I wasn’t expecting to see this! Thank you for making this, and thank you for the kind words. I have a couple questions. All of my big pipes are 4”. Does that make any difference for venting? All the drain lines are 2”. I was planning on installing primers to help prevent the P-traps from drying out. Do you think backflow preventers are necessary to add as well? I can still add in vents, so if I have the drain line pipes apart, would it make sense to add them? Other than primers, vents, doing a water test, and possibly the back flow preventers, is there anything else that we should fix or add before the concrete is poured?
I would love to see Roger take a trip up to Iowa to do an "inspection". I think he would be impressed with the under slab drainage for the new extension. Roger would know much better than I, But I believe a back flow preventer is for where you tie into city sewer or into your septic. Though I can see a use for them on floor drains. Your septic will have to be down the hill a ways if you are going to have any plumbing under the new extension since it will have to be lower than that new basement.
Dont worry that footer that they are chipping away at is huge and overkill. They dug it out and poured it themselves because the house didn't even have a footer originally.
Wow Roger I am impressed. I have been watching Cole’s videos for years now and never seen him respond to a comment or question. You make a video about his plumbing and BOOM Cole asked for your advice. You’re the man.
I’ve watched Roger Wakefield’s and Cole the Cornstar’s TH-cam channels. I enjoy both channels and love the crossover video. I’m a high school English teacher, and I love how Roger explains plumbing concepts in everyday language. He’s a master teacher.
Just a bit of background on Cole and Roman. Cole is an Iowa farmer of 2000+ acres with his Family of Corn and Soybean. He went to college and studied finance and accounting in order to help his family run and operate their farm for efficiently. He is quite the stickler in making sure projects are done in a sensical, efficient and cost effective manner. Has he made mistakes, yes he has and he has shown his YT subs time and time again how amazing he is at learning from those mistakes and setting things right. Roman is an immigrant from Ukraine and is a college trained Engineer he is also a World Arm Wrestling Champion for his weight class. He is Cole’ and the Cornstar Families right hand man (along with Zach) in almost everything done on the farm and the house renovation how. They both are truly the dynamic duo. LOL.. Anyways, I believe from that video there was a Friend of Cole’ that is a master Plummer that was to come and inspect their work, I believe that was in the video following the one you reviewed and he gave them a thumbs up and did make suggestions which Cole said they could adjust before pouring the floor. Great video!
Fully agree in trying to get all the major plumbing on the ground which potentially has a problem down the road if the ground ever shifts. Since this house does not have a crawlspace, it is critical that the inground pipes are secured NOT with loose gravel or dirt. Plumbings underneath the house which is part of the foundation should be designed as one permanent solution. Digging onto the foundation to rectified a problem after the house was build on top of it would be a major undertaking.
Your a great guy who really wants to help DIYers, Glad to see you had different ideas on some parts of installation but you didn't come off as condesending. thats why I watch your channel
When I heard that Cole had watched a few TH-cam's on plumbing I immediately thought of this channel. Awesome to see your reaction to Coles work and that you thought he did a good job.
Great job for someone who's never done plumbing. My main critique would be the 2 90's that were used under the slab. You can use long sweeps if you need to use a 90, but typically we use 2 45s to avoid clogging and easier access for your line if your snaking the building drain. I definitely agree with Roger about the trap primers and vents. Kudos padnuh
Cole lives on a farm in Rural East Central Iowa. (That is as much detail as I going to say on public channel) . Rural Farm projects are rarely inspected by the AHJ. As there is really is no AHJ.. Cole has the resources if he chose to, to have private inspections and he has a circle of influence that I believe would speak up loudly if they saw something unsafe.. And yes it would be great content @Roger Wakefield to collaborate with him and do a site visit.
I have a similar question about venting. Where they live is it IPC, UPC or no inspection at all. UPC they could be running horizontal underfloor venting over to a wall. IPC they could take advantage of coronation waste and vent oversizing the pipe from their floor drains for example. I agree they have done some nice work.
Glad to see they got your advice and plan to follow it before the concrete is poured. Good video even for us that will call a plumber now. Thanks for sharing.
Q Why is the floor drain connected to the other plumbing at all ? Wouldn't you connect to a perimeter drain or run a separate, independent run to an outlet? Seems a sewage backup could send a mess back into your basement, and you don't need to be concerned with gasses or traps.
Hi Roger, I'm not a plumber but I did a project about this extensive a few years ago thanks to people like you on TH-cam. Ours was pressure tested and inspected, passed first try thank goodness! Now you've got me wishing I'd made a video of my own.
I assume that there won't be any steel in the slab, otherwise tracer wire is going to be hard to pick up...unless they're using insulated wire and have a locator rather than just a metal detector. Good idea though.
I am not a plumber, but we also did our own re-plumb (we took out the cast iron system and replaced it with PVC). The only thing I thought Cole did wrong were the cleanouts; he should have done a "Y" cleanout instead of a "T". The reason this would be better is the place where it would most likely get clogged would be below the cleanout (tree roots the biggest culprit). Also when our sump pump failed during a large rain storm I was able to unscrew the plug and bucket brigade the water to the cleanout and remove the water. We had a few issues when our street had a combined sewer, so we plugged every drain hole with concrete to prevent sewage in our basement (we did leave one open, but plugged it with an expanding rubber plug). The only water in the basement was from the humidifier which we ran a pump to take that drain water up to the above ground plumbing. The washer and dryer are on the first floor. I was also the one elected to stand in the poop water to connect the clay pipe (coming in from the street, I rented a chain cutter to make sure the pipe had a nice clean edge) then I purchase a rubber boot to go from PVC to clay and tightened down the screw clamps. The flooring guys were coming to pour a concrete floor, and my husband was at work.
As a DIY guy who has had a lot of success with my home, you've got to get that plumbing vented, it's just foundational to keeping your system in good order.
I re-plumbed my basement. Unfortunately meant concrete cutting and digging in about 4" minus rock and boulders to get a waste pump in. Our septic tank failed that was buried 10' below grade and had to re-locate the new tank. Of course that meant lifting the basement plumbing to the new outlet. Did it all myself but I've done some plumbing design through the years and did a lot of learning before getting going. The worst part was cutting the slab with only 1' of room between existing walls and the furnace. Then the old cast iron had to be capped off and some of it broken out to make room for new PVC. It was a lot of hands and knees work for a guy with a replaced knee. So far... so good! The only to-do yet is to route the condensate drain to a new floor drain that was put in and remove the condensate pump, and I think I may add another circuit to the breaker panel that is separate from the pump circuit that has an alarm panel on it. I'm not sure why but the 20A outlet tripped once already and the pump is the only thing on that circuit. (Liberty 4/10 pump). I do need to replace that outlet as it was used during the concrete cutting and tripped a few times with that electric concrete saw.
Dunno about their inspections/codes, but there's still time to test. What worries me is they did foundations in approx 1 metre bits. All cold joined. Didnt see any bonding agent. 😬
Compromising the foundation isn't a good option when you have other options that are easier/ better like using a 45° and then continue upward at that one point of this project!
I would add back water valve on the branch line with a clean out down stream for service. Dont want to flood the basement if theres a stopage. But thats just me. All good other then lack of vents. Good job and clean work.
He overkilled on the drainage system. Has floor drains to the outside and he has a sump pump pit. He said in another video that he will be waterproofing the outside walls on the inside by putting up dimple board behind the drywall as a weeping system. I doubt there will be a need for anything else. That basement will be dry even in a monsoon rain.
@@john2willis70 - From watching his videos, I'm not even sure he's planning on putting a pump in that sump. He ran the drain tile out the back of the house into more drain tile that he has buried under that deep hole where his underground home movie theatre is going to go. He then sloped it out to the north down to the creek appx. 100 yds away.
Dry P traps! Our 1960s church building gets this all the time with the congregation being responsible for cleaning. They dump the mop water into the mop sink and not the bathroom drains. seems it happens every few years and everyone freaks out until someone reminds everyone about the dry p-trap.
I looked up that floor drain. It has a plug inside the drain bowel where the clean-out connects to the bowl so sewer gasses can not escape out of the floor drain.
For landscape drainage work, I’m confident. In fact I enjoy it. For sewerage work under a floor, I’d prefer to get a pro. You’re right. A test would be good before backfilling and getting it inspected would be a good idea.
Hi Roger! Thank you for this video critique. I'm a Cole the Cornstar follower and a DIYer. I was wondering what a pro would say about his research and work. I also found your video about pipe hammering and fixing it with a hammer arrestor. My plumber will be installing one for our home soon. I used to work as facility mgr at a building where hammering happened in the restroom after the flush pressure in the commodes was adjusted. Wish I had found you before I left that job. Glad to subscribe to your channel!
Cole did say they plan on putting in a new septic system, and would need a permit from either state or county with the name of a licensed contractor who would do that job
Trap primer or a trap guard been on a few projects now where they're getting rid of primers and just going to trap guards. What about the 12" of clean soil above the pipe that the code requires for backfill
Rydon mitigation system. used in crawlers and basements to minimize gas build up from perhaps old coal mines locally or your down hill from a old land fill that may have been turned into a golf course
Roger, $7000 back then is $247,592.36 today... Even though we today think $7000 for that huge house is cheap, it includes the farm land that came with it as well. The ppl who owned the house ended up in auction and Coles G/Grandfather bought it for $7000, and tried to sell it back to that same family for that amount which of course they couldn't.....so his family moved into that house and combined the 2 farms.....
Definitely need trap primers and some venting. But I did see a fitting out orientation and I would have felt better with a hydrostatic test before covering.
I am not a plumber either. So, I have a question that may be stupid which is relating to the venting concern. Does that floor drain p-trap with built-in clean-out ... can or does that higher mounted clean out pipe also serve as a vent?
I was wondering the reason for so many floor drains? Also, I understand keeping the p trap in floor drain full. What would you hook them to, to feed water to?
Yeah, in watching the full series, I don't remember any venting. Good point on having traps. Gonna get stinky if sewer (septic) gas comes back through the pipes.
Gunna be a stinky shit fight if there is a blockage further down the line and so all the waste from toilet pans in the floors above starts discharging out of floor drains or hand basins. The basement, 2 metres below natural ground level, will become a poo pond.
I did my own plumbing-really simple, 1st and 2nd bathrooms stacked, kitchen sink in line with stack. No bathroom sink vent but bathroom sink vents into the main 3" going upstairs (vent+toilet line). One thing I will say, is the more cleanouts/snake spots you can include, the better. I also had maybe a 3/4"/ft pitch but that was mostly because of where the lines came in and where they had to hit to vent for the septic.
There's no plumbing upstairs. They've built the interior walls, but have yet to install any plumbing, HVAC, or electrical in the walls. You'll have more chances to critique Cole the Cornstar. They'll be doing all the plumbing in the three stories above the basement, and in the addition they're adding on. No idea if there are inspectors where he lives, just East of Gladbrook, Iowa, in the country.
He's based in Iowa I do believe in another video he said he had a neighbor who is a plumber inspect the work and say it was good. Been an interesting series so far watching him work on this house.
In a later video he said the code inspector approved the plumbing work, I don’t know how they did that without doing a pressurization leak test but hey whatever works is good for them
Thanks for your feedback. I have done bathroom remodeling and refinished kitchen cabinets and new counters. My husband did the plumbing and electrical work. We also built a 16 by 16 deck 9 feet high.
Love to see this! Young men working hard with their body and their brain and not crying about how hard life is or how easy someone else may have it. Also love seeing a person be wise enough to take advice from experienced people who clearly know more, humble, young, and hard working men, love to see it!
The young man is a 5th generation farmer in Iowa. You should have seen the work he has done in the last 5 years to the property. His Great ,Great Grandfather bought it ,it was only 15 acres, and it has grown into a 2000 acre farm that his Dad, brother, and himself work. He has a channel on TH-cam Cole the Cornstar. And his Dad now has his own called Daddy Cornstar.
My question would be about combining the black water drain with the clean water drain i.e.... floor drains and under slab drainage system etc., could there be a problem with the septic system getting too much water to handle? Should they be on two separate systems?
I have a question. I am certain that the more vents you have the better it would be, but if the facilities upstairs have vents on the sewer pipes, do you need vents on the pipes after they run into the floor of the basement sewer pipes?
A little surprised you didn't say anything about his double 45s right after he talked about the boilers and 1st floor bathroom tieing in at around the 545 mark. Lol that got me soooooo stoked when I seen that! 🤟
I been watching cole videos and was interested in his abilities you had me guessing at first when I heard you say that's not how you would do it a couple of times then threw me for a loop at the end when you approved, to be honest if I needed plumbing work I'd hire you just for your honesty and lack of ego, you're a good man
I said the same as you about the vents on the traps I noticed the primers didn't mention it to him though. I am not familiar with this type of trap either was thinking perhaps it is some sort of cheater vent as we call them up here in Canada. Glad you did this video. BTW I never heard back from him.
They haven’t done rough ins for plumbing or electrical on the top three floors and are still working out the HVAC and in floor heating system. Cole is still planning to pour a concrete floor once everything is ready but they going to change structure by adding steel I-beams to transfer the load and remove some support posts.
Very good work, I just hope he used non woven geo textile filter fabric for that footer drain. I couldn’t tell if it was just landscape fabric or not but if it was landscape fabric then it’s not going to allow water to pass through.
In one of Cole's videos he does a demonstration on the fabric he used around the pipes. He showed how the water goes through the fabric but sand couldn't. It was a video where they were running drain lines out to the ditch from the house.
Cole is a smart kid. He does demonstrations in most of his videos to explain to us what his thinking process is. I liked his demonstration on his footer project. The house has no footers and one part of the wall has just dirt and no concrete. He and Roman dug underneath the wall in sections and poured footers around the whole basement. They are now working to dig out the dirt wall and turn it into a concrete wall with a footer.
Only question I’ve got for the plumbers is this. Do you let your primer dry before applying glue, or do you glue together while the primer is still wet?
On your shower branch and floor drain branch the length can only be 2x the diameter of the pipe to vent correctly. So if you are using 2 inch pipe you can branch 4ft without a vent
I am not a professional plumber. So other then venting (having lived with a washer standpipe that didn't have a proper trap or vent I know how important it is) my one critique is it felt like that they were exceptional adverse to running T's and made way more arm length then needed, which is mostly a cost issue but overcomplicated their layout imho.
Glad you're checking this out. I've been following this project and I've been wondering about venting on some of this. Also there's a sink in that corner room where the drain runs towards the wall and then makes a 180 back intto the main line. Don't get me wrong, Those guys are busting their asses. I'm sure they'll have to get an inspection so I hope they get things squared away before concrete goes down.
Do your trunk line first so you can establish your 2% grade then you can cut your branches that way pipes don’t like a snake. Plumbers use the 1.414 and the 2.617 method for your offsets
Hey Roger I'm a jouryneyman plumber in canada we use metric for our prints and elevations. If you were trained in metric do you think you would prefer imperial or metric?
Looks like a Sioux Chief FD that I used to use... there's an 1½" plug inside that bypasses the trap for a C/O and it had a backflow preventing ball that was installed at the top of the trap.
I would say it would be fine for them to do this themselves. Just consult with a licensed plumber beforehand. Pay for an hour or two. You will get way better information then you will find on the internet for your specific project. A few hundred dollars up front will save you thousands later when the stuff doesnt drain the way it should.
2 things I didn't like was lack of venting and how close the wye's and San tee are to the services. No clue what code is for where they are but a lot of the building we're doing the GC won't allow less than 10ft of run from the main. Houses may be different as we do commercial. Meaning if they're doing the toilet and sink as a branch that would need to come off like 12 ft back off the main and the sink would branch 2ft off on that. Reason is for proper venting and help prevent clogging/ maintenance. The last thing also the FD create their own clean outs but I didn't see many cleanouts for other services or long runs.
I don't know how I got here, I have no plumbing coming up and I work in IT. however, I can help! when you want to advance or rewind a youtube video by individual frames, pause the video and then use the comma and period buttons to go back and forth to get that perfect frame to show :)
The rates plumbers charge(along with electricians) many people are turning to DIY. I added a spigot on my house a few months ago, plumbers wanted 400.00. I bought pex a crimping tool, t fitting, piece of pipe and spigot all for 60.00 It took me less than an hour to install it. I saved 340.00 and now have the crimping tool for any other work I might need to do.
I work for an HVAC company and don't do plumbing. We were in an attic working on the AC and the hot water heater was leaking into the pan. When we were up there changing the hot water heater, I kept saying I'm not a plumber.
That black corrugated pipe used in his outside trench - shown in a different video. It appeared to be single wall, I would not trench bury that. Easy crushed and more difficult to maintain constant pitch to the end of trench. It follows ground pitch to easily, results would be settling, back pitch and poor draining. Ridgid sch 35 sewer pipe should have been used at a minimum.
As far as the digging being easier, the whole basement had to have concrete jack hammered and they encounted boulders and large rocks and three different types of soil, it was even necessary to rent some type of machine to skid lift slabs. It was monumental for two guys plus they had to carry chunks upstairs before they put access ramp and hole where two basement windows were.
I have the same concerns as you Roger. Some of that could be combo waste and vent IF they continue and extend the piping to account for a vent on the beginning of the branch run. Some of the stuff I saw could be considered oversized and horizontally combination waste and vent so long as the fixture is within 6’ of the vent portion. Those offset drains on the floor drains I think are gonna need a vent between the traps and the offset to avoid the S-trap issue. That one toilet you mentioned as not normally plumbed that way.. I agree but it should be fine in that configuration if there is an actual vent extended up from that lav drain right next to it. I don’t like mechanical vents, but an actual vent stack there would work fine IMO. Trap primers would be a good idea too I agree with you there. Testing: this definitely should have been tested no way would I have covered that up without one. I trust my work but stuff happens. I wouldn’t allow concrete over that without a test and inspection. That portion of drain that will be imbedded in concrete needs sleeved with something to keep the concrete from damaging the plastic in any possible way. This was a fun video. Thanks for doing it.
You know Roger someone brought up a point about you making a trip to Iowa to inspect his work. This would make a good informative video for you to create.
Water damage gives me nightmares, it’s my number one fear as a homeowner. I would tackle a couple of bathrooms and maybe a drain or two, but probably would bring in a contractor for something this extensive. I think they really messed up on the vents though, I think there will definitely be issues with dry traps on floor drains and possibly sinks that will let sewer gases in. That basement area is going to have continual odor issues. Also, it doesn’t seem like they are planning any traps on their condensation lines. Not sure if it’s against code, but I would probably just send condensation water to the sump instead of the sewer line.
You should see all the what are they discovered under the 16-ft basement they dig after this basement plumbing. And the entire house is gutted so there's no plumbing upstairs yet
Roger i justed subscribed to you, i love watching cole but you just earned my subscription and I am loving youre other videos also, much love from ohio my friend ❤
I think Cole has some issues understanding the definition differences between "restoration" and a "complete gutting" or "remodel". 3:48 Roger Wakefield is correct... believe it has a screw off cap to bypass the P trap. 17:45 no inspection at all where they're at...they'll get away with anything.
I've been watching Cole for several years now. Back when he first started the remodel project, myself and a bunch of others dinged him for using the term "restoration" because he's not restoring anything. We gave up on him...
Question. Why put floor drains into sewer pipe? If you are running a sump pump, why not tie into the sump? You're just potentially draining water, no? Then there should be no worries of gas, right?
Cole tends to overkill on all his projects. He even says that the sump pump is only a back up system in case a pipe bursts in the house. The interior French drain flows right out to the ditch. He double insured that his basement will be dry.
Because it would be so much easier in maintaining a consistent fall, why aren't they installing in ceiling rather than floor? This would allow more room for radon filtration system, ie, ease of installation.
This will be a finished basement. They had to tear up the basement floor anyway so to save on bulkheads they put it in the floor to tie into their interior French drain system.
I wasn’t expecting to see this! Thank you for making this, and thank you for the kind words.
I have a couple questions.
All of my big pipes are 4”. Does that make any difference for venting? All the drain lines are 2”.
I was planning on installing primers to help prevent the P-traps from drying out. Do you think backflow preventers are necessary to add as well? I can still add in vents, so if I have the drain line pipes apart, would it make sense to add them?
Other than primers, vents, doing a water test, and possibly the back flow preventers, is there anything else that we should fix or add before the concrete is poured?
like and replying to bump higher 😬
Good to see a “how can we improve this” attitude!
I would love to see Roger take a trip up to Iowa to do an "inspection". I think he would be impressed with the under slab drainage for the new extension. Roger would know much better than I, But I believe a back flow preventer is for where you tie into city sewer or into your septic. Though I can see a use for them on floor drains. Your septic will have to be down the hill a ways if you are going to have any plumbing under the new extension since it will have to be lower than that new basement.
I'd love to take trips around the country and "inspect" peoples work! Sounds like fun!
@@RogerWakefield what about his questions? He was asking for your advice 🙂
Dont worry that footer that they are chipping away at is huge and overkill. They dug it out and poured it themselves because the house didn't even have a footer originally.
Wow Roger I am impressed. I have been watching Cole’s videos for years now and never seen him respond to a comment or question. You make a video about his plumbing and BOOM Cole asked for your advice. You’re the man.
in coles eyes were all lower than him he doesnt chat with us commeners
@@jamesberry657 you're making a very negative assumption there. He is busy farming, renovating and being with his family.
@@jamesberry657 In the six years I have been watching Cole he never comments really. He is not the only one that does that.
I’ve watched Roger Wakefield’s and Cole the Cornstar’s TH-cam channels. I enjoy both channels and love the crossover video. I’m a high school English teacher, and I love how Roger explains plumbing concepts in everyday language. He’s a master teacher.
Just a bit of background on Cole and Roman. Cole is an Iowa farmer of 2000+ acres with his Family of Corn and Soybean. He went to college and studied finance and accounting in order to help his family run and operate their farm for efficiently. He is quite the stickler in making sure projects are done in a sensical, efficient and cost effective manner. Has he made mistakes, yes he has and he has shown his YT subs time and time again how amazing he is at learning from those mistakes and setting things right. Roman is an immigrant from Ukraine and is a college trained Engineer he is also a World Arm Wrestling Champion for his weight class. He is Cole’ and the Cornstar Families right hand man (along with Zach) in almost everything done on the farm and the house renovation how. They both are truly the dynamic duo. LOL.. Anyways, I believe from that video there was a Friend of Cole’ that is a master Plummer that was to come and inspect their work, I believe that was in the video following the one you reviewed and he gave them a thumbs up and did make suggestions which Cole said they could adjust before pouring the floor. Great video!
Cole Langenbau has another side hustle that failed to get mentioned. Cole digs graves. The grave business is a big income.
the crossover we didn't expect
Cole is a hard working God loving family man and he is a joy!
We thank you for any help you give him!
Fully agree in trying to get all the major plumbing on the ground which potentially has a problem down the road if the ground ever shifts. Since this house does not have a crawlspace, it is critical that the inground pipes are secured NOT with loose gravel or dirt. Plumbings underneath the house which is part of the foundation should be designed as one permanent solution. Digging onto the foundation to rectified a problem after the house was build on top of it would be a major undertaking.
11:58 just a tip when viewing youtube videos when they are paused, you can advance frame by frame using the < and > keys for more precision
Thank you. Old great grandma here
Your a great guy who really wants to help DIYers, Glad to see you had different ideas on some parts of installation but you didn't come off as condesending. thats why I watch your channel
@@jamesgarrett839 he really spent a lot of time trying to do everything right. I like the way he works.
When I heard that Cole had watched a few TH-cam's on plumbing I immediately thought of this channel. Awesome to see your reaction to Coles work and that you thought he did a good job.
I have been following this Cole the Cornstar for about 3 years! He is a go getter!
Great job for someone who's never done plumbing. My main critique would be the 2 90's that were used under the slab. You can use long sweeps if you need to use a 90, but typically we use 2 45s to avoid clogging and easier access for your line if your snaking the building drain. I definitely agree with Roger about the trap primers and vents. Kudos padnuh
Cole lives on a farm in Rural East Central Iowa. (That is as much detail as I going to say on public channel) . Rural Farm projects are rarely inspected by the AHJ. As there is really is no AHJ.. Cole has the resources if he chose to, to have private inspections and he has a circle of influence that I believe would speak up loudly if they saw something unsafe.. And yes it would be great content @Roger Wakefield to collaborate with him and do a site visit.
Same in Texas. If it's out of city limits, then all's fair in love and war and plumbing!
I have a similar question about venting. Where they live is it IPC, UPC or no inspection at all. UPC they could be running horizontal underfloor venting over to a wall. IPC they could take advantage of coronation waste and vent oversizing the pipe from their floor drains for example. I agree they have done some nice work.
Glad to see they got your advice and plan to follow it before the concrete is poured. Good video even for us that will call a plumber now. Thanks for sharing.
Q Why is the floor drain connected to the other plumbing at all ? Wouldn't you connect to a perimeter drain or run a separate, independent run to an outlet? Seems a sewage backup could send a mess back into your basement, and you don't need to be concerned with gasses or traps.
Love watching both of you guys channels.. Cornstar renovation and how he is educating us on farming is amazing.
Hi Roger, I'm not a plumber but I did a project about this extensive a few years ago thanks to people like you on TH-cam. Ours was pressure tested and inspected, passed first try thank goodness! Now you've got me wishing I'd made a video of my own.
@@evan-edstrom you should have…
I assume that there won't be any steel in the slab, otherwise tracer wire is going to be hard to pick up...unless they're using insulated wire and have a locator rather than just a metal detector. Good idea though.
Adding the locater wire is brilliant. Wish i had done that in 1991 when i put in my sprinkler system.
Absolutely love Cole the Cornstar and his channel!
Thanks for helping him.
I am not a plumber, but we also did our own re-plumb (we took out the cast iron system and replaced it with PVC). The only thing I thought Cole did wrong were the cleanouts; he should have done a "Y" cleanout instead of a "T". The reason this would be better is the place where it would most likely get clogged would be below the cleanout (tree roots the biggest culprit). Also when our sump pump failed during a large rain storm I was able to unscrew the plug and bucket brigade the water to the cleanout and remove the water.
We had a few issues when our street had a combined sewer, so we plugged every drain hole with concrete to prevent sewage in our basement (we did leave one open, but plugged it with an expanding rubber plug). The only water in the basement was from the humidifier which we ran a pump to take that drain water up to the above ground plumbing. The washer and dryer are on the first floor. I was also the one elected to stand in the poop water to connect the clay pipe (coming in from the street, I rented a chain cutter to make sure the pipe had a nice clean edge) then I purchase a rubber boot to go from PVC to clay and tightened down the screw clamps. The flooring guys were coming to pour a concrete floor, and my husband was at work.
As a DIY guy who has had a lot of success with my home, you've got to get that plumbing vented, it's just foundational to keeping your system in good order.
I re-plumbed my basement. Unfortunately meant concrete cutting and digging in about 4" minus rock and boulders to get a waste pump in. Our septic tank failed that was buried 10' below grade and had to re-locate the new tank. Of course that meant lifting the basement plumbing to the new outlet. Did it all myself but I've done some plumbing design through the years and did a lot of learning before getting going. The worst part was cutting the slab with only 1' of room between existing walls and the furnace. Then the old cast iron had to be capped off and some of it broken out to make room for new PVC. It was a lot of hands and knees work for a guy with a replaced knee. So far... so good! The only to-do yet is to route the condensate drain to a new floor drain that was put in and remove the condensate pump, and I think I may add another circuit to the breaker panel that is separate from the pump circuit that has an alarm panel on it. I'm not sure why but the 20A outlet tripped once already and the pump is the only thing on that circuit. (Liberty 4/10 pump). I do need to replace that outlet as it was used during the concrete cutting and tripped a few times with that electric concrete saw.
Welcome to the rural midwest of plumbing without inspections. I have had to learn alot about proper venting.
Its cool that this guy is so constructive about his criticism
Dunno about their inspections/codes, but there's still time to test. What worries me is they did foundations in approx 1 metre bits. All cold joined. Didnt see any bonding agent. 😬
Compromising the foundation isn't a good option when you have other options that are easier/ better like using a 45° and then continue upward at that one point of this project!
I would add back water valve on the branch line with a clean out down stream for service. Dont want to flood the basement if theres a stopage. But thats just me. All good other then lack of vents. Good job and clean work.
He overkilled on the drainage system. Has floor drains to the outside and he has a sump pump pit. He said in another video that he will be waterproofing the outside walls on the inside by putting up dimple board behind the drywall as a weeping system. I doubt there will be a need for anything else. That basement will be dry even in a monsoon rain.
@@john2willis70 - From watching his videos, I'm not even sure he's planning on putting a pump in that sump. He ran the drain tile out the back of the house into more drain tile that he has buried under that deep hole where his underground home movie theatre is going to go. He then sloped it out to the north down to the creek appx. 100 yds away.
Dry P traps! Our 1960s church building gets this all the time with the congregation being responsible for cleaning. They dump the mop water into the mop sink and not the bathroom drains. seems it happens every few years and everyone freaks out until someone reminds everyone about the dry p-trap.
I looked up that floor drain. It has a plug inside the drain bowel where the clean-out connects to the bowl so sewer gasses can not escape out of the floor drain.
For landscape drainage work, I’m confident. In fact I enjoy it. For sewerage work under a floor, I’d prefer to get a pro.
You’re right. A test would be good before backfilling and getting it inspected would be a good idea.
Hi Roger! Thank you for this video critique. I'm a Cole the Cornstar follower and a DIYer. I was wondering what a pro would say about his research and work. I also found your video about pipe hammering and fixing it with a hammer arrestor. My plumber will be installing one for our home soon. I used to work as facility mgr at a building where hammering happened in the restroom after the flush pressure in the commodes was adjusted. Wish I had found you before I left that job. Glad to subscribe to your channel!
Here in rural central Illinois the only permit or inspection required is you are putting in a septic tank. Otherwise it is fair game.
Cole did say they plan on putting in a new septic system, and would need a permit from either state or county with the name of a licensed contractor who would do that job
Trap primer or a trap guard been on a few projects now where they're getting rid of primers and just going to trap guards. What about the 12" of clean soil above the pipe that the code requires for backfill
Rydon mitigation system. used in crawlers and basements to minimize gas build up from perhaps old coal mines locally or your down hill from a old land fill that may have been turned into a golf course
Roger, $7000 back then is $247,592.36 today...
Even though we today think $7000 for that huge house is cheap, it includes the farm land that came with it as well. The ppl who owned the house ended up in auction and Coles G/Grandfather bought it for $7000, and tried to sell it back to that same family for that amount which of course they couldn't.....so his family moved into that house and combined the 2 farms.....
Definitely need trap primers and some venting. But I did see a fitting out orientation and I would have felt better with a hydrostatic test before covering.
I am not a plumber either. So, I have a question that may be stupid which is relating to the venting concern. Does that floor drain p-trap with built-in clean-out ... can or does that higher mounted clean out pipe also serve as a vent?
I was wondering the reason for so many floor drains? Also, I understand keeping the p trap in floor drain full. What would you hook them to, to feed water to?
if u put some vegetable oil in the p trap it dry out much slower, we do this here with p traps that not used much
Idk about you guys but in Wisconsin this system would fail inspection on lack of appropriate pipe size for cleanout alone
Yeah, in watching the full series, I don't remember any venting. Good point on having traps. Gonna get stinky if sewer (septic) gas comes back through the pipes.
I put veg oil in the basement drain it seals the trap off
Gunna be a stinky shit fight if there is a blockage further down the line and so all the waste from toilet pans in the floors above starts discharging out of floor drains or hand basins.
The basement, 2 metres below natural ground level, will become a poo pond.
@@anytractorman That won't stop pee and poo emerging with force when a blockage occurs further down the line.
I did my own plumbing-really simple, 1st and 2nd bathrooms stacked, kitchen sink in line with stack. No bathroom sink vent but bathroom sink vents into the main 3" going upstairs (vent+toilet line).
One thing I will say, is the more cleanouts/snake spots you can include, the better. I also had maybe a 3/4"/ft pitch but that was mostly because of where the lines came in and where they had to hit to vent for the septic.
Dudes got an incredibly great attitude.. 👍
I would too for 7k to own that!
@@CD-vb9fi $7K is what his great great grandfather paid for it way back when, Cole inherited it when his grandfather passed away...
@@billnict1 Ah, okay, I was thinking the grandchild paid 7k for it.
There's no plumbing upstairs. They've built the interior walls, but have yet to install any plumbing, HVAC, or electrical in the walls.
You'll have more chances to critique Cole the Cornstar. They'll be doing all the plumbing in the three stories above the basement, and in the addition they're adding on.
No idea if there are inspectors where he lives, just East of Gladbrook, Iowa, in the country.
He's based in Iowa I do believe in another video he said he had a neighbor who is a plumber inspect the work and say it was good. Been an interesting series so far watching him work on this house.
Great to know! This was a fun episode to watch
@@RogerWakefield
Thank you for taking time to watch and encouraging comments! We will definitely address your concerns sir 😊
@@Romegromgreat job bud
Y'all are doing great work!
In a later video he said the code inspector approved the plumbing work, I don’t know how they did that without doing a pressurization leak test but hey whatever works is good for them
Thanks for your feedback. I have done bathroom remodeling and refinished kitchen cabinets and new counters. My husband did the plumbing and electrical work. We also built a 16 by 16 deck 9 feet high.
Love to see this! Young men working hard with their body and their brain and not crying about how hard life is or how easy someone else may have it. Also love seeing a person be wise enough to take advice from experienced people who clearly know more, humble, young, and hard working men, love to see it!
The young man is a 5th generation farmer in Iowa. You should have seen the work he has done in the last 5 years to the property. His Great ,Great Grandfather bought it ,it was only 15 acres, and it has grown into a 2000 acre farm that his Dad, brother, and himself work. He has a channel on TH-cam Cole the Cornstar. And his Dad now has his own called Daddy Cornstar.
Thank you for this feedback for cole and Roman there working so hard on the whole project.
My question would be about combining the black water drain with the clean water drain i.e.... floor drains and under slab drainage system etc., could there be a problem with the septic system getting too much water to handle? Should they be on two separate systems?
You should watch more of their renovation. They are doing great!.
I have a question. I am certain that the more vents you have the better it would be, but if the facilities upstairs have vents on the sewer pipes, do you need vents on the pipes after they run into the floor of the basement sewer pipes?
A little surprised you didn't say anything about his double 45s right after he talked about the boilers and 1st floor bathroom tieing in at around the 545 mark. Lol that got me soooooo stoked when I seen that! 🤟
I been watching cole videos and was interested in his abilities you had me guessing at first when I heard you say that's not how you would do it a couple of times then threw me for a loop at the end when you approved, to be honest if I needed plumbing work I'd hire you just for your honesty and lack of ego, you're a good man
I said the same as you about the vents on the traps I noticed the primers didn't mention it to him though. I am not familiar with this type of trap either was thinking perhaps it is some sort of cheater vent as we call them up here in Canada. Glad you did this video. BTW I never heard back from him.
They haven’t done rough ins for plumbing or electrical on the top three floors and are still working out the HVAC and in floor heating system. Cole is still planning to pour a concrete floor once everything is ready but they going to change structure by adding steel I-beams to transfer the load and remove some support posts.
Very good work, I just hope he used non woven geo textile filter fabric for that footer drain. I couldn’t tell if it was just landscape fabric or not but if it was landscape fabric then it’s not going to allow water to pass through.
In one of Cole's videos he does a demonstration on the fabric he used around the pipes. He showed how the water goes through the fabric but sand couldn't. It was a video where they were running drain lines out to the ditch from the house.
Cole is a smart kid. He does demonstrations in most of his videos to explain to us what his thinking process is. I liked his demonstration on his footer project. The house has no footers and one part of the wall has just dirt and no concrete. He and Roman dug underneath the wall in sections and poured footers around the whole basement. They are now working to dig out the dirt wall and turn it into a concrete wall with a footer.
Only question I’ve got for the plumbers is this. Do you let your primer dry before applying glue, or do you glue together while the primer is still wet?
Extending wet venting to the max 😂😂
On your shower branch and floor drain branch the length can only be 2x the diameter of the pipe to vent correctly. So if you are using 2 inch pipe you can branch 4ft without a vent
I am not a professional plumber. So other then venting (having lived with a washer standpipe that didn't have a proper trap or vent I know how important it is) my one critique is it felt like that they were exceptional adverse to running T's and made way more arm length then needed, which is mostly a cost issue but overcomplicated their layout imho.
Glad you're checking this out. I've been following this project and I've been wondering about venting on some of this. Also there's a sink in that corner room where the drain runs towards the wall and then makes a 180 back intto the main line. Don't get me wrong, Those guys are busting their asses. I'm sure they'll have to get an inspection so I hope they get things squared away before concrete goes down.
All drainage pipe should typically see 4-6 inches of non ballast material over it, especially when you use pvc for drainage (very brittle )
Do your trunk line first so you can establish your 2% grade then you can cut your branches that way pipes don’t like a snake. Plumbers use the 1.414 and the 2.617 method for your offsets
Yea ok
Hey Roger I'm a jouryneyman plumber in canada we use metric for our prints and elevations. If you were trained in metric do you think you would prefer imperial or metric?
Looks like a Sioux Chief FD that I used to use... there's an 1½" plug inside that bypasses the trap for a C/O and it had a backflow preventing ball that was installed at the top of the trap.
I used to buy PVC versions of the same.
Bravo very well done for this much plumbing
I would say it would be fine for them to do this themselves. Just consult with a licensed plumber beforehand. Pay for an hour or two. You will get way better information then you will find on the internet for your specific project. A few hundred dollars up front will save you thousands later when the stuff doesnt drain the way it should.
I wish they had a dedicated dry 3" vent at the start. Seems they're all wet vents. What do you say?
2 things I didn't like was lack of venting and how close the wye's and San tee are to the services. No clue what code is for where they are but a lot of the building we're doing the GC won't allow less than 10ft of run from the main. Houses may be different as we do commercial. Meaning if they're doing the toilet and sink as a branch that would need to come off like 12 ft back off the main and the sink would branch 2ft off on that. Reason is for proper venting and help prevent clogging/ maintenance. The last thing also the FD create their own clean outs but I didn't see many cleanouts for other services or long runs.
In Allegheny county In Pittsburgh PA we all floor drains under ground need to be 4" not sure why he didn't get proper PVC floor drains
11:54 Use the keyboard controls on a paused TH-cam video - , and . for frame back or forward respectively.
You're welcome.
Good to know! Thanks
I don't know how I got here, I have no plumbing coming up and I work in IT. however, I can help! when you want to advance or rewind a youtube video by individual frames, pause the video and then use the comma and period buttons to go back and forth to get that perfect frame to show :)
15:10 ROger, you can use a comma(,) or a period(.) to move videos frame by frame backward or forward
I learned something today! Thanks 🤣
@@RogerWakefield no, problem, it's gonna improve the video quality a bit =)
The rates plumbers charge(along with electricians) many people are turning to DIY. I added a spigot on my house a few months ago, plumbers wanted 400.00. I bought pex a crimping tool, t fitting, piece of pipe and spigot all for 60.00 It took me less than an hour to install it. I saved 340.00 and now have the crimping tool for any other work I might need to do.
In fire sprinklers preaction system main pipe 1/8 per 10', 1/4 per 10' branch lines .
Is that PVC??? Underslab or in the house, I understood it should be ABS (black in color) and much stiffer.
I work for an HVAC company and don't do plumbing. We were in an attic working on the AC and the hot water heater was leaking into the pan. When we were up there changing the hot water heater, I kept saying I'm not a plumber.
I learned you could recherche this up I've been cole video watcher for a while now thanks for some advice
That black corrugated pipe used in his outside trench - shown in a different video. It appeared to be single wall, I would not trench bury that. Easy crushed and more difficult to maintain constant pitch to the end of trench. It follows ground pitch to easily, results would be settling, back pitch and poor draining. Ridgid sch 35 sewer pipe should have been used at a minimum.
As far as the digging being easier, the whole basement had to have concrete jack hammered and they encounted boulders and large rocks and three different types of soil, it was even necessary to rent some type of machine to skid lift slabs. It was monumental for two guys plus they had to carry chunks upstairs before they put access ramp and hole where two basement windows were.
What about a one way check valve so it doesn't back flow in the floor drain
I have the same concerns as you Roger. Some of that could be combo waste and vent IF they continue and extend the piping to account for a vent on the beginning of the branch run. Some of the stuff I saw could be considered oversized and horizontally combination waste and vent so long as the fixture is within 6’ of the vent portion. Those offset drains on the floor drains I think are gonna need a vent between the traps and the offset to avoid the S-trap issue. That one toilet you mentioned as not normally plumbed that way.. I agree but it should be fine in that configuration if there is an actual vent extended up from that lav drain right next to it. I don’t like mechanical vents, but an actual vent stack there would work fine IMO.
Trap primers would be a good idea too I agree with you there.
Testing: this definitely should have been tested no way would I have covered that up without one. I trust my work but stuff happens. I wouldn’t allow concrete over that without a test and inspection.
That portion of drain that will be imbedded in concrete needs sleeved with something to keep the concrete from damaging the plastic in any possible way.
This was a fun video. Thanks for doing it.
As much they was moving the leaser was they resetting it or just moving it around and thinking the rock was level Grade on the same plane
You know Roger someone brought up a point about you making a trip to Iowa to inspect his work. This would make a good informative video for you to create.
Someone get in touch with Cole, this would be a fun video...
Colethecornstar is the hardest workin guy you’ll ever see! Love his channel!
Can you link multiple drain vents to one single vent to exit the house?
Water damage gives me nightmares, it’s my number one fear as a homeowner. I would tackle a couple of bathrooms and maybe a drain or two, but probably would bring in a contractor for something this extensive. I think they really messed up on the vents though, I think there will definitely be issues with dry traps on floor drains and possibly sinks that will let sewer gases in. That basement area is going to have continual odor issues. Also, it doesn’t seem like they are planning any traps on their condensation lines. Not sure if it’s against code, but I would probably just send condensation water to the sump instead of the sewer line.
You should see all the what are they discovered under the 16-ft basement they dig after this basement plumbing. And the entire house is gutted so there's no plumbing upstairs yet
Yep, it's a dry hole now, they did a good job mitigating all that ground water...
Roger i justed subscribed to you, i love watching cole but you just earned my subscription and I am loving youre other videos also, much love from ohio my friend ❤
I think Cole has some issues understanding the definition differences between "restoration" and a "complete gutting" or "remodel". 3:48 Roger Wakefield is correct... believe it has a screw off cap to bypass the P trap. 17:45 no inspection at all where they're at...they'll get away with anything.
I've been watching Cole for several years now. Back when he first started the remodel project, myself and a bunch of others dinged him for using the term "restoration" because he's not restoring anything. We gave up on him...
Safety glasses might be a good thing when operating a grinder.
21:20
These farmers kill me. I used to work in the shop at Boeing and they got the safety glasses religion pounded into my head early on...
Never expected to see a Cole the Cornstar duo on here 🤣
Question. Why put floor drains into sewer pipe? If you are running a sump pump, why not tie into the sump? You're just potentially draining water, no? Then there should be no worries of gas, right?
Cole tends to overkill on all his projects. He even says that the sump pump is only a back up system in case a pipe bursts in the house. The interior French drain flows right out to the ditch. He double insured that his basement will be dry.
I’m not a trained plumber but the amount of times I’ve had to fix bad plumbing because people have used fittings backwards is so frustrating.
Fantastic video Mike.
Thank you for the information about trap primers. I agree; They are way short on venting.
Because it would be so much easier in maintaining a consistent fall, why aren't they installing in ceiling rather than floor? This would allow more room for radon filtration system, ie, ease of installation.
This will be a finished basement. They had to tear up the basement floor anyway so to save on bulkheads they put it in the floor to tie into their interior French drain system.