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How do you rough in Plumbing in New Construction?

  • Bottom Up

    Votes: 42 65.6%
  • Top Down

    Votes: 22 34.4%

New Construction Plumbing - Do you rough in Top Down or Bottom up"

29K views 40 replies 24 participants last post by  RW Plumbing 
#1 ·
I've been accustomed to roughing from the bottom up, but a fellow plumber tonight told me about roughing in from the top down and I've actually done it that way numerous times, and liked it.


The trick is securing all piping so when you push up, the piping stays in place and keeps the pitch you've set it at.


Poll is coming
 
#2 ·
I've done top down by setting my cross to catch my vents for a bath group, set my dimensions through the floor for certain drains/vents to terminate at hub clearance if I'm tucking in a system below, like on a first or second floor design.


Apparently the amount of going up and down steps is greatly reduced when you do a top down equation, given there's no necessity to have someone setting level to uprights or cutting long measurements for lav turnouts, 42" for the vents from down below.

It stops the back and forth equation with one or two doing the job.
 
#8 ·
Ahh COOL!


Let's amp this up now that this is DEBATE MATERIAL.


What are the advantages of top down?


What are the advantages of bottom up?



This thread is more for the new construction plumbers so have at it.


The plumber I was speaking to tonight made the top down attitude the answer for efficiency, assuming the reason was having to turn up pipes to get to either the tees serving drains or 90's serving vents. I don't know... :cry:


My new construction days ended in the early 90's.
 
#9 ·
My new construction days ended in the mid-late 90's but I always did it from the bottom up. I suppose if I had a rough-in to do tommorow that's how I'd do it just because that's what I'm used to. I really never gave any thought to which one would be better, it's just how we did it.








Paul
 
#10 · (Edited)
I am with rocksteady. the only reason I go top down is because that is the way I was taught. One of the reason we did it that way was because most of the houses we worked on were unfinished basements so we would rough in top floors so the drywallers could get thier jobs done. We would go back and finish the plumbing in the basements at a different time. Never made sense to me since we had to carry all the tools in the house twice but as it is on most jobs its hurry hurry hurry don't have time for sensible thinking here.
 
#11 ·
You gotta get it ready for insulation and sheetrock first and foremost. These people are usually waiting on the plumber.

Somebody would blow a gasket if the insulator was waiting and the plumber was dicking around in the crawlspace or basement instead of the top floor.

All that said, I am a start in the middle guy.
  1. Rough in the top floor living space, Vents up, drains and water down.
  2. run the vents in the attic.
  3. run the drains and water below.
If it's slab on grade construction, everything is bottom up, for obvious reasons:)
 
#14 ·
You gotta get it ready for insulation and sheetrock first and foremost. These people are usually waiting on the plumber.

Somebody would blow a gasket if the insulator was waiting and the plumber was dicking around in the crawlspace or basement instead of the top floor.

All that said, I am a start in the middle guy.
  1. Rough in the top floor living space, Vents up, drains and water down.
  2. run the vents in the attic.
  3. run the drains and water below.
If it's slab on grade construction, everything is bottom up, for obvious reasons:)

I have to stop you there for a SEC. Mind you, this is just my method. I have done many multi-story jobs, where the plumbing was roughed in on the bottom floor in the slab, but still start from the top.
Started to the bottom, means more stair climbing than needed. Have to run up to the floor above, drill all holes, stub all units down, run back down, tie in all stubbed down units, back and forth.
Starting from the top, you do away with all that running back and forth between floors.
I am just a Man, A plumber man, that is well, Just how the heck i like to do it.
 
#16 ·
Ever been under an offgrade and can't seem to locate the hole you know you drilled for the refridgerator icemaker box and literally had to crawl out from under and go up top and stick a piece of pipe down so you can then find it? Been there, done that. Top first!
 
#19 ·
Now builders do it differant in differant parts of the world. When I was in St. Louis the foundation was poured, the shell erected, then we would plumb the house and after that they would pour the basement floor. I liked it that way. In South Dakota they pour the foundation, I rough in the underground, then they pour the slab and then build the shell. I especially like it when they don't pour the floor when they set a modular on a foundation. It makes for a cleaner finished product, seeing as the manufacturer's plumbing drop spec's are never right. This also dictates how I plumb a house.
 
#20 ·
ON an offgrade home, i take the drill underneath, and pull all the measurements off the block. i drill the holes from the bottom up. Most of the time, the illeagle alien workers frame the home pretty well. I have only went through one shoe using this method. I am pretty sure that this post is bogus. I would never do that.
 
#23 ·
I always go Top to bottom. How I was taught and seemed to always make sense to me. Esp, if I was working by myself. What I liked to do was drill the toilets top floor, then mark every hole from top to bottom and figure out my lay out. Then I would spend the rest of the day drilling, setting battons, divertors, gas manifolds, etc. But then no more Hole Hawg and massive cleaning the rest of the job.

On a day with the house to myself, I could usually get the top floor done done & nail platted. And in summer tub's set. I learned when I was very green why my mechanic always warned me to run my attic vents before I uncrated the tubs...:blink:

I just always was trained a good ground work will lead to an easier rough in and a smooth trim make's everyone happy. I like to lay everything out ahead of time to make sure I don't run shy of fitting or etc. so top to bottom just works great for me.
 
#27 ·
I always started in the basement and worked up because thats how I started. I do plumb from the toilet flange backwards to the floor most times. It seems easier and I don't get to the toilet flange and find out a S90 will give me backwards fall because I screwed up with the height of the 90 at the stack
 
#29 ·
Top down 90% of the time . Just learned it mostly that way . Bottom up when needed .

Top down always seemed easier to maintain grades and trap heights . Maybe i'm cock eyed :)

GOOD thread !
 
#31 ·
I've thought about it and have a hard time coming up with an answer.

Sometimes, the basement is poured before the framing starts, and other times the whole job can be done at once. If the basement has to be poured first, then you must do the underground first.

Typically, most of the houses I plumbed could be done all at once. So here's how I did it:

Go to the job first thing in the morning. Mark and drill all the stacks/flanges/waterlines. Then head for the supply house. Once you've drilled your stacks and so on, you can measure and make a material list.

Buy everything you think you need.

Have lunch.

Go back to the job and start putting stuff in.

I like to put in any cross vents, then stacks and hook them together, then go beneath the floor and hook the closets, then line up the underground. With the underground in and the basement floor finished, it's all a little harder.

In that case, I'd start my stacks from the basement, in which case I'd be doing bottom-up.

For crawlers, put everything through the floor including copper stubs. (OK, it's been a while since I plumbed many houses.) Use wood shims to hold stacks and stubs in place. Then go into the crawler and hook everything. That sounds like top-down.
 
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