed and he said that he would look at the contract, but if it said stubbed in the contract they would have to do it. I wonder why he did not tell us then. I mean he even went up there and looked at it. He should have said something then instead of agreeing. He has been very elusive about the situation. Not calling us back like he says he will.We have our realtor involved now. We also called another plumber to come out take a look. He said our bathroom is not stubbed. He said if the bathroom was stubbed we would have the pipes coming through the floor. Because that is all we asked for is for the pipes to be coming out of the floor. My realtor said that stubbed is just that. There are stubbs coming up through the floor. Her contractor friend said the same. I don't know what is going to happen. Thanks for the help. Rough in and stubbed seems to have the same definitions to some and some they are different. So I don't know. We are still confused about what stubbed and rough in means. Thanks anyway.