# Last week's underground



## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

Simple little 2-1/2 bath house roughed in underground last week. The whole thing is dug extra deep so the tin knocker can put in his ductwork, with insulation and poured in concrete, above my pipes. It's all cheap river sand - fluffy garbage - have to rough in with a water hose and soak/tamp constantly to knock the air out of that stuff.

The work table, with my much loved antique Ridgid chopsaw.










Test wye/main CO. High water table this time of year - had to pump for the inspector.










Kitchen branch and WLs.










View up main to back of mechanical room.









Branch left to bathrooms and laundry. Straight ahead and left to main bath stack, and straight ahead to floor drain.









Bathroom and laundry branches.









Powder room.










Other side of same room.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Damn, looks great. 


Is that sub grade hauled in? 

I don't see a spec of dirt in that building, unless that's it. And if it is... send me about 3.8 billion tons of it because it's nothing but clay here in KY.



Nevermind, read the first part of your pictures.

Looks like you never dug into dirt.


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

looks good, but you put the WC flange on now ?

there is now way that would last here LOL


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> I don't see a spec of dirt in that building, unless that's it. And if it is... send me about 3.8 billion tons of it because it's nothing but clay here in KY.


Inside the footings it's all river sand. It's so much cheaper than the good stuff that that's all we get inside. Good packable sand (road mulch) and gravel outside the footings. Digging down to that test wye I hit a little clay on the edges, but otherwise all good sand.

In Delta and Richmond sand is all we see. The Fraser River shipping channels are constantly being dredged and they have to move that junk sand somewhere...

In nearby Surrey they like to fill the footings with pea gravel. Horrible stuff - you dig the ditch 20 times to get down to where you want to be.

Up country, like where I used to live (Kelowna) the digging is all either rocks or clay. Tough going there.



> Looks like you never dug into dirt.


Nope. Never touched the stuff except a couple shovelfuls at the test wye.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

Bayside500 said:


> looks good, but you put the WC flange on now?
> 
> there is now way that would last here LOL


Lots of guys don't, but I like to do it that way. It's set so the bottom ends up flush with the top of pour. It has putty in the slots and anchor screws in the holes to lock it to the slab. I have well trained local concrete guys who do a good job of it. Not your usual miserable b.astard concrete crew.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

futz said:


> Lots of guys don't, but I like to do it that way. It's set so the bottom ends up flush with the top of pour. I have well trained local concrete guys who do a good job of it. Not your usual miserable b.astard concrete crew.


Over here we are allowed to use a 4x3 ABS 90 and after the finnished concrete a ABS floor flange fits perfect inside of a 4" pipe.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Are those combination waste and vents coming off your toilets?


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Another question, you guys frame up the house before you do the underground, or is that just in the winter months or something? I am just asking, I have never seen it done that way before.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> ... send me about 3.8 billion tons of it because it's nothing but clay here in KY...


Ditto for us Mr. D.

I never get to dig in sand.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

ROCKSTARPLUMBER said:


> Are those combination waste and vents coming off your toilets?


Yes, it's a 2" wet vent. 

There's only the one toilet so far. The others are upstairs. One will get a 3" wet vent, picking up the lav, for the one required 3" stack to the roof, and the other will get a 2" wet vent, picking up a pair of lavs.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

ROCKSTARPLUMBER said:


> Another question, you guys frame up the house before you do the underground, or is that just in the winter months or something? I am just asking, I have never seen it done that way before.


I refuse to do undergrounds (unless absolutely necessary) until they have at least the second floor deck on. Not only are houses these days full of engineered beams to make that open plan look on the main floor work, but I just want to know for sure exactly where the joists are going to be in relation to my stubs. Nobody wants to drop a ceiling for me if I guess and stub up in the wrong place. It's nigh impossible to get it right by studying the plans - I've tried often enough. The plans aren't always exactly crystal clear on what they're going to do. These pipes have to be planned from where I stub out of the slab right up to the attic. I don't have much leeway on where I can go - I got tin knockers and electricians and vacuum guys and others that all need space in there too.

And it's winter on the Wet Coast! Around here it can *pour* rain for weeks at a time without a letup - perfectly normal. I spent the first two days in driving rain with the roof sheeted but not shingled - water dripping down my neck all day.  They got it mostly roofed by the end of the second day, so I got to do the last half day in the dry. So, ya, I don't wanna even think about starting the UG until they have the roof on or just going on.

Some guys like to drag their ladders into the ditches and do the above-slab RI at the same time. I think that's just stupid - it's super difficult, it wrecks your ladders and gets sand in the drill motors. The day after they backframe after the pour I'm in there roughing in the above-slab.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

OldSchool said:


> Over here we are allowed to use a 4x3 ABS 90 and after the finnished concrete a ABS floor flange fits perfect inside of a 4" pipe.


With a flush fit flange, ya. Lots of guys do that here. It's not such a bad way to go. I just never got in the habit. I've always done it this way in houses.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

Nice work Futz.


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## plumbpro (Mar 10, 2010)

I like the flush fit flanges, until recently. They don't fit right, either the pipe is out of shape, or they changed the flages I use. They will almost bottom out without glue on them, thus, once glued they won't hold 10' head without leaking a little.
All we have here is "miserable ******* concrete crews". That flange would either be covered in concreted, or broken off.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

same here, I stub up 4" then cut it flush with the finished concrete. concrete crews would cover that up here.


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

Fine looking work there. Love the pictures, please keep them coming. 

That is some fine looking digging. Rarely, is it good digging here.


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## Lifer (Nov 23, 2010)

Very nice looking work .. very neat :thumbsup:

How long would it take you to do an underground of that size ..?


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## Pipe Rat (Apr 5, 2009)

Futz if it was a miserable day and a half for you working in the rain until the roofers got done I bet it was a really miserable day and a half for the roofers. :laughing:


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

Pipe Rat said:


> Futz if it was a miserable day and a half for you working in the rain until the roofers got done I bet it was a really miserable day and a half for the roofers. :laughing:


Heh  Poor babies. They should have stayed in school. :laughing: Roofing on the wet coast is almost always nasty.



Lifer said:


> How long would it take you to do an underground of that size?


Two and a half days (just me - no slaves). A typical house around here takes three days. This one was pretty small.


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