Special Considerations When Adding a Bathroom to Your Basement
Posted on: 3 November 2015
For people who have turned their basements into game rooms, exercise rooms or even an extra bedroom, adding a bathroom is the last piece of installation that ultimately transforms this space. Adding a bathroom in the basement makes life easier for the users of this space as well as increasing the value of your home. This project, however, does not fit the conventional DIY jobs. Adding a bathroom to your basement requires special assistance from both plumbers and construction contractors.
Construction contractors will guide you with design and layout considerations. For plumbing considerations, the following should be carefully thought of under the guidance of good plumbers.
Drainage
This is the most important consideration during the project. In standard above-ground bathrooms, it is gravity that is relied upon to push waste-water through the drains and piping. If you are adding a bathroom to your basement, there must be a mechanism to assist in moving waste through the pipes. You may rely on gravity; in this case the drainage must be low enough to allow for gravity "fall" propulsion. Or you can rely on special devices and mechanisms to propel the waste products in the drainage.
Drainage pipe sizes also need to be considered. Many plumbers advise that if your drainage pipes are small, you should change them to larger sizes before adding a bathroom to your basement.
In homes where the sewer line is deep enough, adding a bathroom to the basement may not be difficult at all. Experienced plumbers must, however, examine the flow rate in this drainage to determine whether it is sufficient for the extra low bathroom.
Basement toilet, bathtub and shower options
Before adding a basement bathroom, you must also consider the equipment to use in these regions. Standard toilets and showers may not necessarily work in these regions.
You may want to use pressure-assisted toilets instead of regular toilets. Pressure-assisted toilets can be connected to the main line of the above ground bathrooms. Air pressure then moves the waste materials from the pipes of these toilets to the main lines of the above ground toilets.
Upflushing toilets are complete units that sit solemnly on the ground. You do not have to excavate to install them. They have a macerating function that reduces solid waste into very small particles. The system can be connected directly upwards from the basement floor to the ceiling. It is from the basement ceiling that the plumbing is connected to the sewer. They are easily the most reliable option for basement bathrooms.
Finally, you can consider sewage ejector systems. These are like mini-septic tanks. They hold sewage temporarily before pumping the contents to the main septic tank. These can be used to connect showers, bathtubs and toilets in the basement.
Always use the right plumbers with sufficient experience and knowledge when adding a bathroom to your basement to avoid future mishaps.
Share