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Author:
opdos (KS)
I just purchased a 25 year old 2 story home and have very little/no plumbing experience. When ripping out some beams in the family room ceiling on the main level, we found that some of the beams had been nailed right into the pipe that carries sewage and sink water from our master bedroom. The toilet and sink are on an outside wall directly above our family room. The pipe runs from the sink and toilet horizontally across our family room ceiling and then down the inside wall of our family room then runs back under our family room floor right back to the outside wall where it came from and then straight down into the basement floor.
So a couple of questions....
1. Why wouldn't they have just dropped these lines almost straight down rather than running them across the ceiling, down the inside wall, and back under the floor right back to where they came from before dropping them down to the basement?
2. I helped a plumber friend replace this pipe due to the nail holes and the fact that one nail would not come out (or we probably would have just epoxy'd the holes). We didn't have to replace the piece that goes across the family room ceiling, but just over 8 feet from the elbow joint where the family room ceiling and wall adjoin down to where it hits the elbow joint in the family room floor. Due to what we thought was a bad slope going under the family room floor we pushed the pipe up a bit, causing somewhat of less slope at the on the horizontal pipe going across the family room ceiling.
We checked it with a level and know there IS a slope but it is certainly less than 1/4" per foot (don't know how much it is or I would list it here---this is about a 15 foot span.) When we flush the toilet upstairs or use the sink, even after the water quits running, we hear water trickling through the drain pipe for a good 3 minutes after turning off the water. Sounds like we are pouring a slow steady trickle of water into a cup with more water in it. This might have been happening before and we just didn't notice it??? But it is very noticeable with the sheetrock torn out. Wondering if it is because it is not sloping/draining properly.
Because we now have part of the wall torn out and some spots in the ceiling out, we are wondering if we should tear it all out again and redo it. Or is there any way to jerry-rig it to get more slope now that we have everything cemented into place? If it is just the noise of the trickling water, which is annoying, we can probably deal with it, but if it is going to cause long-term problems like stopped up toilets and sinks, we probably should do something now. Need answers quick as sheet rockers are coming this week and would love to hear from some of you plumbing experts who have maybe seen this before and/or maybe know a quicker fix than a tear out and re-do. Thanks for the help!
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Author:
packy (MA)
why not just repipe to the outside wall and straight down and out?
all your worries and concerns will be over.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
You will ALWAYS have "trickling" because the water does not move in a single "slug". Some of it always lags behind and that is what you hear. The less slope on the pipe the longer it takes that final bit of water to drain, so more slope will hasten the process.
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Author:
opdos (KS)
I can see that there is slope but it is difficult to measure how much. The level showed that it is NOT level so I know there is slope, but do people get big plumbing backup problems if the slope isn't exactly to code? That's our main concern.
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Author:
opdos (KS)
Would love to have done this but it meant another $1000 ripping out and redoing sheetrock whereas we were able to just cut a pipe and replace it this way. Still can't figure out why the didn't do that to start with. Wondered if it is within code for a pipe to go straight down?
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Author:
packy (MA)
i think you have answered your own question.
if you and a plumber friend have ripped out the pipe with holes in it and have not found that pipe to be totally clogged, then you are good to go.
plumbing 101...
the 1/4 inch pitch for pipes will result in a flow rate of approx 2 feet per second. this rate is necessary to keep things rolling along in long runs of pipe.
less of a pitch will do no harm in a short run.
when the toilet flushes it will send water down the pipe with sufficient velocity to make up for a very slight pitch.
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Author:
techman (PA)
YOUR SLOPE CAN BE A MINIMUM OF 1 PERCENT OR 1/8" PER FOOT AS PER MOST PLUMBING CODES FOR 3" TO 6" PIPE
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Author:
waukeshaplumbing (WI)
id measure the slope exactly....its not hard with a 4'level
if its a 3" pipe and its less than 1/8" id try to fix it...if its barely off of that 1/8" I would worry about it...
that $1,000 your worried about seems like small stuff....id just pay it and repipe it where it should go.....$1,000 for a home project is pennies
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