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Week 7 Journal: Plumbing Down the Tubes

by on Jul 26, 2012


Weelllll poop. After spending the better part of a week completely revamping the bathroom plumbing, we failed our inspection (spectacularly). Read on to watch my weekly video journal and see why I have no love lost for Mr. Plumbing Inspector.

So, plumbing is either very or not very complicated, depending on how you look at it. The primary (and really, most important rule of plumbing) is pretty simple: sh*t flows downhill. After that, it’s a lot of details.

Unfortunately, the doo-doo is in the details, as the (or, at least, I) say. And you feel like relaxing for a couple of hours, just grab a copy of your local building code and thumb through the waste drainage and ventilation sections. You have a stack vent and a vent stack. You have your wye-fittings and your tee-fittings and your closet flanges and your street elbows. Lots of random jargon to overcome.

My first try at bathroom drains

So, though I made my best effort to do things correctly and by the book, I missed the mark. On our first plumbing rough-in inspection (the inspection that happens before any walls are closed up), the guy who came practically laughed his way back out the door.

Everything (or thereabouts) was wrong. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem very keen on educating me (I hear these inspectors are a bit biased against homeowners doing their own plumbing), so I’m not sure I got a clear picture of what he wanted changed.

DIY plumbing hacks.

I did catch that the toilet needs to be individually vented (even though, at less than 4 feet horizontal distance from the main stack, I thought it didn’t need to be). And there was also something about re-doing the shower drain run to prevent a horizontal wet vent. 

Yeah, I know … confusing.

So, anyway, after that I spent the rest of the day running back and forth from the hardware store, picking up wye’s and tee’s and such-forth, trying to correct my errors. The inspector can’t come back again until next week though, so I’m stuck waiting.

My second try!

Meanwhile, we spent the rest of the week putting up drywall on the ceilings. This was painstaking at first, but went faster once we got into the rhythm. After a few days we had all the ceilings closed up and ready for mudding.

Drywall delivery day!

(Do: spend the extra $$ for delivery. Don’t: Get drywall dropped on your toes)

Sheetrock up on the music room ceilings

So, on a bright note, we passed our framing and insulation inspections this week, and as long as we pass plumbing next week, we should still be on track.

Could we be so lucky? You’ll have to check in again to find out.

How about you? Every had a run in with a mean-spirited (or just picky) inspector? Let me know about it in the comments!

This is a post in the Curbly House series! Follow along as we document every step of our complete home makeover, from gutting the walls to putting up the finishing touches. And don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments! 

Our bathroom remodel is being sponsored by Kohler and ModWalls.com. We’re so thankful for their help with this project! Still, all opinions in this post are my alone.

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