shower waste pipe through ceiling!!

[ranch]

Hi

My mother is having a walk in shower fitted and everything in the bathroom is being renewed.She is disabled so the work is being done on a council grant. I called in and was surprised about the following;

The floor for the shower has been fitted into the floor(no step so she cant trip) but the waste pipe for the shower is not where I would expect!!

I thought all pipework would be under the floorboards then out through the wall but the guy has drilled through the kitchen ceiling for the waste pipe and it runs along the ceiling and out through a new hole drilled in the wall.
When you walk in the kitchen which is the room below the bathroom,look up into the corner above the sink to see all the new water pipes running along the wall by the ceiling ,along with the waste pipe 40mm in black coming through the ceiling and the out through the wall.
Tell me this is wrong!!

I thought they should be under the floorboards and not coming through the kitchen ceiling.
Never been in anyones kitchen where you can see the shower waste pipe in the corner of the ceiling.

Will there be a genuine reason for this or is the guy avoiding the difficult job or routing the pipes through the joists etc. Going to call in and see him tomorrow and ask but would like some ideas about what to say.

 

[gas4you]

I don't get involved with this sort of work, but it certainly sounds a bodge job to me, unless the joists are not big enough to accept a 1 1/2" hole drilled through them.

I too have never encountered this, unless it was at the side of the room and is going to be boxed in.

 

[muggles]

I don't get involved with this sort of work, but it certainly sounds a bodge job to me, unless the joists are not big enough to accept a 1 1/2" hole drilled through them.

I too have never encountered this, unless it was at the side of the room and is going to be boxed in.

It does sound like a bodge job, however I've never encountered a joist where you can drill a 1 1/2" hole through whilst complying with building regs (hole must be drilled at the centre of the joist) and at the same time maintaining the recommended waste pipe fall of 2.5º (of course, you can get away with pushing it through the joist nearest the wall, IE one joist only)

If the joists are running in a direction that prohibits the waste running in it's present direction within the floor/ceiling space, then the only option would be to run it in the other direction, parallel to the joists.

 

[rssteve]

sounds like that was the only way, did you not think of asking him while he was there? maby she has ducting of a steel under the floor.

 

[John506]

Sounds nasty, if thats the only way they can do it guess you will have to have it boxed in or something so it doesn't look as bad

 

[Fluffster]

We have done a few of these for a London council the criteria is if the property is council then it gets done on the cheap where as if the property is private we have to install a trap pump to overcome the fall when installing same level showers.

Cost about £400 more for a pump including plumbing and wiring.

Pete

 

[aptsys]

The work wasn't done by this guy was it?

 

[ranch]

Hi guys,
thanks for the replys!
Aptsys that video is cool!!

Anyway spoke to "Bob the builder" this morning ,yes his name really is Bob!! He is a man in his mid 50`s,very pleasent who took the time to explain in detail why the pipes had to go through the ceiling etc .The joists are the smaller type and close together,not the deep type that can be drilled for the pipes (50mm waste pipe) and the gap betwwen the floor and ceiling below is tight to fit the trap in. Fair enough, he also promised to box in and make good the pipes in the kitchen.
True to his word when I called in tonight all the pipes were nicely boxed in and surrounding area made good so can`t fault him there.
Just goes to show one should not jump to the wrong conclusions without talking to the guy first!! Showed me under the boards in the bathroom where he was working on and how awkward the working space was for the necessary fittings .Having seen this and the good job of boxing in my mind is at rest that he is competant at what he does and will do the best he can for the budget he is provided with by the council.
Good to know the decent guys are out there working away!!