Home Needs Another Bathroom Basement Or Attic Which Is Better And Why
Home Needs Another Bathroom Basement Or Attic Which Is Better And Why, is a question that a lot of homeowners will struggle with when they find out that there short one potty.
With the turn around in the real estate market, a lot of families have been forced to downsize. This has put a lot of them in a new house. Some will find that their new dwelling just doesn't have enough bathrooms and eventually will get tired of waiting in line when they gotta go.
The only solution to this problem will be to add another bathroom. This brings up our next question of where the best place, both for convenience and cost effectiveness will be to locate this stress relieving room.
When a new bathroom is considered. There will be certain features and fixtures that you will be requiring to make it all you would like it to be. Things like a Jacuzzi, or steam shower and body jets, or flood heads. The possibilities are only limited by the owners imagination and unfortunately their budget.
Every bathroom will require some basic features that all will have. These are the toilet and at least one sink. Some will want a double vanity in a master bath for couples and some won't need this feature. A bidet may be desired or floor drain for cleaning purposes.
Despite your fixture requirements and without considering design at all, there are some facts that can be considered to help you make the decision of where to locate your new facilities.
Some Basic Facts About Bathrooms
Bathrooms need drains. These are the pipes that carry the waste away from the bathroom and eventually into the city sewer or septic system, depending on your particular drainage situation. These pipes come from each fixture and lead to the house drain which eventually carries all waste from your house. Obviously these pipes all go down hill and gravity does all the work.
Bathrooms need vents. Every fixture that is installed within a plumbing system will require a vent. This vent allows air to get sucked in when water is draining which relieves any vacuum that would occur and stop the water from leaving the drains.
Physics is at work here. Your water is leaving the pipe. If no air can get in to replace the water in that space then the water will not leave. Something has to fill that space, or the pipe would collapse because it would be empty and there would be nothing to keep the space a space.
OK that may sound a little stupid but it's exactly what happens. Water just can't drain out by gravity if it isn't vented above. So each fixture has to be tied into a venting system that eventually goes out through the roof of the house. This vent also acts to let any smell from the system to be released somewhere up where it won't stink up the neighborhood.
Existing Hot And Cold Water Locations
Bathrooms need hot and cold water. These pipes should be located at the closest point they exist, to your choices for a new bath location. Most water pipe systems are made of copper and the farther away your starting from, the more expensive copper tubing you will need to get to your new bathroom.
Some water piping systems are now made of poly vinyl pipe and this is a lot cheaper then copper. It is also easier to run because there is no soldering involved. Poly vinyl pipe can be a good decision for long runs.
If your hot water source is a ways from the fixtures, then you may require a recirculation line be installed to avoid the wait when the hot water is turned on, as well as the waste of cold water while your waiting for it to get hot. This is done with a return line back to the hot water source and a small pump that constantly keeps the temp at the fixtures ready for when they are used.
Some answers On Drain And Vent Pipe Sizes
Drain pipes for a bathroom will leave the room 3 inch. This pipe has to get from the new bathroom to the main house drain somewhere before it leaves the house and tie in. Clean outs will be needed along the way, any where the pipe turns horizontally more then 45 degrees, and those clean outs will only be installed where they will be accessible. This allows easy clean out if your drain lines ever get clogged.
Vent pipes can usually be run in 2 inch pipe and they have to get up high enough to tie into the venting system somewhere above any other fixtures. This can mean opening walls to bring the vents up through the house unseen. The same can be necessary to get the drains down.
Making your decision To Locate Your New Bathroom
Now you can understand why the location of your new bathroom could be decided by where you have to run these two pipes leaving the room. Take into consideration where you have to go to get water, both cold and hot. Where the drain has to go and how much work to get a vent up to a point where the system becomes dry. This just means above any other fixture drains.
Some people will find this is a hard choice because the two options can be close in cost of installation and materials. This means that your one of the lucky ones who gets to choose their personal preference for location. Most will be swayed by one being a lot cheaper and have to settle for that.
Hopefully the information you may have learned from Home Needs Another Bathroom Basement Or Attic Which Is Better And Why, will be enough to help you make this important decision.
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Great information on locating a new bathroom. ^^
Thanks Lynsuz, It can be a difficlt decision for some.
Thanks for the visit.
Great. Encountered this problem when found that drain pipe in my new country house was only 2 inch in diameter and was laid with unimaginable twists under the floor. There is no need to ask about ventilation. As a result, I was forced to open the floor, remove the insulation and pump out the water.
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