Everything You Need to Know About Plumbing a House From Scratch

Unlock the secrets of plumbing a house from scratch! From pipe installation to system design, our comprehensive guide covers all you need to ensure a solid foundation for your home's plumbing.

New building permits are up. The number of newly built homes has increased annually for the past 5 years. More new homes are under construction now than at any time since March 2014 – almost 3 million more a month. This ultimately means that many new home-builders are going to need your new water plumbing capabilities. New plumbing — new construction means you can do it right. Plumbing a home from the ground up allows a homeowner to make use of the latest technologies and methods available. Efficient plumbing systems save consumers roughly $16.2 billion annually, which will likely be beneficial in more ways than one.

Everything You Need to Know About Plumbing a House from Scratch

If you are preparing to put in the plumbing for your new build (not a home renovation), this is everything you need to know about installing plumbing into a home from scratch.

Saving Money When Planning Your New Home Build

This article should help when you are thinking about plumbing a house from scratch, which has changed a lot since the turn of the century. While pipes and plumbing fittings were previously forged from metal, modern plumbing is constructed from a diverse range of plastics and certain versions of these materials. That is just how plumbing has changed over the past 10 years. The new building codes now make it very hard. The cost of building materials such as metals, particularly copper, has also increased. This can result in a plumbing error being far more expensive than it has been.

The Components Of A Plumbing System For Your Home

Plumbing systems remain a mystery to many people.

A Typical New Home Plumbing System

Pipes: The pipe system in a house carries clean water at around 50 – 60 psi from the water supply line. Water that is too dirty will simply flow down and out of the pipe system. For the first issue, the air that blows through the vent keeps the pipes clean. It is a basic and low maintenance setup that is a build-it-and-leave-it-for-a-long-time job done right.

Water: This means pipe assemblies whether copper or PEX that will include the correct water valves if you need to install plumbing in new construction before the build. Installing tubs, sinks, and showers is done a lot easier when the walls and doorways are not there yet. Cover any plumbing fixtures you install with cardboard or plastic to prevent them from becoming dirty or dusty during the rest of the building process.

Sewer lines and septic tanks: They are among the most complicated components in a home's plumbing system.

Determine the Size of Your Septic Tank. First, you will need to know what size of septic tank you are going to require. It is based on how many bedrooms your new house has. Solid and liquid wastes are segregated by septic tanks. Facultative and anaerobic microorganisms inside the tank also decompose the solid waste. This results in byproducts of gas which must be properly vented.

You can already notice that plumbing a house from scratch is not particularly difficult but it has many nuances, of which you need to know the subtleties. In this article, we walk you through a few plumbing pointers for your new home.

What You Need to Think About When Plumbing a House from Scratch

Although every project is different and has its own logistical issues to tackle, a few general guidelines can be helpful for your plumbing system installation.

1. Determine The Main Stack: The main stack is a 3- or 4-inch-diameter pipe. It usually extends from the cellar up to the attic. The part of the main stack that collects waste from the toilets is called the lower stack. Waste from other plumbing fixtures is collected at the midpoint. The top part is for venting. During the process of installing plumbing in a new home, you must identify a location where the main stack can run without a break.
2. Drains and Vents: You need to install your drains and vents which are typically 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. Pipes must slope ¼ inch per foot for proper drainage. The bends where the pipes are connected to the main stack have to be smooth and not a sharp angle. There must be a trap under every fixture. It is a trap that collects water and prevents noxious gases from the living quarters. Also, every single fixture needs a vent as well. Wet venting can also be implemented up to 5 feet away from the main stack with no special requirements for the fixtures concerned. This provides enough space for both water and air to move through.
3. Make Diagrams and Pull Your Permits: If you have a construction site you lease, plan to draw a diagram of the plumbing system you have in mind and get a permit to ensure that you can proceed with the lease. This is where a plumbing diagram comes in. In a plumbing diagram, all the drainage pipes, vents, and other pipe fittings are portrayed in a three-dimensional drawing. This diagram depicts the sizes of the pipe, traps, vents, and the points wherein connection has been made. This blueprint will be used by the building inspector to ensure the design is acceptable and the proposed build is safe.

As you can see, there is so much to understand when it comes to plumbing a house and plumbing systems installation. The principles are basically the same since they are what the Romans used, but the detail has grown quite a bit finer.