Q Pipes, Valves & Fittings
Planning the layout Continued from page 59
qualities that make plastic piping desirable also make it vulnerable. It’s lightweight and easy to work with, which means it’s weak and pierce-able compared to the surrounding building materials. As tough and durable as some plastic pipe materials are, they are no match for the framework of the building or the heavy equipment we use in construction. Extra care must be taken to protect these materials throughout the building process and forever after. It doesn’t take a whole lot of force to nudge a partially bedded pipe out of alignment or put a hole in it. Building codes help keep the piping safe in all the logical, foreseeable ways but internal systems lay just beyond a thin layer of drywall and it’s really easy to drive a screw right through that drywall and into
The building moves; the stack will crack.
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Plumbing & HVAC – October 2016
You never know what you’ll find behind the drywall. a pipe. Steel protection plates stop intrusion at the top and bottom plates as well as any horizontal runs through the studding, but the pipe is exposed for most of its length otherwise. Planning the location of the DWV within the walls shouldn’t always depend on the most economical route. Sometimes the choice of location should be made with a mind to future decorative appointments, which may threaten the safety of the plumbing… and the plumber! Never was this lesson made so clear as the time I was asked to install a sink for a customer that collected antiques. I enjoyed the atmosphere until I began work on the drain that stuck out of the wall. Just then, a huge wood framed mirror crashed down on my head, smashing to pieces all around me. It
took me a while to figure out that the owner had hung that gigantic mirror on the wall with only one screw, right in the center of the vanity space and right into the ABS vent pipe serving that future sink. As soon as I moved the pipe, the mirror fell. The code dictates which materials and connection methods we may use for the DWV systems but...
Mark P. Evans is a contractor, master plumber and heating technician based in Waterloo, Ont. He can be reached at mark.evans@live.ca
www.plumbingandhvac.ca