Plumbing is the most complicated aspect of most bathroom and kitchen remodeling projects. Plumbing must conform to building codes to prevent dangerous and unhealthy conditions. The National Uniform Plumbing Code applies generally to the entire country. You also must follow local codes, which may be more stringent. When planning your project request information about local plumbing codes from your local building department. Have the plans approved before starting work and perform all work to the satisfaction of the inspector. Draw a detailed plan that includes a list of all materials. The first priority is venting. Drainpipes that are not properly vented will run sluggishly and may release noxious fumes into the house. Here are some other important code considerations: In most cases drainpipes must slope at least 1/4 inch per running foot. Running a drain across a room that does not have a basement or crawlspace may call for careful calculations. Codes may require that vent pipes slope 1/8 inch per foot.

Some codes allow level vents. Use purple primer when joining PVC pipes so the inspector can quickly tell that the pipes have been primed. Pipes that are glued without primer eventually will leak. List fittings in detail on your plan so you will be sure to purchase the right ones. Be sure to use special drain fittings, such as a closet bend, so wastewater can flow smoothly. Inspectors will have specific fitting requirements for different fixtures. Cutting a notch in a joist greatly weakens it. So whenever possible bore holes through joists instead. This calls for careful work as holes for a drainpipe must be at slightly different levels so the pipe will slope. Whether notched or bored long spans may need doubled joists. Codes call for cleanouts at various points so drains can be easily augered in case of a clog. To be safe, install a cleanout whenever you tap into a drain line unless there is already one nearby. Once drain lines are assembled, an inspector will probably test to make sure they do not leak.

Some inspectors will simply pour water through the pipes. Other inspectors require that the line be plugged with an inflatable drain plug and the system filled with water. Valves, fixture controls, cleanouts, and compression pipe fittings must not be covered by a wall or floor surface in case you need to work on them in the future. If necessary, install an access panel. The most common location for an access panel is behind a tub or shower. When changing pipe materials use the correct transition fitting. Without a dielectric union (shown), the joint between galvanized and copper pipe would quickly corrode. Use the approved fitting when changing from plastic to copper, cast iron to plastic, and ABS to PVC. Old plumbing usually can remain; however new plumbing needs to meet code. If old galvanized pipes and gate valves cause low water pressure, you may need to change them in order to supply new pipes with enough pressure. Here a ball valve has replaced a gate valve. Water hammer arresters may be required for appliances such as a washing machine (shown).

Supply pipes may need to be cushioned wherever they run through or against a framing member.Laptop Cpu Fan Control Software In addition to the main shutoff valve for a house, codes may require shutoff valves that control a portion of the house. Obey T Shirts On SaleA hose bib should have an interior shutoff valve. Puppies For Adoption In St Paul MnAll faucets and toilets must have individual stop valves. This corroded old valve will need replacement or repacking. Use approved clamps or straps to secure pipes. According to most codes copper supply pipe must be supported every 6 feet, galvanized or black steel pipe every 12 feet, PVC or ABS drainpipe every 4 feet, and cast-iron pipe every 5 feet. To be safe install more supports than are required.

Distribution pipes carry water from the main supply line to the rooms in the house, where they connect to branch lines. These pipes run from the distribution pipes to the fixtures. As a general rule you can run 1/2-inch pipe to most fixtures; run 3/4-inch pipe to a hose bib or a water heater. Different fixtures place different demands on supply pipes. Each fixture has a demand rating based on fixture units (see charts). These are the flexible lines that run from the stop valve to a faucet, fixture, or appliance. As a general rule run 1/2-inch supply lines to all fixtures except toilets and bathroom sinks, which use 3/8-inch tubes. Use these charts to count the number of fixture units that will be connected to a drain line and for the minimum drainpipe size. NOTE: If a toilet connects to a drainpipe, the pipe must be at least 3 inches. A bathroom sink uses a 1-1/4-inch trap. Showers and floor drains use 2-inch traps. All other fixtures and appliances use 1-1/2-inch traps.

Issue 191 (Kitchens & Baths) Bathrooms are botched more than any other room in the house. The big problem is water. It’s central to the room’s function, but it’s a protean source of damage. And designers unduly focus on cosmetics at the expense of critically important construction basics. Broadly speaking, the two causes of botched bathrooms are an unwillingness to spend the time and money it takes to construct a bathroom properly, and inept or inexperienced people handling the work. After 10 years of remodeling bathrooms, I’ve torn out a lot of other people’s mistakes. Here is my list of the seven sins of bathroom design. Bathrooms are wet rooms first, design showcases second. Every aspect of the planning and construction of bathrooms should take water exposure into account. If the waterproofing bill isn’t at least 5% to 10% of the job cost, someone is cutting corners or doesn’t know what they’re doing. Badly made shower pans and improperly flashed windows in showers routinely fail and lead to major damage.

Inexpensive building and decorating materials like MDF, particleboard, veneered cabinetry, laminate counters, thinly plated metal fixtures, and wallpaper make for planned obsolescence. Design instead with durable homogeneous materials like stone (including man-made varieties), glass and glass block, tile, terrazzo, concrete, stainless steel, and tough hardwoods. Wood cabinetry and trim should be a nickel’s thickness off the floor to prevent water contact; furniture-leveling feet are great for letting cabinetry stay dry. Shine is fine for faucets, but it’s bad for bathroom floors. Glossy tile and polished stone make for slippery, unsafe floors. These materials cause lots of falls, and they’re maintenance headaches, too, revealing every scratch and wearing unevenly. Imperfections and bumps are good qualities in bathroom floors. The floor should be made of tumbled stone or tile that provides ample traction. Variation in color, texture, and size also helps to prevent falls, and it looks great, too.

Use floor tiles smaller than 12×12 to increase the number of grout joints for improved traction. Shower floors need even smaller tile with lots of grout joints, both to offer traction and to conform to the floor slope. Porous tumbled stone (travertine, limestone, etc.) is an ideal bathroom-floor material, both for its traction and its low maintenance. I love designing small-stone and unglazed-tile mosaics for shower floors. ) has a reasonably priced water-jet service that allows fine details and curves to be cut in even the smallest tiles, permitting the creation of almost any image or geometry in a tile field at far less expense than hand-laid stone mosaics. Tread cautiously when considering a wood floor. Teak, ipé, and other tropical woods might make attractive bathroom floors, but building a safe, durable wood floor for a bathroom costs a lot more than laying basic tile over backerboard and thick plywood. I still doubt wood’s long-term durability, even with a good installation.

As for carpet, just forget it. Water and carpet pad are a nasty brew, and don’t get me started about carpet around toilets. The year 1975 was very bad for bathrooms. Our ancestors were so grateful to have indoor plumbing, they didn’t need ambience. But nowadays, people expect a lot more from a bathroom. The tiny, damp, and dingy interior bathroom with a little round light fixture in the ceiling is old-school. Admittedly, lack of natural light is a sin in any room, but bathrooms feel particularly creepy without natural light. Find any conceivable way to bring it into a bathroom. Use etched-glass or glass-block interior windows to carry in light from an adjoining room that has exterior windows. Use structural glass block dropped into a hole in the floor to bring light in from the room below. Use motorized mirrors salvaged from a shuttle mission—whatever it takes. When nothing else works, use a trompe l’oeil tile design that suggests a light source exists, or paint a sun and clouds on the ceiling.

I’ve used these tricks and more besides. Daunted by seemingly unlimited choices, too many people just go with a tried-and-true blanket of 4×4 white tile. It’s boring, but it’s safe. Plain-Jane tile represents a lost opportunity for personal expression, or simply for visual interest. I’ve seen it in new houses going for over a million dollars. Taking the trouble to design with various colors or sizes costs almost nothing extra. Anything, and I mean anything, is better than a blanket of 4×4 white tile. If you feel lost among the tile products available, keep in mind a specific design theme, and then find the tiles that execute the theme. Believe me, they’re out there somewhere. But remember, a great tile design still can’t overcome a leakprone installation, which effectively makes the tile worthless. I was once called about a just-completed tiled shower in which a sliver of cut tile ran vertically right up the middle of the wall. The installer hadn’t counted before setting the tile;

he and his helper started at opposite sides and met in the middle. The job had to be gutted—again. Math is important in bathrooms because space is usually at a premium; Errors in math lead to glaring tile-layout problems, shower stalls and toilet alcoves that don’t meet code minimums, faucet handles that bang into backsplashes (my pet peeve), oversize pedestal sinks that interfere with door clearances, large gaps between toilet tank and wall—you name it. Measure and count over and over before materials are ordered and installed in bathrooms. Make templates whenever possible. And builders, take note: Caulk doesn’t atone for the sin of bad math. On the other hand, don’t assume that because a space is small, you can’t design storage solutions into it. Storage of extra toilet tissue, vanity items, and towels is important. For small bathrooms, I’ve designed many kinds of recessed, partly recessed, and wall-mounted cabinets; neat little drawer cabinets that sit on the floor between a toilet and a pedestal sink;

and open shelves in whatever sizes and shapes seem to work for the client, given the space constraints. People will stick powder rooms anywhere. One place is particularly egregious, though: A bathroom should not open directly into a kitchen. (Your local building code might forbid it anyway.) I will do anything to prevent a bathroom door from opening into a kitchen, or to avoid placing a toilet so that it’s visible from the kitchen. No one working with food or enjoying food wants to be reminded where baked ziti goes in the end. You know how those little push-button door locks sometimes don’t catch? It always happens when Uncle Elmer comes for a visit. Don’t place a toilet facing the bathroom door. In a small bathroom, the toilet should be perpendicular to the doorway and visually screened. For instance, use simple wood screens or semitranslucent panels such as etched glass to suggest some degree of privacy for this, the most intimate of personal tasks. My favorite solution for setting off a toilet area is a thick wood panel with an open-work design or interesting veneering.

The panel needs to rest on stainless-steel furniture glides or round doorstops with the rubber pulled out so that the wood doesn’t take up water through the end grain. At the same time, avoid entirely walled-in toilets in minimum code widths (usually 30 in.). People hate them, and inevitably the fan roars loudly within. A toilet stall is ideal at 36 in. to 42 in. wide, with 27 in. to 30 in. of clear space in front of the toilet. Speaking of fans, the best advice is to vent quickly and quietly. Building codes require fart fans (this is a legitimate term in the building trades, universally understood and never confused with any other kind of fan), so builders grudgingly buy cheap $25 fans that roar like jet engines. They are attached to cheap flex duct. Effective cfm: 6. But the actual cfm is zero, since no one turns on the fan except the building inspector. ) fans are dead quiet and long-lasting. Remote blowers like those from Fantech (www.fantech.net) are also an option. Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox