Basement Bathroom Plumbing Guide
Installing new basement bathroom plumbing can feel like an art - after all, it requires skill, creativity, care, and expertise. Depending on the extent of your plumbing, it can easily become one of the most challenging plumbing tasks in your entire home. Because of this, it’s essential to plan the process ahead of time and consider whether or not hiring a professional plumber is the best way to go.
Thinking of installing basement bathroom plumbing in your home in the coming months? Here are some of the top mistakes to avoid.
1. Not Planning the Basement Bathroom Plumbing Layout Beforehand
Your basement is the ground level of your home. As a result, it’s one of the most challenging places to plumb, from connecting to the main waste line to adding a drain system. In most cases, installing basement bathroom plumbing involves ripping up your foundation or concrete floors, laying new pipes, and adding all the fixtures. Because of this, you have to start planning.
If you’re going to cut through concrete (no matter where you’re doing it), it’s guaranteed that you’re creating an opportunity for basement bath leakage. This is especially true if you’re cutting into your basement concrete floors, where you presumably already have plumbing lines laid. Cutting through these lines could be catastrophic and could easily cost you thousands in flood damage.
With this in mind, plan yourbasement bathroom layout properly before you start cutting into or ripping up concrete. When you have an idea and a plan in place, you reduce the risk of harming your home and creating a true catastrophe with your new plumbing system, whether it’s in the main drain or a new drain line.
If you find it helpful, plan the location of your bath and toilet by painting their positions on the floor with chalk. Remember: a well-planned basement bathroom plumbing is an efficient layout.
2. Installing a “Traditional Toilet”
If you want to decrease your basement bathroom plumbing costs, one of the best ways to do it is to avoid traditional toilets. Because conventional toilets require traditional plumbing, installing them requires adding more plumbing and ensuring your basement floor is at the correct angle to follow the toilet drain and drain pipe.
This is a tall order in a basement space and can easily create a far more massive project than you wanted to take on. Luckily, there’s a way to avoid this.
When you install a macerating upflush toilet with your drain layout, you can avoid installing new plumbing and keep your basement bathroom floor intact.
Upflush toilets macerate waste before pumping it out. Similar to sewage ejector systems (without the noise and the high price tag), macerating toilets can save you thousands.
While the price tag of macerating toilets is higher on the front end than the price tag associated with traditional toilets, they’ll save you a great deal of work on plumbing down the road. By liquefying waste and transporting it up, against gravity, to your sewage line, these nontraditional toilets make a simple solution to many common basement bathroom plumbing issues.
3. Using a Sewage Ejector
While many people believe a sewage ejector pump can streamline basement bathroom plumbing, it may limit your planning process. The primary reason for this is their size. Because an ejector pump involves a relatively large waste tank, it will take up a great deal of space in your basement bathroom layout. Additionally, the waste tank must be easily accessible, which means you can’t hide it behind a wall.
While it’s true that sewage ejector systems are efficient, they require regular maintenance and are susceptible to even small leaks, which can quickly create significant issues. When an ejector system does need some grunt work, it can cost thousands of dollars. If you’re set on one of these systems, consider using a lift station in place of a pump. Durable and easy to repair, these systems are less likely to leak than their traditional cousins.
4. Not Testing Your Plumbing Before Sealing
No matter what you choose to do with your basement bathroom plumbing, be sure to test it for functionality before you seal up the floors, whether it’s a sink drain, shower drain, or anywhere else.
Obviously, it would be a disaster to lay plumbing, seal all your work off, and then realize, only after the job is done, that something doesn't work right, especially if it is an issue deep in the main line. In addition to costing you thousands of dollars, this just creates a big mess that you shouldn’t have to deal with.
Avoid re-opening your basement floors by testing everything in advance.
5. Not Investing in an Alarm Detector
Any time you install rough plumbing in the basement bathroom, it’s smart to invest in an alarm detector. While some people believe this is a waste of money, it can prevent thousands of dollars of damage down the road. These detectors are designed to give off an alarm when the water level inside the ejector pump rises to troublesome levels.
When installed, these alarms can prevent flooding and help ensure your basement bathroom rough plumbing continues to function the way it’s supposed to. Keep basements and bathrooms efficient and functional with the help of an alarm system.
Improve Your Basement Bathroom Plumbing By Avoiding These Mistakes
It’s as true with basement bathroom plumbing as it is with anything else: avoiding common mistakes makes for a more streamlined experience.
Luckily, that’s easier now than ever. Thanks in large part to advances in basement bathroom plumbing technology, you can avoid many of the common pitfalls associated with installing a new bathroom down there. By adding an upflush macerating toilet, for example, and installing an alarm detector, you can simplify your bathroom systems and keep them working well for years to come.
While installing a basement bathroom can seem like a daunting job for plumbers and DIY enthusiasts, it’s an excellent idea. In addition to giving you more space and transforming your unused basement area into a fully functional bathroom, a new basement bathroom will make your home more comfortable and expand your usable area.
So, what are you waiting for? Get to work!
Looking for intelligent basement bathroom systems you can count on? Shop our selection of upflush toilets now.
