Ask Me Help Desk - Rough in under concrete

Rough in under concrete

Hello again. Im here to picks your brains again.

We rough in our fair share of new homes with basements, requiring under concrete drains and vents. We always rough in and stub the pipes up about four to six inches above finished floor level. Never been an issue. There is, however, one concrete contractor that insists we leave our stubs roughed at least 1/4 inch below finish grade so he can more easily finish the concrete. So, basically he wants to make our job a pain in the , just so his job will be much easier. We, of course live in a fairly small town and try our best to make everybody happy, and make the job go more smoothly for everyone involved, so we have met his demands the few times we have dealt with him.
Im just wondering if you guys have ever roughed in this way to make the concrete guys job easier. I personally like to see all my pipes up through the floor when I walk in the day after a poor, instead of messing around with a hammer to find the pipes. Is this common, or am I correct in thinking that I should just tell him to deal with our pipes, or don't do concrete work where plumbing is involved. Glad to hear all of your thouhts on this.

Never on residential jobs, but have done this on commercial jobs where the concrete contractor is using a laser screed on the poure.

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There is, however, one concrete contractor that insists we leave our stubs roughed at least 1/4 inch below finish grade so he can more easily finish the concrete. So, basically he wants to make our job a pain in the , just so his job will be much easier.

Lee,
Not no but HELL NO!!
Unless it's noted in the contract your cement guy is giving the plumbers a royal hosing and I'd go to war over it. Complain to the general contractor. This just can't be general practice in your area. As a former plumbing foreman I would be directly in this guys face. This is the first time in all my years out in the field that I've heard of roughing in a job the way he wants you to do it.
Milo, You work under the same code is this some new zany amendment that UPC came up with? Is this the way you guys are forced to rough a job? Let me know and Lee, please keep me in the loop on this. Good luck, Tom

Tom, this is definitely not a UPC, but I can't find anything against it in our code either. Next chance I get to ask our inspector(he is located over 400 miles away) ill see what he has to say about it. Ill let you know how it all comes out in the wash, but still want to know if this is a common thing on residentiall jobs in any other areas.

I would never do that. Always bring your pipes up out of the concrete. Just tell him, "If it was easy then anybody could do it"

If I'm on the job running a crew I'll tell any body in authority that attempts to tell me how to do my job, "

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You can tell me what you want done and it will be done.
What you can't tell me is how to do it.

Lee, If you're running a job you go by the contract. ANYTHING that's added to the contract should be factored in as added material and labor and charged for accordingly.
Bottom lline! If the cement guy want's to tell you how to do your job he shgould be forced to pay for the privilege. Hang in there Lee and don't let him roll over you.
You know, once you lose control over a job it's hard to get it back.
Been there, done that! Good luck, Tom

Problem solved. My boss had a chat with the concrete guy and they agreed that we would stub our pipes up 1 1/2 inches allowing us enough to get our couplings on, and short enough to make it easier for them to lift their leveler over, win win situation. Like I said, we usually stup up four to six inches(so when the carpenters lay their floor plates and drill the hole just big enough to fit over the pipe, we don't have to cut the plate to fit a coupling. In this case we will just make sure to get the couplings on before the plates are set.). Sounds like the concrete guy was seeing a lot of stubs between one and two feet tall, making it difficult to lift the machine over the pipes. Anyway, we are all happy for now. Thanks for all the input.

We do it both ways. It depends on homeowner. If we leave pipes under concrete, we measure exactly where they are and mark it in the blueprint.

As far as your contractor goes - yes, he just wants to have his job easier so he can screed new pour w/o pipes sticking up through the slab.

I would not make a big issue out of it. If you really want the pipes to sick out than he has to comply with your orders.

Nornmly these issues are brought up at preconstruction meetings so no one is surprised by new methods of building.