Wednesday, March 07, 2007

All Things Must Pass

It is very difficult to come up with a song title that in some way relates to plumbing but I was proud of myself for this one. I have to admit I had some help from a list of Beatle's songs though. Anyway, we have ran most of the plumbing drain and vent lines under the house. We are using PVC for these lines and will use copper for the supply lines. One issue we have had is how to limit the number of plumbing vents in the roof. I would like to have as few roof penetrations as possible in the metal roof, for looks as well as to cut down on leak possibilities. Metal roofs are just a little harder to seal around stuff like that than shingles roofs. What we decided to do is to combine the vent for the shower and bathroom sink and only have one roof penetration there. There will not be a roof vent for the kitchen sink but this is OK if you run an oversize drain line. This is what they do for sinks that are in kitchen islands where there is no wall to vent up through.
We also ran oversize drain from the bathroom just to help out on account of those 2 fixtures being combined. So, we have 2" PVC to just below floor level where it flares into 3" drain lines. Should not ever have any trouble with this but just in case, Allen put a clean out on one end. The septic tank will be located near what will be the front center of the house when the whole thing is built so all the lines are running in that direction with 1/4" fall per foot. The surveyor who did my perc test staked a general location for the septic tank but I think I can move it around a little. I have to get that finalized though before I will know exactly where everything is going. I still have not heard the results of the test. Allen said they came out and completed the test last Friday and are supossed to mail me something. We also started the central vacuum system. I love these things. The collection canister will be under the house and I will have 2 plug ins in the house. You get a 30' hose so that should be plenty. I ran the phone lines too but have never gone to the phone company and requested service. I guess I need to do that. If satellite service were better out here I would just have everything on that. Phone, TV, computer etc. I hate cable everything. We have a lot of trouble with it around here.
I am on a quest now to find the shower fixtures and tile! I am picking out finishes! I'm so excited!


2 comments:

Omelay said...

picking out fixtures is fun. thanks for the "island-drain" tip. i recently installed drain plumbing for a huge house and also combined all the vents into one for the same reason--metal roof. luckily, i had no islands to attempt to drain.

MamaHen said...

I don't know if "fun" is the word I would use Karl. Maybe traumatic. I found a beautiful, simple, understated Kohler fixture, nothing extravagant; $350.00! And that did not include the valve. That's another $75. Maybe I'm just a tight wad but I'm thinking I can make Something before I pay that.