Understanding your Upstairs Plumbing

Most homeowners are unaware of how the plumbing connections are made to the upstairs bathrooms.

Here is a short summary of how a good upstairs plumbing system works:

The upstairs plumbing fixtures are all connected under the concrete slab of the second storey. Each fixtures that comes from your shower, toilet, basin , etc drains into one pipe called a stack line, which is connected to the main house sewer drain underneath the ground’s surface. The stack line is usually boxed in, and is located in a corner of a room or on the outside wall of the house with access openings at the bottom and top.

You will know if a drain is blocked because clogged drains tend to drain slowly or not drain at all; there can be foul smells that come from the drain or strange sounds in the pipes; also water may rise in other drains when using another drain, for example, water rising in the shower once you have flushed the toilet.

How to Identify Various Plumbing Issues

If all of your upstairs bathroom drains become blocked at the same time, and the downstairs bathrooms are not experiencing any issues, this is an identifier that the plumbing problem is with the stack line, either at the top or bottom bends, or the graded horizontal section joining to the main drain.

If plumbing issues occur very soon after the house or building was built, this could indicate that construction rubble has built up at the bottom of the stack and has caused a blockage of other waste materials. Another option is that the horizontal graded section of pipe in the ground connecting the stack line to the main drain is damaged and broken. In older buildings, blockages can be caused by too much paper, tree roots, corrosion and breakages.

If only one upstairs fixture becomes blocked this usually indicates that the problem lies within the individual branch lines coming off the main drain underneath the concrete slab.

Additional Tips

You may want to keep these in mind when talking to your property contractor or plumber to find out more about what service they are providing and how they are building your home or business:
You want many access points to make sure you can get into the space where the pipes are to work on them if any plumbing issues arise. The pipes should be properly secured so that walking around on the second floor does not cause the pipes to shift, crack and leak. Each pipe connection should also be secured and have a good amount of glue and cleaner at each connection, making sure it is a good fit. Pipes should be tested before they are sealed up to ensure there are no leaks and there is proper drainage in the system. Insulation around the pipes should cut down on the noise that is caused by using the upstairs plumbing.

When it comes to your upstairs plumbing, remember Inspector Jet can solve multi-storey plumbing problems. We will discuss your plumbing needs and provide you with professional service.