VirginBuilder

Foundation!

So, as it turns out, it's preferable to get the main sewer line installed BEFORE pouring a foundation. The timeline from the books I'd read had the groundwork plumbing done AFTER the foundation, but I realized that that would mean digging out under the footings at odd angles, and it would be far easier to just have the sewer line put in place before the pour. Unfortunately this all clicked together in my head AFTER the footing frames were almost done, the night before the pour. This was the first of many delays on the concrete pour date.

So, I decided to learn how to be a plumber. Specifically a sewer-line installer. I followed the recommended slope of 1/8 to 1/4 inch per foot and just worked my way back, digging the trench by hand. This was relatively more tedious because I often had to work around the forms, but it didn't take absurdly long. I think it was a full day of digging. I knew that I wanted cast iron pipe for the upstairs plumbing because it is essentially silent versus ABS or PVC which seems to amplify the sound of toilets flushing. For some reason, it made sense to me to continue the cast iron under the slab and out to where we met up with the clay sewer line that runs out the main in the street. The reasoning is that some of the line would run through the concrete and the cast iron would resist cracking if/when the foundation settled at all over time. This added greatly to the cost, since ABS is darn near free and cast iron is absurdly expensive. Oh well. I get the thing layed out and I'm pretty proud of it. The fittings are all rubber gasket fittings with two metals bands that have a worm-drive tightening mechanism. It went together quickly, even on the sections of pipe that I had to cut (rent a pipe-cutter!) and was essentially leak free. The inspector came out, and turned out to not be the regular inspector. He took one look at it, impressively holding water with a ten foot water column of pressure on it, and all he said was "that's nice, but it's no good." It turns out that the rubber fittings are only for outside use and what I needed are metal-armored fittings. So, I go back to the plumbing supply store and spend another couple of hundred dollars on heavy duty solid metal armored fittings. I slice my hand open several times, and there's something about that armoring layer that if the pipe isn't lined up perfectly it leaks like mad. Thinking that this can't be right, I called the inspection help line open between 7:30 and 8:30 am in the hope of getting an inspector. It turns out that there is an in-between fitting that has a crinkly thinner metal armoring that behaves a lot more like the ones that I installed in the first place. I put these on and was good to go. Until the next inspection.

The regular inspector came out and took one look and said "That's nice, but where's your backwater valve?" Now, I'm not a plumber and have never heard of a backwater valve. And after several weeks of plumbing (during which I'm not pouring concrete) I'm really ready to be done with this. So, it turns out that since I'm down the hill from the street, the manhole vents in the street lay above my ground level plumbing. In the event of a flood, sewer "water" would normally overflow at the manholes, or through any plumbing that's lower than it. Well, that would be my downstairs bathroom. And that would be downright foul and evil. So, while I was crushed, I did go out and try to find a supplier for a backwater valve. A backwater valve is basically a large check-valve that has a mechanical cover that can be opened and cleaned out. This clean-out is required by code and meant that somewhere along the sewer line I not only had to put this valve in, but have a mechanical box that would go through the slab and allow me to access it. The only possible place ended up being where the downstairs sink cabinet would be. Inside the cabinet would be the access. Oh well, it's not perfect, but finally the plumbing passed!

Now, on the the footing pour!

posted by VirginBuilder @ 1:41 PM