Bathroom Drain Relocation
Hey, I’m Caleb with Dansie Design Build. Today, we will break out concrete to perform a bathroom drain relocation in a new basement finish in Draper, Utah. Let’s check it out and see what we will do today.
Why Are We Moving the Drain Pipes?
We’re doing this because the drain pipes for the toilet, shower, and sink need to be in a different location for the bathroom design to work. You can often put the shower, toilet, and vanity in an ideal place so you don’t have to move plumbing pipes very much. However, 99% of the time, they must get relocated a bit.
In this case, we had to move them quite a bit more because the bathroom location was about three feet from where the pipes were versus where they were stubbed in from the original construction. And so, to put this bathroom where the owners want it to be, we need to move the pipes so that the toilet and everything will be in the right spot.
Plumbing Works
We have completed 95% of the rough framing, so it’s time to start the waterworks plumbing process.
The back wall on the far side of the bathroom is the rear wall of the house. In this particular house, the sewer flows out towards the front of the house. It is typical, but note that it can go out of the side of the house if it’s a corner lot. This house is on a corner lot, but the sewer is flowing out toward the street in front of the house.
Plumbing Materials
The first thing we have is the backwater axis sleeve. We also have three different pipes coming out of the ground. The largest one is a toilet drain pipe. On its right is a sink drain pipe. The farthest one is the shower drain pipe.
Bathroom Plumbing Layout
The bathroom plumbing layout indicates that we will have a five-foot wide by 30-inch deep shower area, so we need to start by moving the toilet drain and relocating the kitchen sink pipes to accommodate that. The large tube will move to the right, while the sink pipe will go to the dotted area closer to the door.
Breaking Out Concrete to Fix the Drains
In addition, we will have a washer and dryer for laundry over in that little nook beside the shower. We will need to break out the concrete there to tie in the drain for the washing machine. On this particular floor, there will be quite a bit of breaking and hauling out concrete and then patching that up when we’re done. Today, we will break this out and reconfigure the drains underneath the concrete. We’ll show you how that looks as well.
Concrete Digging
We’ve got the floor jackhammered out here and removed and excavated the dirt underneath it. In this house, they used pea gravel underneath the slab, making it easier to dig out. It’s also safer for the pipes to have soft bedding when you backfill around the new lines.
Now that we’ve got the concrete broken up and the dirt piled up on the side of the bathroom, we’ll start hauling that out and fitting the new piping. You can see these fittings we are putting together and measuring out to put in the ground. After that, we’ll start backfilling the area.
After Piping Reconfiguration
Once the drains are all roughed in, we are ready to start backfilling. I wanted to show you how this looks before we put the pea gravel back in the hole. You can see that on the left side, where we cut the other preexisting piping off and replaced it with this system. It allows the toilet, bathroom vanity, shower, sink, and laundry drains to be in the correct locations.
Planning for Possible Future Adjustments
You’ll notice that we have some foam wrapped around the sides of the pipe, and that’s just at the height of where the concrete will be so that it can provide a little cushion. If we need to slide the pipe over just an eighth of an inch, that’s possible when we put the rest of it together. All that is left is to backfill the floor and start pouring concrete into it.
The Result
Once we have the piping all relocated, we pour the concrete where we had it broken out. The tub or tub/shower area will be on that pipe on the left. We’ve also got the other one for the toilet relocated. We tied in for the bathroom vanity sink over on the far side of the room, and you can see that drain pipe too. This is all ready to go, and we’ll wait for this concrete to start drying so we can level a concrete floor, smooth it out, and finish it off.
To Wrap Up
If you need help finishing your basement or looking for help with design and construction, you can reach us on our website and request a project consultation. Thank you for your time today, and have a great rest of your week.
