Putting Bathroom in Basement

[schaefage]

Hello,

I am new to this forum so I thank you in advance for any help I recieve.

I am planning on putting a bathroom in my basement. Right now the plumbing is all readily accessible--as it is below the upstairs floor joists.

I know that I will need a submersible pump, but I think I am looking at two options.

1. To build a subflooring and run the bathroom plumbing in this.

2. Or to cut the concrete and put the plumbing into this.

I was wondering If anyone could give me advice on this subject. I think that the second option is more professional, but I dread jackhammering the concrete to run plumbing and create a hole for a submersible pump.

Thanks,

Kent

[Rich]

Welcome to the forum. Personally I would probably jackhammer the concrete out and put the sump in that. I think by trying to use the flooring you'll have trouble with having to raise doors and where you tie into the stairs. But that's just my 02

[Dano]

I'm presuming the pump is because of waste line elevations? so it would be a sewage pump? I agree with Rich....Jackhammer is the way to do it

[roger g]

There is another type of toilet that I saw in England about 2o yearys ago which I have recently seen in Canada. The toilet sits right on the floor (no lifting or digging) and has a mascerator (chopper) and pump at the back of the toilet and will pump it a fair distance in about a one inch pipe. Maybe it was a little bigger pipe but not much. This of course willnot help with a tub or shower water. What you are calling a submersible pump I think should be called a sewage pump. They can come in a kit for a complete lift station.
roger

[Rich]

Typically called a sewage ejector pump.

[schaefage]

You don't by chance have the name of the model of the toilet that sits right on the floor with the "chopper"/pump?

Thanks

[schaefage]

I answered my own question!!!

Here is a link to some cool toilets for basement remodeling!!!

http://www.saniflo.com/

[sleepy hollow]

Well, I have the same problem with my basement. I investigated all of the potential methods for getting the sewage up to the waste line. I was leery of the above floor approaches for a whole bunch of reasons, including possible leaks, odors, exposed pipes, and just the overall untidiness of the arrangement from a construction perspective (not a hygiene perspective). In addition, the cost was about double or triple for these alternatives.

In the end, I decided to break up the floor. I never did anything like that before, so this was an adventure. I rented an electric Bosch hammer. It cost me $62 for a rental period from 3pm on Saturday to 8 am on Monday. Can't beat that deal. 2 bits were included at no extra cost.

After laying out the rough pattern on the floor, I got started, and punched through the concrete. After that, my two sons would not let me have the hammer back. They are 19 and 16. They had a blast, literally. We used drywall buckets to lug the gravel and dirt out of the basement. It took quite a few trips outside to remove the stuff. Gravel is piled separately from the dirt for later re-use. The concrete work was done by 7pm. I dug the rest of the pit for the basin the next morning. (Meanwhile, my sons found another use for the hammer and attacked an old basketball pole we never removed on the driveway. That took them about as long to break up as the basement work. When we put that pole in we used a lot of concrete.)

I bought a basin/pump combo at my plumbing supply house for $320. It is ready to go by simply dropping in place and hooking up the fittings.

So far I have a pit and trench in the floor, and have not done much else as I am now framing the basement. So, the plumbing will have to wait awhile longer for me to get to the point of assembling the waste lines and the basin. I believe I need a valve or 2 to complete the installation. one to prevent backflow and another fitting to allow me to disconnect the whole mess if it needs repair.

I am putting in a full bath including a tub/shower, toilet, lavatory sink, and also a bar sink on the other side of one wall outside the bathroom.

Venting the basin and fixtures is a challenge, but I think I've got it figured out, though I have to run a 2" line all the way from my basement to my roof. Luckily I can run it along one wall and up to the garage through the rim joist and from there up to the attic above the garage and to the roof. Long run, but will do the trick.

[rdgallo]

I have one of the Saniflo toilets in my basement and it is great. Mine is the Sanicompact. I used to have a McPherson Upflush toilet before this one that worked off of water pressure. As long as the water pressure was high enough, it worked pretty good, but if someone flushed another toilet or was running water elsewhere, it would fill up and overflow. Plus about every 2-3 years I had to send the valve to Mcpherson to have it rebuilt for about $80. This company finally went out of business and I replaced that toilet with the Sanicompact about 1 and 1/2 years ago. The only problem I have had with the new one is (because of a bad installation - discharge hose is pretty much crimped due to improper routing) the internal one way flapper inside the discharge line sometimes does not seal properly letting water to flow back into the resevoir and cause the pump to flush. I have some parts ordered to correct this. The customer support from Saniflo is great and they have a bulletin board on their website that you can get excellent customer support through others' questions. They also have an 800 number and are really nice and helpful on the phone. I would highly recommend their product.