Cutting through flooring to get to drain line


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Old 07-03-15, 12:54 AM
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Cutting through flooring to get to drain line

My question is about getting to drain lines; it's really more about construction but I'm asking it here because it's to get to drain lines.

Some years ago before I bought this house, the back porch was converted into a backroom with a bathroom. The porch had a cement floor, and joists for the back rooms were set above that. There's not really any space between the cement floor and the bottom of the joists.

The plastic drain line for the kitchen sink and washer run under the bathroom floor to connect to the sewer line at the back of the house. This drain line is leaking. It looks like the plastic joints in the pipe were not properly glued.

Plumber tells me that I have to hire a carpenter or handyman to take up part of the bathroom floor so that he can see what's underneath to give estimate to fix drain line. He gave me name of a handyman guy he works with. The handyman said it would cost me $1,200 for his floor work, with no details, except that he charges $85/hour per guy for 2 guys. When I asked in an email how he planned to take up the floor and then reinforce the hole before he put it back down, I did not get a reply. This makes me nervous because I've had some really bad experiences with handymen like this.

The floor is plywood on the joists with some laminate over that. The basic idea I think is to cut through the laminate and plywood at same time. Does anyone have any experience with doing this?

Thanks.
 
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Old 07-03-15, 02:44 AM
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Without a plan, all will fail. Let him be. Laminate is not a good choice for a bathroom anyway, so it can be removed totally. If you know the direction and location of the pipes, you can cut the subflooring with a circular saw with the blade set to the depth of the subfloor. Always cut across at least 3 joists. Sometimes it is best to pull the nails/screws and pull the entire piece of subfloor at a time. Less messy. They guy's price is not bad, but if all he does for that money is pull the subfloor, then you can do it cheaper. Once the problem is fixed, you can re-lay the subflooring, and proceed with a better floor covering. We can help with that, too.
 
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Old 07-03-15, 05:16 AM
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I wouldn't pay that much money, for that work. The handyman is probably paying his helper $100 for each day & giving the plumber a kick back. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can hire 2 day workers, for $300 which is what I would do.
 
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Old 07-04-15, 04:36 AM
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Thanks for the suggestions

Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions. Even something that's probably as simple as spanning 3 joists was news to me and helps.
 
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Old 07-04-15, 04:49 AM
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Plan B - re-routing drain pipe outside of house

I posted yesterday about a leaking grey water pipe under a bathroom, with questions about getting part of the floor up to access the pipes. The grey water line is for a kitchen sink and washer that are close together on the ground floor of a very small house.

A friend has suggested that maybe we could route the sink and washer drain pipes out the side of the house, along the side of the house toward the back about 10', and then around corner of the house to connect to sewer line that is about 3' from the house corner. It won't look pretty but that wouldn't bother us -- it would be on the side and back of the house where it wouldn't show much, and I suppose some kind of cover could be made for it if it's really ugly.

A small part of the bathroom floor would still have to come up, to find and cap the place where this grey line currently joins with the sewer line under the bathroom floor, but that should be a relatively small job.

Can you see problems with this idea? In broad code terms, do you think it would be permitted to do it this way?

Thanks very much.
 
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Old 07-04-15, 04:58 AM
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Why did you start a new thread? Now we have to look for the first thread, to see what was said. The plan won't work. The pipes could freeze.

Would one of the ops merge the threads?
 
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Old 07-04-15, 06:49 AM
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We try to keep a single topic contained in one thread to eliminate the double questions.

Threads merged.
 
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Old 07-04-15, 11:43 AM
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If your drain line will be outside and above grade freezing can be an issue. Routing like that is done in old homes sometimes here in NC and exposed drain pipes do freeze, especially on the north side of the house. We're mild enough that there is usually only one or two weeks where the high is below freezing so getting sun is usually enough to thaw the pipes before they freeze closed.

If burying the drain lines underground that is also done, especially as a repair to homes on a slab as it's easier than busting up the concrete floors. If you do make the run outside I would install a cleanout just outside the foundation wall to make it easy to clean the line from the outside should it ever clog. The cleanout also serves as a clue and warning to future generations that something "non standard" may have been done to the plumbing.
 
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Old 07-05-15, 03:23 AM
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Thanks!

Thanks very much! You are all the best.
 
 

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