Waste Pipes Problems

How To Find The Waste Pipe In A Concrete Floor
By Greg Vanden Berge 1/16/2008

First we will start looking for a wall clean out on the outside or the inside of the house. It will do you know good to look at the back of the house if you want to find the waste pipe in the front so look in the area where you are going to locate the new plumbing fixture. If you find a clean out in the wall this will tell you there is a pipe near.
If you can't locate a clean out we will have to try to find the nearest waste line fixture. This would be a toilet, sink, shower, bathtub or laundry ( wash machine). If you are too far away from a plumbing fixture you might want to rethink the plan because it could get expensive.
What is to far away? 5 feet. You will actually have to find the pipe first. The depth of the pipe you find into the ground will determine how far away you will be able to go because of drainage. The waste pipe will have to slope toward the pipe you find at a rate of a 1/4 of a inch per foot. If you only have 4 inches of pipe vertical the maximum you will be able to go away from the pipe you found will be around16 feet.

Back to locating the waste pipe in a concrete floor. Once you find a bath fixture near your new plumbing location you have to find out where the plumbing vent pipe is in the wall. Now you will have to cut a area of the drywall out behind your nearest plumbing fixture to locate the plumbing vent. The next step in our exploration will be to actually jack hammer up the floor on the side of the wall we will be installing our new tub.
Be careful jack hammering up the floor. Keep in mind there are plumbing pipes with water in them. It might not be a bad idea to shut the water off to your house as a precaution. Remove enough concrete to work comfortably around the plumbing waste pipe. I would remove about a two foot square area.
The next step will be to tie the new plumbing into the existing waste pipe.

About The Author: Copyright © 2008 Greg Vanden Berge All Rights Reserved
Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more stair building books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.