I am getting ready to do some cleanup work in my basement which calls for some moving of some walls and pipes.

With regards to the drains buried under the basement floor:

Where these turn vertical to meet a stack... should I frame the wall FIRST, then drill the hole and break out the concrete floor second, to ensure my pipe turns up at exactly the precise location so it’s inside the wall?

Or should I install all the plumbing first and then build the walls around it? If I do this, I’m not 100% sure on the technique used to build the walls around the pipes. Perhaps notching vs drilling?

Thanks for any insight you can share.

PS - I’m talking about pvc drain and vent pipes. I’m planning on running the copper supply lines after the framing is in, but before the electric is installed.



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I would do the framing first, taking into consideration of plumbing and electrical needs in your framing. For example, if you are going to install a junction box or receptacle there, I would put in an extra stud for nailing in the box, and if a drain/vent will go up there, I will make sure I won't put a stud where the pipe is going to be. If it's a shower, then I'll leave a sliver at the inside corners for the folded liner corners etc etc etc...

I'm not sure I understand the question?

in new construction you can not build the wall first because there is no cement floor to nail the wall to.
there can not be a cement floor until the utilities are in place.
so the chicken does follow the egg.
pipes first, floor second and walls last.

Great tips thanks. Packy let me re-phrase a slightly different question... I’ll use Sum’s shower example...

I am actually planning on building a new shower. Basement is already there but unfinished, and no plumbing rough in...

So, I need to install a p-trap underground and it must be precisely underneath where the shower drain will be located... should I install and glue the final p-trap first, then measure from it and build the shower walls based on that pipe? Or do I just roughly stub-in a drain pipe under there... then frame the shower walls... then measure the precise center of the “box” and glue the p-trap together and then pour in the concrete around it?

Same could be said for the toilet pipe coming up exactly 12.5” off the studded wall... install the drain pipe first then frame the wall 12.5” off the centerpoint, or frame the wall and then bring up the pipe and cement it all in?

Thank you!!! Sorry if I am totally missing something obvious here!!

pipes first, walls second.
glue trap together but leave the riser not glued.
it is tricky to get the right measure for that pipe. so even if you have to set the shower in place, get the right measure, remove the shower and glue the riser in, it is easier and more accurate.
for the toilet, run a 3 inch pipe but for the last fitting, make it a 4 x 3 ninety. have the 4 inch pipe sticking up taller than it has to be. cement right up to that pipe, nice and tight and flat.
for the finish cut the 4 inch pipe even with the finish floor, use a 4 x 3 flush fit toilet flange that you glue right into the 4 inch pipe.

You are asking, "do I put in the walls and fit the plumbing to them, or put the plumbing in and use them to install the walls". The answer is EITHER, since we have to do both depending on the building construction. But it is a little bit like target practice. Do you shoot at the target and hope to hit the center, or shoot first and then draw the target around it?



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hj, if you use a shotgun, it will hit the target no matter what.

But, as my mother told my brother, "Let the rabbits get a little further away before you shoot because I cannot dig all the pellets out of them. And, when he went into a bar fight situation, he took his sawed off shotgun with him because THAT hit everything in the area.

there is nothing like taking a bite of rabbit meat and biting into a pellet. surprise, surprise.

I am sure the dentists love it when it happens.

Thanks for the advice. On plumbing and hunting.

I am going to draw up my proposed plumbing layout and post it in another thread for your comments/criticism.





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