Floating walls keep the walls and floors from being damaged as the home moves with the growth of clay soil. This permits the walls to move independently from the floor of the basement. The pipes have to be in a position to move upward with the floor but not push against the first floor of your house. The drainage pipes under the basement floor have to be able to breathe too.
When you install lavatories, laundry room, or a mudroom in the basement you want to allow for natural movement of clay soil. Installing flexible expansion couplings and growth joints on basement plumbing will make allowance for this movement and keep the pipes from leaking at the joints or cracking.
Your pipes should ideally be new during installation. If you’re working with established pipes make sure not to go from one sort of metal to another. If you are using copper stay with copper pipes and the same applies for other metals. Take care to not to change the dimensions of pipes incidentally. It is feasible to go from one size to another but it’s not always typically sensible idea. You must also start with new pipes whenever possible. Older pipes can have lead solder break up while you are working with them and you don’t want this to get into your water supply, even if it is for a shower and not drinking water.
Anywhere that you are attaching one length of pipe to another you must add an expansion coupling. Enlargement couplings are made from an artificial polymer sleeve that slips over the ends of both pipes. Steel clamps are used to hold the coupling and pipes together. Once applied, the coupling will make allowance for a bit of movement in the pipes. It is important to make certain you have the enlargement couplings and not regular couplings as the expansion couplings are made to breathe with the home and the regular couplings are not made to move.
When installing a shower you may use reverse floating walls to stabilize pipes in the basement and allow movement in the apex of the pipes. You should put the maximum amount of the plumbing in the same area as feasible and use the same wet wall. A chase should be included and access can be either along a wall or in the ceiling.
Flex lines are needed for water supply lines. The main water supply line should go into the chase and have flex lines attached in that area to the pipes used in the basement. The most logical place for the chase access panel is in the use room together with the hot water heater.
As well as having expansion joints and flexible couplings installed the pipes there should be adequate space between the pipes and the ceiling / floor to keep from having the pipes push into the ceiling as the ground expands with the changes in the moisture in clay soil.
Growth joints will be required for installation of ground water drainage pipes also. This may be done below the basement floor, above the foundation. Drains can be placed in the basement floor permitting moisture that does enter the basement to run into the drainage system and away from the home.
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