Urinal Installation Mistakes to Avoid

If you're working on a urinal installation project, either for your home or for a place of business, there are several different steps that you'll need to go through in order to make sure that your urinal is installed properly before you can attempt to operate it. Failure to properly install the device will cause plumbing problems, messes, and water damage to other parts of the room or building. Fortunately, with a good foresight and some careful preparation, urinal installation mistakes are easy to avoid. Read on for a brief overview of some of the most common urinal installation mistakes.

1. Failure to Mount Properly

Perhaps the single largest and most common urinal installation mistake that inexperienced plumbers and workmen make is to install the urinal on an unstable portion of the wall. If you have a wall mounted urinal, you'll need to use a stud finder to find a secure spot in the wall in order to install the device. Without this preparation, the wall itself may not be able to support the weight of the urinal. The urinal could then fall off of the wall or cause other long-term damage as well.

2. Failure to Install Piping Properly

The next most common problem that people run into when installing a urinal is a failure to properly set up the piping for the urinal. This can either cause problems with water flowing to the urinal itself, or from waste matter flowing out of the urinal and into the sewage line. A common mistake is to switch these two lines. Be very careful that you measure out all piping to the proper width and length so that you can avoid any problems of this type when you install your urinal.

3. Failure to Set up a P-Trap

A P-trap is a portion of piping that extends below the base of the urinal. it is used as a safety measure to ensure that, should there be any problem with the flow of waste out of the urinal line and into the sewage line, the urinal will not overflow and cause a mess or other damage. While it's possible to install a p-trap in your urinal system after you've set it up, it's much easier to begin with the installation of the p-trap as well. Be sure that you purchase a p-trap that is the proper size for your urinal pipe line and also for the distance to the wall or the floor in the room that you're working in.

4. Loose Pipes

If you fail to properly tighten the pipe connections, you can run into a variety of different problems, including messes, leaked water, and more. These pipe connections should be checked regularly to ensure that they remain secure. Use a plumber's wrench and other tools to tighten them properly, but avoid over tightening them, as this can strip the connection points off of the ends of the pipes, leading to other problems.