Moving floor waste in concrete slab

Discussion in 'Renovation & Home Improvement' started by Shady, 12th Nov, 2016.

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  1. Shady

    Shady Well-Known Member

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    Before i completley write off the idea has anyone had experience moving plumbing around in a slab?......and to make it harder brick walls too.
    Google tells me it can be done but looking for thoughts from those that have done it.
    Ensuite in recent purchase could use a facelift before tenants move in but ultimately for resale it would be best to move the toilet and vanity to different locations
     
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  2. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    yes it can be done pay a plumber...
     
  3. EN710

    EN710 Well-Known Member

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    Any indication on cost?
     
  4. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    how far are you moving it? op talked about a brick wall? is it just the floor waste drain that is being moved? theres not enough information. and i wouldn't want to move a toilet (100mm sure) anything else is going to be expensive/ not worth it.

    Cheers, Elives
     
  5. willair

    willair Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Can be done ,,core cut the slab,tiles everything in the bin then core drill the slab to line the cut up without touching the wall area,then do that in more then one location cost wise you will need deep pockets..
     
  6. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    core drill? we're talking about a suspended slab? i thought the op was talking about a house slab
     
  7. willair

    willair Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Then it's a jackhammer job..
     
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  8. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    You can diy the grunt work. Just get a plumber to mark out what needs to go.
    Hire a wet saw and jack's hammer, good fun!

    Still a lot of variables. Most people automatically get scared off. It may be dirty but simple
     
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  9. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    You can't make a decision until you get quotes.
    Marg
     
  10. Shady

    Shady Well-Known Member

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    Thanks all...I know it can be done, just wanted to see if anyone had experience actually doing it (or having it done).

    Not a suspended slab on the ground and old style not the new fang dangled waffle pod (cheap) way. My brother in law has a business cutting concrete but in Sydney not Brisbane.

    ...so has anyone gone through the process at all?
     
  11. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    yes.. my experience with it is i paid a plumber and he did it. really straight forward process to be honest. i called up a few plumbers after talking to them i decided on 1 and then he did the work and i paid him.

    Cheers, Elives
     
  12. EN710

    EN710 Well-Known Member

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    May i ask the cost? (Thinking of adding additional drain)
     
  13. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    can't remember exactly was around 2-3k though including concrete cutter.

    Cheers, Elives
     
  14. Shady

    Shady Well-Known Member

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    Thanks,
    I suspected it would about that.
    Have you had and problems with settlement/expansion of the new section of concrete slab? Or any other cracking in other areas? how long ago did you gave it done? do you know if your plumber had a structural engineers report done prior to cutting the slab?

    Sorry for the million questions but i wanted to get some real world feedback before I go letting someone mess with the structural integrity of the slab and cutting through all the reo.
    Having a full brick house with flat roof, most of the internal walls are load bearing and that load would be transfered to the slab
     
  15. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    I am doing this now. Concrete slab double brick walls. I am working with a licensed plumber who has specced out all the work we need to do (there are 2 of us working on the job) then we do the work, he comes back, does his bit and then specs out the next jobs. We are not moving the toilet though, just the vanity and shower.

    Inside we have removed tiles, vanity, shower, toilet, plaster, hob, pipework. Leveled the floor, decommissioned an old waste, chased out the wall for new plumbing and created a waste hole in the floor for the shower waste. Oh, and rendered the walls and built a new shower hob and a new vanity plinth. Outside we did all the digging for the plumber to just come in and do his thing, which is rerunning wastes, removing old plumbing and installing new plumbing.

    Hope this helps
     
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  16. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    About two years ago we had a plumber give us a ballpark to cut a downstairs slab to add a shower and vanity to a toilet that was already there. I think his quote for hiring a saw to cut the slab and dump the waste was about $1.2k (thereabouts from memory). The shower and vanity would join the waste that was already there for the toilet.

    We didn't end up doing it but we estimated that the plumber's work, all new fittings, new framed room enclosure, sheeting, screed, waterproofing, tiles would come to about $20k max.

    I'm not sure if that helps at all.
     
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  17. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    Does depend on the job in question. I'm not sure what residential plumbers normally do, if anything other than drop in some concrete.
    But with regards to some rough info for you. Google "construction joints" and give yourself a crash course in concreting. As you mentioned you want something that's not going to crack, lift up or drop, move etc
    You want the new concrete to be fixed to the existing.
    Id suggest (you may need more or less done depending on your job) assuming you're just extending a pipe straight out from the existing 1m

    cut around existing pipe and the new trench with a wet saw and jack hammer out
    Roughenup the face of the exposed concrete, this depends how deep the saw cuts. Otherwise it should be rough from the jack hammer. Keep the top inch smooth to get a good finish when you pour
    Install starter bars - 12mm reo drilled in min 100mm. Space them every 200mm and cut them short of the new pipe leaving min. 50mm gap
    Make sure the material below the pipe is compacted
    Use bondcrete or similar on the face of the roughened concrete and top edge before pouring
    That's a rough idea i have in my head of a basic job. My design and consult will cost you $1200 ;)
    20161112_132104.jpg
     
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  18. Elives

    Elives Well-Known Member

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    heres a photo might help you visualise what bob is explaining

    upload_2016-11-12_13-32-40.png
     
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  19. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Ours only ended up being 400mm x 400mm for the shower waste. Our licensed plumber told us for that we would not need re-bar but to put more concrete in the mix.
     
  20. Shady

    Shady Well-Known Member

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    Thanks all. I was sort of expecting a few people to say they've done it and it was a nightmare and have had no end of problems since with settling cracks and leaks but it doesn't seem that way.

    A simple question for a plumber but....can a toilet waste be used as a shower waste? and I assume that a shower waste can be used as a vanity basin waste. Looking to re position as per attached plan.

    The exercise is not so much for rental return but for sale/valuation. The reconfiguration would be much better received form a potential purchaser than the current configuration.
     

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    Last edited: 12th Nov, 2016