Signed Sealed Delivered. 12/10/12
Permit approved
It was not easy to pass the plumbing inspection. Not because the inspector was difficult or picky, quite the opposite. Our inspector was VERY helpful and wanted to see us pass and recommended wet venting the master bath during our courtesy inspection so we did that as it saved pipe and seemed to work better underground than venting every fixture. But the pipe had to be so high on that corner that when we glued with the low voc glue, the pipes tended to sag in the joints. The entire pipe run had to be lowered at the exit to the house to accommodate the fall that we needed on the 3″ pipe that runs across the house. The inspector also found several sags that sloped the wrong way and we had to tear them out and do them again. Believe it or not, they sagged AGAIN. So even when the inspector got there to review, we still had a sagging section. That meant the pipe sloped backwards instead of in the correct direction!
Luckily the inspector actually helped fix the problem and saw that the pipes were holding water at the required height so he passed us! Woo hoo! One of his tricks he said was to bed the pipe well in stone so that the sections would not sag. They also typically don’t use the low voc, slower setting glue. Another was to have a plumber’s level that we ran out and got at the Home Depot. It is marked to show the 1/8 and 1/4″ fall in the joints as well as the pipes. A bit pricey at about $25 but worth it to pass inspection.
This is the area that gave us the most trouble, the master bath drain sits the highest and these pipe joints wanted to sag so that although the whole pipe sloped downhill, some of the joints were flat or sloped backwards. That is the reason for so many sleeves in the pipe here. This photo also shows the fresh water supply chase and the pex sticking out of the runs. They will be connected in a loop for the hot water to circulate to the faucets during peak usage with a pump and aquastat sensor so that the taps will not have to run long to get the hot water to flow. That and the R-7 hot water pipe insulation should reduce water use.
Master Bath Drains and Fresh Water Supply Chase