Installing new soil pipes

[Socksitis]

So the house has no running water and no drainage. I just cannot see an alternative to putting in the soil pipe. Upstairs bathroom is proposed and an ensuite. Two toilets will be back to back and the soil pipe will travel along between the same floor joists - or so I think, but then the complication comes with getting enough fall as the fall is currently restricted by the depth available between the downstairs ceiling and the upstairs floor. I do not really want to increase the depth by raising the bathroom floor as the floor boards run right through the first floor, just lathe and plaster divisions resting on the top. I do not really want to lower the ceiling downstairs as it is the main room of the house and I would have to change a lot of lath and plaster or construct a big area of new ceiling.

I could run a pipe and box it in, but is would stick out like a sore thumb, don't want that.

Anyone else come up with any clever ideas?

 

[Lostgardensof]

Could you add a diagram so we can see where the toilets and external walls are please?

 

[fernicarry]

Our ensuite is at the front of the house and the downpipes are at the back so the soil runs a good 10m between floor and ceiling. The fall is obviously very slight and it did have a tendency for debris to catch where the plastic soil met the cast iron downpipe causing it to back up. With the length of the run it could back up a long way before you realised you had a problem! We've remade that joint with a new iron branch (with inspection cover!) which gives a nice smooth flow and its been fine for a couple of years now. Certainly not ideal but does work in our situation.

We've also had to replace a lot of the below ground clay pipes at the back of the house where all the internal drainage meets to cure some severe unpleasantness. Do you know how your external drainage runs? I presume there must be something external even if nothing internal? Might be worth looking first at whether external works are required as that might open up other options for you in terms of internal pipe runs.

-Alan

 

[philpjuk100]

We have a soil pipe with no fall at all but only for about 4 metre,it was problematic needing an occasional "prod".We were unable to give it any drop but the pipe joins and joint into the elbow were not good.I managed to change the elbow from internal to external and used some car body filler on the joins finishing them with a flap wheel to give a smooth bottom to the pipe and five years on it has given no further problems.

 

[Flyfisher]

When we lowered ground levels on one side of the house I was worried that it would involve laying a new soil pipe to a septic tank about 50m away. Fortunately the existing pipe remained a few inches below the new terrace but its drop seemed very shallow to me and I knew there had been blockage problems in the past, so I was a little concerned. It turned out to be about 1-in-80 and I was advised this was fine. Indeed, I was told that too much fall can cause problems in soil pipes as the water flows away too fast and can leave the 'soil' behind,min stead of gently floating it along the pipe.

So I left the existing soil pipe in place, only replacing a short run from the house to a new inspection chamber.

A few months later it became blocked and I instantly regretted my decision. However, it subsequently turned out that the blockage was caused by tree roots at the far end near the septic tank. So I replaced the damaged section and all has been well for a few years now . . . . Which is a long-winded way of saying that the required fall for a soil pipe may be less than generally thought.

 

[Socksitis]

I will post a picture of the plans, but having trouble with too large a jpeg. As to the drains outside, there is nothing, there is no water supply into the house (yet) and no drainage out of the house, so a blank canvas. The house has been in the family for 100 years, but none of our predecessors felt the need to do any upgrade on the property. Bless them.

 

[Lime]

If for any reason the under-floor pipe blocked up the weight of the pipe would be substantial and could test out even the best of installations.
Plastic deforms fairly readily unless it is supported very well along its entire length in such a situation.
I'd try and extend the external sewer system to the front of the house then bring the pipe out via the front of the house.
Whether you can do that or not depends on how deep in the ground the existing sewer system is.

 

[livias]

We step up from the bedroom to the bathroom for just this reason. Luckily there was plenty of headroom

I needed to run a bathroom soil pipe and there was only 50mm between ceiling below and floorboards above. I did not want to step over a boxed in pipe or to run it in the room below the ceiling, so we put in a 'fake' floor above the existing one and ran the pipework and joists as we wished. As the floor levels in the house are all over the place, it was perfectly in keeping ... and kept Mr Livias happy as he likes tiled bathroom floors

That said, as you are putting in new external drainage then do not hesitate to run it to the most convenient position. You will have a digger on site and can dig as much trench as you need in a day