The small sink drains, shower, tub and toilet all go together in the structure and connect to the main drain. The largest fixture in the house will be the toilet and this will be a three or four inch pipe. The sizes are actually based upon the volume of water that can flow through a pipe. Only so many sinks can drain in a small pipe so a larger pipe is used when more fixtures/pipes are connected as the main line continues out of the structure. That means the sink may start as a small 1 ¼ inch pipe below the sink, connect to a 1 1/2 inch pipe, then the shower connects and now there is a 2 inch pipe that will then connect to a 3 inch pipe, etc. All of this sizing information is included in every chart in the code books. Common knowledge for plumbers
Anything with water can someday leak. The different materials have various things that can go wrong. There are times when old cast iron drains show signs of corroding. Any corrosion that you see on the outside is always worse on the inside. It often happens that as people move from one house to the next, a preventable drain clog occurs. When the house is sold and you box everything up, what happens at the kitchen sink and refrigerator? You empty the refrigerator and send a bunch of the food down the garbage disposal. And as many folk watch it go down the sink, they turn off the disposal and the water off almost as soon as they do not see it. Think about it. If you spilled a gallon pitcher of lemonade on the kitchen floor, would it travel 4 feet or 5 feet? Now think of the kitchen sink drain below your feet. With only one or so gallons of water going down the drain, how could that gallon flush the pipes clear and free of debris over 40 feet away under the front yard to the City street drain? It doesn’t go very far and dries into a lump in the pipe. No one will live there for a few weeks and when it dries hard as a rock, the new family has a sink back up as soon as they move in. This also has the tendency to hold water in the pipe and accelerate the corrosion behind the lump of old food in the pipe as it stays submerged 24/7 in water that will not fully drain. Preventative maintenance is a good thing and so is not setting yourself up for problems.
Correct Main Drains
This is a rare instance when a remodel was correctly plumbed and there is even a plastic strap support correctly used on a plastic drain.
This simply shows another common installation of exterior clean out for a house.
This shows a cleanout on the exterior of the house. This will actually function but certainly the wall has suffered through this last repair and the wall is no longer a weathertight wall. Foam often absorbs moisture.
Plumbing cleanouts are often added to an older structure to conduct repairs and allow future servicing and scoping of the line.
This is not a cat. This is an example of the tiny tree roots that sneak into the drain lines. The little fingers of roots searching for water at the clay bell connections get into the the drain. The rooter cutter pulled this out of the front yard cleanout.
Corroded and Damaged Drains
Every thing with water someday leaks and needs repairs. If you can catch it before damage occurs, more power to...
Drain Pipe Leaks
No matter how unfamiliar you are with plumbing, when you see water dripping under a sink, you know that is...
Incorrect Drain Supports
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Incorrect Main Drains
The seems to be no end to the ways people can attempt to install or fix plumbing. I have to...
Plumbing Vent Pipes
All plumbing pipes need a vent somewhere in the connected line. A gurgling sound at a drain or tub may...