Laundry drain dilemma

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Hamberg

Hamberg

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Probably moot but open for suggestions. Working a rehab - these are Levittown (mass built specs) type homes built on-slab and the original laundry drain line is 1" copper.

Thoughts on a solution or just leave it?


washerdrain.JPGwasherdrain1.JPG
 
The box at the top is missing the frame piece. I just installed the same one, and purchased the entire unit for about $30 at the orange big box store. That would clean up that installation.
 
havasu said:
The box at the top is missing the frame piece. I just installed the same one, and purchased the entire unit for about $30 at the orange big box store. That would clean up that installation.
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@havasu - I have the plate, need to know what to do with a 1" drain!? (When it should be 2"...)
 
I’ve never seen one that’s 1”.

1.5” yessssss but not 1”.

IMO if it’s 1” then it doesn’t have a washer drain.
 
Hamberg said:
I know right! But look at the pic - they are all built that way!?!?

Going back to my original question, what options are there?
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Replace the drain with one of the appropriate size.

That’s my answer,.

It may was well not have one if the one it has isn’t sufficient.

You couldn’t sell that house here without a disclosure.
 
Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where you will likely have to break the slab to replace that pipe. If you want it to drain properly then it will have to be replaced with 2" minimum. I don't know if any places are renting tools right now, but you may be able to rent something to chisel out the floor to get to it. Hopefully it ties in to a larger pipe nearby
 
If it was mine and I wanted to use it right away, I would reduce the discharge of the washer down to 1/2 inch cpvc and stick it down in the 1 inch copper a foot and try it. If that didn't work I would get out my jackhammer! Who did this abortion anyhow?
 
If it’s truly a Levitt house or other mass built tract house, then there are a lot of houses real close that are identical. Have you considered asking a few of the neighbors about their laundry drain set up? Maybe this works. If not you’ll at least get a good idea of what others have done over the years.

Those Levitt houses were built very very quickly and very very cheaply back in the 40s and 1950s. Very few survive in their original configuration because it didn’t work or last into the modern era.

You can also probably place a call to the local city or town‘s plumbing inspector, because if there have been a lot of changes to this set up over the years he would probably know about them.

There were many of these homes around where I grew up on Long Island in New York, and they all started with radiant heat buried in the concrete slab... so Jackhammering up concrete might buy you more trouble than you are expecting.
 
Is that a 1" pipe sticking up through a hole in the knock-out? So the knock-out is for a 2" drain and the pipe connected to it may be 2"? Newer washer specs require that a washer drain either connect to the top of that knockout where there is a hole that fits the soft rubber end of the washer discharge or that there be a pipe that is about 6" long where the washer hose attaches to the top and sits at a certain depth in the drain line. You would need to look at the washer specs to figure that depth.
 
Mitchell-DIY-Guy said:
If it’s truly a Levitt house or other mass built tract house, then there are a lot of houses real close that are identical. Have you considered asking a few of the neighbors about their laundry drain set up? Maybe this works. If not you’ll at least get a good idea of what others have done over the years.

Those Levitt houses were built very very quickly and very very cheaply back in the 40s and 1950s. Very few survive in their original configuration because it didn’t work or last into the modern era.

You can also probably place a call to the local city or town‘s plumbing inspector, because if there have been a lot of changes to this set up over the years he would probably know about them.

There were many of these homes around where I grew up on Long Island in New York, and they all started with radiant heat buried in the concrete slab... so Jackhammering up concrete might buy you more trouble than you are expecting.
Click to expand...

Hey @Mitchell-DIY-Guy - they were actually built by Mr. Levitt! AND, believe it or not fetching prices up over $400k (for the larger, updated models).

I'd have to think they were somewhat cutting-edge back then with there under-floor hydronic heating (all of which is bad). Think I read somewhere that, once the foundation was done, they could have a finished unit done in 1-week!?

@PerplexedPlumber - look at the second pic, that is the bottom of the 1" run going into the slab
 
Extending sympathies. I like Mitchell-DIY-Guy's suggestion about contacting the plumbing inspector, so you don't have to come back out later.
 
Good luck! I hope you can find an easier solution.
 
Just so that you know a lot of plumbing codes have changed from 1 1/2 drain pipe for a washing machine to 2 inch. The reason being the newer front loading machines drain more water in less time than the older top loading machines, this caused over flow out of the connection, So if this is my house did up the connection and change it ti 2 inch ,
 
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