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Planning A New Bath Room
Dear editor:
I like your site along with the pix as it helps A LOT.
I wondered, if I were to install a new toilet/bath, the best place
to be I guess is by the old one. But I have little space there. I
have a spot available about 20 feet from my other toilet drain. What
are the recommendations?
Mr. C
There
are a few issues involved with adding another bathroom, and the
drain lines often pose the greatest restrictions because of the
need for those pipes to have their horizontal sections sloped at
between 1/8" and 1/4" per foot.
My first step would be to examine the existing drain piping below
the floor. But... can you access the drain piping? If your house
is slab-on-grade, as is common in the southern and western states,
connecting to the plumbing could be almost impossible, or the
connections may need to be done outside of the building (i.e.
under the lawn somewhere).
If your house has a decent height crawl space, or better, a full
basement, then my approach would be to determine where I could
connect to the drain line. A PVC drain pipe can easily be cut and
a wye fitting installed, using one or two rubber boot couplings.
This is pretty easy. Also, you may be able to connect to an
existing cleanout (if it's 3" diameter or bigger), but you'll
need to provide another cleanout in a similar arrangement to the
one you filled in.
But... and I've seen houses where this was a problem... there
needs to be enough vertical drop from the proposed bath to the
existing drain. If you have a 20 foot horizontal span, then you'll
need at least 20/8", (or 2.5") of vertical drop from the
point where the toilet drain drops below the floor joists to the
point where it would connect to the old drain.
Drain lines can be quite a challenge because it's like a big
3-dimensional puzzle with rules about sloping and angles that
branch lines must connect at. Supply lines, by comparison, pose
few problems with routing because they can go up and over
obstructions.
I strongly recommend the book "Plumbing A House" by
Peter Hemp, published by Taunton
Press and sold on their web site and also at Home Depot near
the contractor's desk. This is a "For Pros / By Pros"
book, and it does a good job of illuminating the complexities of
plumbing, something that many people don't appreciate.
I know a lot of people don't want to hear this, but the best
approach is to get a permit for the remodeling... if your state
allows homeowners to do their own work. If approached properly,
I've found that most building inspectors are quite cooperative.
Most seem interested in making sure things get done right, and if
you show an interest in doing things correctly, not just cheaply,
you might find them to be willing to share some of their
knowledge. But I wouldn't approach any inspector without having
done some background research (and that book is a great start) to
avoid sounding clueless.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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