I’ve got a question for you moisture experts and/or plumbers: I’m out here on Cape Cod, everything is built on sand with perfect drainage (not a builder around here uses perimeter footing drainage), and I want to put a shower in a basement I’m finishing–in a word, it would be an incredible pain to run the waste lines for this shower–and a thought occurred: why not just run the pipe four feet directly into the ground, forget the septic system, then only use organic soaps in that shower so as not to pollute the groundwater. Am I asking for some kind of moisture problem in my concrete slab? everyone out here has outdoor showers that just drain into the sand, why can’t you do it in the basement, as long as you send your pipe deep enough away from the slab?
any ideas about this?
thanks,
Michael
Replies
Soap isn't the only pollutant in bathwater. There's also hair, skin, skin oil, whatever personal hygiene products you apply to your self. Plus whatever you get on you in your day job.
How far below the main drain would this shower drain be?
If it rains for a whole week and the ground is saturated, it will back up. It would be ideal if your on a bluff where your above everyone. If it too sandy, then you'll have a problem trenching, cause the excavation will collapse.
I bet there would be odor problems down the road. The soap/oil/hair would end up being left behind in the sand after the water drains away. That can't smell good after a few months. Especialy forget it if there is a shower pee-er in the household. (They don't always admit to it.)
The outdoor showers you have now on Cape Cod have natural ventilation.
Not only odor problems but worse yet, mold.
If it is a 3 season place, in other words, unheated for the cold months, you could have frost heaving under the slab.
I've seen many clothes washers ejecting waste water into a dry well not far from the house. you may want to consider an ejector pump to do the same