Bathroom Refit

[chapeau]

You are wise not to have asked on the electrics forum as half the world would have automatic responders which would tell you this is notifyable but I see it's a lot more civilised on here so I won't mention it.

If it's notifyable (allegedly) then there should be an approved document, and there is (allegedly)

www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADH_2004_NEW.pdf

Max length of pipe from sink to stack is circa 7m. The internal waste is all inch and a half.

If you look at Approved Document H, Table 2 it gives maximum lengths of pipe for unventilated runs (which it looks like yours is)

With 30mm pipe you can have 1.7m
With 40mm pipe you can have 3.0m
With 50mm pipe you can have 4.0m

More than 4m you are up to 75mm pipe and if you are at 7m you are well past that.

We have an ensuite with two sinks which are drained by a single 40mm pipe which has a 3.5m run until it gets to 100mm soil pipe. I can hear it syphoning the second sink when you empty the first, so it's more than just theory.

You might be looking at replacing that horrible horizontal (ish) pipe with 100mm and draining your three appliances into that using 40mm. Easier to clear it too if you get blockage. But even then, strictly speaking, you might be out of spec and be looking at an internal stack with a AAv but that is becoming a bit anal I would say.

So just do it so it works and don't tell the guvmint owt. Just like the best advice on the electrics forum should be.

 

[Space cat]

What do they say about a picture and a thousand words? I see it all now. It's a pretty fair bet that there was once a 1.25" pipe coming out of the filled-in hole above your leftmost pipe and some plonker just used some of it.

I would replace the entire outside run with 50mm pipe. Whatever you have inside should then work just fine unless one of the pipes is over 3m long - in which case you might be pushing your luck. Chapeau appears to have pushed his luck a little too far with 3,5m.

I have a 40mm pipe about 2.5m long from my bath to the outside (where it runs into 50mm) and I don't have siphonage problems. A basin and bidet tee into it along the way so, yes, your basins can share.

can I raise the point at which the feeder pipe joins the soil pipe?

One-in-forty is a good slope for any drain so that looks possible.

 

[securespark]

Thanks.

The plot thickens and my heart sinks...

I can't take pictures as there is very little access but I have taken the boxing off in the bedroom to find....... Cast pipe......

Smashed a hole in the garage ceiling below the bedroom to find more cast pipe with a large tee into it going off outside at the same level as the plastic 1.25" emerges from the brickwork in the picture I have posted**.

Turns out the only PVC is that visible in the garage.... BODGE JOB!!!



**

I reckon if I chisel out the brick where the 1.25" pipe goes into the wall from outside, I'll find it dangling into a cast tee off the main cast soil pipe.

Whaddya reckon?

I know we need to know what size the cast tee is, but would there be any hope of marrying up 50 or 75mm PVC to it?

 

[pred]

Personally i f i'm working on the soil pipe i cut it off at ground level and rip the whole lot out and replace in plastic as it is so much easier to work with, and also comes in three or four different colours.

 

[Alarm]

Brown

 

[pred]

On the inside, which is why i don't like playing around with old pipes, and if it is cast and not asbestos can always weigh it in, never know this time next year you could be driving around in your recycled soil pipes.

 

[Alarm]

*pukes*

 

[securespark]

pred- yeah, it seems from the ground up to ceiling level it has been replaced with PVC...but from then on, it's cast, except for that 1.25" pipe off to the bathroom.

But having seen part of the tee on the cast soil pipe on the inside and the PVC pipe on the outside, I can only shudder in anticipation of what I will find behind the brickwork...

Might I be pleasantly surprised?

Only thing is, I can only find up to 50mm waste, then a jump up to 110mm, no 75mm (I was considering 75mm to be safe).

Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode of "Soil Pipe Sagas"......

 

[Alarm]

You are wise not to have asked on the electrics forum as half the world would have automatic responders which would tell you this is notifyable but I see it's a lot more civilised on here so I won't mention it.

So just do it so it works and don't tell the guvmint owt. Just like the best advice on the electrics forum should be.

Why do you think certain works are notifiable then?

 

[securespark]

As far as I'm concerned, what is there at the moment is about as far away from building regs as anything could be.

So anything is going to be an improvement.

At the moment, I now have the MAXIMUM run down to 5m. Some of that will now be 110mm. The remaining runs will be 40mm.

As far as I can tell, it either meets or exceeds the requirements of Doc H.

I hope that meets with your approval?

 

[pred]

If the ground level up to the first floor has already been replaced the job just got a lot easier, usually the cast up to the branch is a heavier/thicker than going up past the gutter, building regs were 4ft higher than any opening window, i use nail bars to try and lever the pegs out of the wall, if that doesn't work beat the crap out of the lugs with a hammer, being cast they do usually shatter, make sure no bits fall down inside the pipe, use a cheap circular saw from b&q to cut the holes for the boss conectors, its a 7mm drill with a sort of plate about 3" round with about 8 different sized cutters, ideal for cutting plastic pipes.

Also if you're up the ladder its best to have someone to take the cast pipe off your hands, just don't stand below while dissmantaling.

SIMPLES

 

[securespark]

Not quite that simples!

The PVC is replaced from ground level up to the ceiling of the ground floor. It is cast from there upwards.

The grim news is, I don't want to replace the cast if I can help it. The one and only reason why is because it exits through a recently replaced EDPM roof......

As I say, I shall remove that brick adjacent to the plastic 1.25" pipe and see what it reveals.

 

[pred]

EDPM roof? I have replaced a number of tiled roofs over the years, but when it comes to flat roofs i get a mate out who specialises in fiberglass, he can even spray a corrigated asbestos roof in so doing seals the asbestos and you can actually walk on the finished roof.

 

[securespark]

Does he want a job in Stockport?

I have now removed the brick (and 300 m3 of polystyrene cavity wall insulation! ) above the 1.25" waste which is in fact copper, not plastic.

This is what I see:

Is there any way to replace this copper waste with something bigger without having to rip out all the cast and disturb the EDPM?

Please?

Pretty please??

Pretty Pretty Please???

 

[Space cat]

I'm pretty sure you can get couplers for joining plastic soil pipe into old cast iron sockets (which is what you appear to have there). If you can do that bit, the rest is easy. You can either run 110mm plastic pipe across the wall or use 50mm (which will be adequate) with a final step up into the new coupler.

The only hard bit will be cleaning out the socket. Try not to let anything fall down inside the pipe.

PS: If any of your indoor pipework will have bends in it, I would replace the relevant elbow on the outside with a tee and put an access plug in the third hole.