Second Story Remodel – A Draining Dilema
Second story bath remodel underway. Demolition complete and the surprises begin. As you enter the bathroom, vanity is straight ahead, tub was on the left and toilet on the right. Client wants tub on the right and toilet on the left (makes sense because the shower head poked out of the wall horizontally and landed in front of a window open to the public when you’re singing. Floor joists run parallel to the entry wall and vanity wall. Drain line for the old vanity will suffice. I can stretch a 3″ CI line for the toilet within the current joist bay and have sufficient clearance withing a tray ceiling below. However, I have no access to the shower drain. In short, I need to make it through 3 joists to access the 3″ line or the main 4″ stack. Normally I might create a bay by doubling up joists on either side of my access needs, but I can’t here because the perpindicular double joists can’t go through the 3″ CI line. Now what do I do? Can’t go down into the room below. Joists are 12′ long and the tub is located in the first 3′ of the jois run. Thoughts??????
Replies
how about raising shower up one step and running drain above floor to main drain but hidden with a little creative thinking , done this a number of times when stuck
Nice suggestion - unfortunately, it's a small bathroom and the tub is located in an alcove to the right. Adding a step would interfere with the door opening because the step would be within the opening arc. Further thoughts???
put the step just under the unit...no projection on it
Dan
Glue and nail a 3/4" plywood gusset to both sides of the joists you want to drill. (No nails where you are going to drill.) Make sure there is construction adhesive both above and below the hole. Then drill a hole in the joists for the drain pipe to pass through.
You might want to check with your building inspector to get his blessing. I have done this many times, and always been approved by various inspectors. If worse comes to worse, you can make a drawing and give it to an engineer for approval. It should be no problem.
Nice! - I assume the gusset is the depth of the joist - 7 1/2" here - but what about length and length on each side of the drilled hole?
Four feet.
I tried to edit my last post to add: "Yes, full depth", but all I got when I clicked edit was a blank screen, so here is the rest of the answer.
How deep are the joists?
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Joists are 2x8 - house is about 90 years old and the DF joists are about 7 1/2" deep. I concluded they are too shallow to bore a 2 1/8" hole through to accomodate the drain pipe.
What Woodroe said.....Use plenty of PL Premium. You could park a car on it.