Plumbing in Basement

osajia

I am sure this will be a hard question to answer so I am sorry in advance.

I want to add plumbing in our partially finished basement as a birthday/Christmas gift for my husband so that he can have a wet bar down there (and a utility sink for me for the laundry if possible, but this is second priority).

All we have “finished” in the basement is the flooring and some interior walls. The ceiling is open allowing easy access to everything. Our laundry hookups are downstairs, but they are “old” – I believe they are original to the house, which was built in 1955. The water supply lines for the laundry are directly underneath the kitchen sink.

I have open access to the hot and cold water supply lines for the washing machine, as well as the drain for the washing machine (this drain goes into the floor). There is a second floor drain, but it appears to be slow draining, and I have had to have it snaked in the past. In addition, there is a sump pump in the basement that could be used for drain purposes, I suppose.

The laundry water lines are in the southeast corner of the basement, and the sump pump is in the southwest corner of the basement. I want to place a utility sink near the laundry (southeast) but the wet bar more in the middle or the west side of the basement (coincidentally, close to underneath the upstairs bathroom). Like I said, the plumbing for the wet bar is more important than the utility sink – but I feel like the utility sink would be simple as it would be located near the existing water supply lines.

I intend to call a local plumber to come out and give me an idea of process and cost, but I wanted to try to have some sort of background knowledge of what would be involved, so I did not go into a consultation with a plumber completely inept.

Thanks for any thoughts and information!

TheEplumber

It's possible but... How big is your pump and is it set up for sewage or ground water? How attached are you to your flooring? Some of it will have go. The waste line will have to drain to the sump. Water pipe will be easy if the ceiling is open. You might even consider a half bath if you need to lay drain lines in the floor. A 3" pipe will handle the load (but the existing pump may not) and not cost much more. Just a thought.

Docwhitley

when doing a basement the last thing to worry about is water supply. Your main concern is drainage. So let me explain why:

Water works on pressure so you can pretty much run those lines anywhere. You do not need copper. CPVC or PEX work great are quicker and easier to install. if the ipe needs to go through joist insist on PEX. Quuicker means less labor cost. If he agrees to Pex and you want to drill the holes you could save even more.

Waste- works on Gravity unless you buy a pump. Now I am not positive if you said this and I am going off memory here.
Bar- is located under a bathroom??? Bathroom should have a drain that you con tap into. Connect into that with a WYE.
Utility Sink- Do you have any drains near there? if not you will likely want a pump. let me know what is near there... you said something about a washing machine

osajia

The bar would be located underneath the upstairs bathroom, yes. A drainage pipe runs through from upstairs to the floor near where the bar would go. This would be within 5 or 10 feet of the sump pump.

The utility sink would be on the other side of the basement, near the washing machine. This would be within a 1 or 2 feet of both the washing machine supply lines and the drain for the washer.

Docwhitley

Well you can connect to both of those Drains with Wyes and depending on how big your bar is you may be able to hide all your drain lines. Sounds like a very simple job.

Floor drain that is running slow- This is the one i would be concerned about. Is this an actual Drain or is it part of your Sump Pump system? I would want this checked out before I finished my basement. To figure out if it is Drain or Sump. Take a hose and put water in it for 5-10 minutes. If your Sump Pump kicks on it is a Sump Line. If it does Not it is a Drain. Either way Slow drain are blocked Drains that just have not happened yet.

osajia

The floor drain that I said I fear runs slow is near the washing machine. It is not related to the sump (that I know of) – the sump pump was only added in the past year or two when I had the basement trenched for waterproofing. I added the sump pump at that time. The floor drain that I have had snaked has not backed up on me before, but it does get nasty. Right now, all that runs into it is the hose from the furnace, which just trickles. I have dumped decent amounts of water down it before, though, and it has done okay. The Rewesewer guy told me the floor drain and the drain for the laundry are connected and run out of the house under the floor. They are some 5 feet apart.

I masterfully created the attached floor plan that includes all applicable items. The only two walls drawn near the stairs are the only walls in the basement.

Attached Images

 

Docwhitley

And so many Options!!!! believe it or not I am actually facing a very semilar build. How large is your basement?
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Will/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Will/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]It is not letting me paste the pic for some reason so let me try to give you a couple of Ideas

I would Locate the wet Bar behind where the furnace and water heater are placing the sink close to that wall. Run the drain down and through that wall then along the walls till I connected with the tub Drain. It can either be hidden in the wall or exposed if it is not a finished area. If I was doing the Job I would take the time to hide it in the wall but that is just me. Water I would either run trough the Ceiling and down through the wall or trough the walls around the rooms... What would make that decision for me... Do you have 3/4 inch Pipe near there? I use 3/4 to branch off of when ever I can for pressure.


Sump Pump... Lets Be Honest... They are ugly and sometimes Noisy... So what can we do? WHAT CAN WE DO???? How about this!!! Build a Frame arouns the Sump Pump and extend the frame up to the Ceiling.... Leave the bottom open enough that if a Plumber ever needs to replace the pump he can get in and Lift it out... 3 feet should be enough....hmmmmm 5 foot left over... How about a Wine rack on the top and in between a nice Glass Holder (My wine rack and Glass holders are going to be made out of Copper Pipe )

Depending on How Large the area is would depend on the Shape of the bar... If it is just going to be a basic Straight Bar and you have the room Leave it bback from the Edge of the Wall a little and this will Leave a nice area for A flat screen on the Wall and some furniture. A great program to play with for design is Sketchup by google

osajia

I cannot thank you enough for all the information and ideas!!!

The basement is small – only approx. 850 sq ft. The whole house is small, actually, which is why we need to make the most of the basement space!

The laundry area is unfinished making any visible pipes, etc. the absolute least of my concerns. The ceiling is open, making visible pipes there also not a big deal. The exterior walls of the basement are all still cement block (painted). The interior walls are sheetrock (we added those) so those are easy to work with.

The sump pump is exposed and framing it in is a good idea – I am not really sure why we have not thought of that yet.

I have a plumber coming out today to check it out – if I get it done I will post a picture up here!

Thanks again!!! J