Bathroom remodel help

Hi everyone,
I am currently in the process of redoing my bathroom tub and surrounding area. I wanted to raise the ceiling above the tub to allow for a higher shower head. The drop ceiling has a 3” pvc pipe running parallel above the tub. It leads directly up from there and out the roof. I was wondering if I could move that pipe directly up 8 1/2” without repercussions to other areas in the house. All insight would be greatly appreciated.

show pics of what you need to move

Will post pictures later today when I get home from work.

Very likely the pipe is where it is because it runs perpendicular to the joists above, and the plumber couldn't cut the holes or notches required to run the pipe through the joists (probably violating code restrictions). What's above the ceiling - an attic or another occupied floor?

The attic is above the tub.

Here are a few photos.
If you click the box the photo enlarges

Geofd said:

show pics of what you need to move

Click to expand...

I posted some photos of you have a chance to take a look, appreciate the help.

You would need to rework that tee that vents off to another fixture. How long is the pipe between the 90° and the tee.

If that is just a vent it looks like there is plenty of room to lift it into the joist area. Seems sloppy that it wasn't done that way to begin with. I don't think the wall between the tub and commode is supporting so you could probably notch that header to get more room as long as you don't cut into an attic joist. Worst case you could increase that wall width to enclose the plumbing. Not sure how much room is on the other end.

support everything above it before you do any thing so nothing moves above what you cut

CT18 said:

You would need to rework that tee that vents off to another fixture. How long is the pipe between the 90° and the tee.

Click to expand...

5 11/16 inches

you can notch the 2x4 above the pipe and extend it vertically. Looks like 3" with 4" out the roof. it looks like they used a 3" long turn to go up. You might have to cut the pvc in the attic space and redo the 3x2? ty and a regular 3" elbow but it looks like you have plenty of room.

It looks like the simplest approach would be to cut the short vertical pipe going up to the TY and the long vertical pipe in the wall, allowing you to raise the entire assembly up into the joist bay. If you use a coupling at the TY, that will determine how much you can raise it -- only about 1 3/4". You could gain a little more by replacing the 90° with a new one, which would allow you to cement the 90° directly to the vertical pipe stub with no coupling -- then you could raise the (new) assembly by close to the 5 11/16" gap. You could gain a little more by reaming out the existing 3" pipe from the TY, and connecting the assembly to the TY using a street 90° -- eliminating one hub. Anything more requires either a) raising the TY and its connection, or b) furring the ceiling down enough to cover the (raised) pipe assembly. No question in my mind what I'd do,

3" pipe reamer, about $16:


...but as wood4d noted, if you've got lots of room up in the attic, moving the entire TY up into the attic looks a lot easier. Cut a nice big hole in the attic floor to get at all that plumbing. I totally missed the 2x4 that will have to be dealt with.