Help! Does this look right?

[confusedhorsham]

HI all, looking for some help.
We are having a loft extension done. So far no serious issues and builder seems trustworthy and competent. He has subcontracted plumbing work and plumber has already installed a new combi boiler which involved moving location from loft to downstairs utility. Had no problems with this and works fine.
They are now working on the 1st fix for the loft ensuite. Cam home today to find the soil pipe positioning as per the pic below. Very surprised to find it coming out through the roof tiles and apparently unsupported for a span of 2-3 feet?
Any advice welcome, does it look ok to you. We think its ugly but more worried about whether it works

 

[confusedhorsham]

So the latest installment............

Still don't have a solution to our soil pipe issue. Plumber apparently will pop round but builder not sure when and doesn't seem happy about it LOL that makes 2 of us!!!

And the new boiler that we were really pleased with is now playing up. Intermittently making really loud noise and pressure reading charging up then returning to normal. Electronic display going haywire. Builder / plumber suggested solution "try turning it off and on again".

So builder promising plumber will return to "take a look" but no idea when and if it turns out to be faulty then Worcester Bosch need to sort out. Ho hum.

 

[confusedhorsham]

and another quick update. Woken up at 5.30am by amazing noise from the boiler as heating clicked on (ah ha, something wrong with the heating bit then).
Got tired of waiting for the plumber to bother to contact us so the wife rang Worcester Bosch for advice. They were able to tell us immediately it would be too much water in the sealed pressurised heating system (I think) as should only be to 1-1.5. Hilarious as the plumber turned up tonight and she was able to lecture him on what needs fixing. Anyway boiler now seems to be running correctly and quietly, hope that lasts

Next update hopefully whats the solution to the soil pipe balls up

 

[fuzzy]

keep us posted

 

[david williams]

this was proberly put in by builder not a plumber,but then anyone can be a plumber!!,its only a 12 week course to be a master plumber so should only take a week to be a competant plumber.tell you builder what you want ,and talk to your plumber,you will of course find it is all down to cost.

 

[david williams]

weather with pupose made lead slate where it passes through roof,but by looks of soil pipe work this plumber !! will proberly not know how to do this.

 

[Reg Man]

Agree about stench pipe being to close to the proposed window. Looks terrible going throught the roof tiles. Question? Are you allowed to put offset bends on a verticle droping soil stack if it is carring WC waste? I don't think so. Can only offset the verticle in the vent part.

 

[shorticus]

this was proberly put in by builder not a plumber,but then anyone can be a plumber!!,its only a 12 week course to be a master plumber so should only take a week to be a competant plumber.tell you builder what you want ,and talk to your plumber,you will of course find it is all down to cost.

David, perhaps you'd like to check out another thread, it's over 100 comments and still going strong.
http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/p...-plumber-do-plumbing-work-money-new-post.html

 

[plumbster3456]

boiler looks surprisingly good after seeing the soil pipework. maybe builder told plumber to go through roof as the builder usually tell me what way to route pipes etc as they are the ones with plans / drawings.
I think after looking at his boiler install this is the case

 

[PlumbBobBob]

you could be onto something there plumbster.

 

[confusedhorsham]

So another day another update.
Called the builder in for a bit of a frank discussion. Talked about the boiler installation being botched (plumber admits didnt check the CH pressure requirement just fitted as would normally, our boiler is bigger than normal so caught him out), soil pipe issue and what we're gonna do about it, his guys putting their foot through the ceiling and buggering off without telling anyone, leaving plasterboard out in the rain so ruined and numerous other niggles.

Wonder if after all that we will be able to crack on, finish the job, have a nice house we can live in, look back on this and larf???

 

[Avatar]

this was proberly put in by builder not a plumber,but then anyone can be a plumber!!,its only a 12 week course to be a master plumber so should only take a week to be a competant plumber.tell you builder what you want ,and talk to your plumber,you will of course find it is all down to cost.

Where does this information come from man? - I have been at it for a good few years and I am a long way away from being a master plumber even!

It most certianly does not take a week to become a compent plumber!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[plumbster3456]

Where does this information come from man? - I have been at it for a good few years and I am a long way away from being a master plumber even!

It most certianly does not take a week to become a compent plumber!!!!!!!!!!!!

more like 12 years before you can class yourself as a master plumber. the older guys who done 5 years donkey years ago are master plumbers.
I have been doing plumbing for 13 years or something and I am still learning new things I dont class myself as a master plumber.
I think this thing you got going on in England is an absolute joke how can you become a plumber in 12 weeks? after 12 weeks you will be the master tea maker

 

[dontknowitall]

I'm a jack - not a master.

Not sure I'll ever reach master (and no intention of doing so either). As long as I can do a reasonably good job for an acceptable price, maintain a cheery outlook, keep within the rules and, most important of all, keep my customers happy then I'll be happy.

 

[stevetheplumber]

often difficult getting soils into loft conversion,s the comments about the hight of the open vent may well be wrong if the vent is over ten foot from the window its ok looking closely at the picture it may well be as the scaffold boards are normally 10fts i would be more worried about the 2 square bends under the gutter and the lack of rodding eyes cant see in the loft but you mat well need a durgo valve or another vent

 

[confusedhorsham]

So our saga is over. Crappy soil pipe arrangement taken out and new one in place that runs the length of the extension and exits the rear wall to fall straight to the sewer. Looks ok to us but what do you think?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

if its the one on the end of the house looks a mess to me

 

[shorticus]

your plumber really seems to have a bit of a fetish with elbows, no need for them above the tee

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i'm sure it still should be above the level of the windows in the roof extension if you have a breeze blowing towards the windows it might blow sewer smells from the stack.

 

[Reg Man]

Vast improvement, but; may be I'm being picky. The verticle stack below a soil branch should be dead straight no offests or bends until it reaches the slipper bend below ground. OK difficult in an idolistic world, Planning old school plumbing training; I would not do this in the way the builder has.

 

[oldplumber]

lol, no other comment needed

 

[tiling spread]

have you used wc and stood in the room under all the pipe work over your head just see it now lying in bed and you hear last nights dogy take away runing over your head love it get that plumber and stick a ppe up his erm well i cant say on here lol

 

[plumbster3456]

100% improvement and in the real world stacks going straight down all the way is some times not possible.
and considering the limited options it looks like you have to run the soil pipe I would say it is probably the best you are going to get with it.

 

[stevetheplumber]

your plumber really seems to have a bit of a fetish with elbows, no need for them above the tee

the elbows are there to ofset out infront of the tiles which obviously overhang the wall and above top branch they dont need to be 45s
i would be concerned about the length of the run through the building has it got sufficent fall i would have brought the bathroom end out through the roof as a extra vent and run up above the windows you could have probably got away with a two inch vent
as some one else has said rules sometimes need to be bent a bbit to get jobs done in the real world

 

[stevetheplumber]

it has to be 1 meter above a window or 3 meters away

 

[Bad Religion]

So they don't make black soil pipe anymore?

 

[shorticus]

they dont need to be 45s

...but 90s look cr*p, surely a couple of m+f 135s glued into place would've given just enough offset to clear?

And as the drains are adequately vented by the stack on the side of the house why not do away with the vent at the end altogether, just have a durgo inside?

 

[julesverne]

wouldn't it have been a better and a cheaper option to install a macerator to deal with the waste? also the length of waste inside the roof looks way too long and not a sufficient fall to be effective over such a distance, also i do not see any access/rodding points which would be a good idea given the length.

 

[confusedhorsham]

Thanks to everyone for their constructive (or otherwise) comments.
For us this new arrangement works for the moment at least so we are going to stick with it and make sure we can get access into the roof space in case we get any problems.
What is interesting is there seems to be no standard way to do this (look at all the different options offered in this thread) so whether you get a decent job or not depends entirely on the professionalism and integrity of the individual plumber. I'm sure loads of plumbers are absolute diamonds but ours seems like a bit of a lemon to us (soil pipe, buggered up the pressure on a new boiler, cant seem to fit a shower properly) so he wont be getting our next job.
Thanks once again, didn't think these forums worked but helped us a lot
Cheers

 

[tscplumbing]

Get it ripped out and done properly!