Plumbing Plan

Q) What is meant by Plumbing Plan?

Plumbing Plan consists of the following:

a) Identification of all the plumbing points in the building. For example, plumbing needs in bathrooms, kitchen, utility area, garden, car shed, dining area, etc.

b) Identification of Internal materials (like PVC pipes) and External materials called as plumbing fixtures (like Chromium Plated (CP) fittings).

c) Identification of pump / water motor power and location of the same.

d) Identification of overhead water tank size and underground sump size.

e) Identification of drainage lines.

f) Identification of size of septic tank / external connecting sump.

g) Estimation for Plumbing Internal Materials.

h) Estimation for Plumbing External Materials.

i) Estimation for Drainage Materials.

j) Estimation for Geysers, Solar Water Heaters, Motors, Water Level Controllers and Pressure Pump.

Q) Why should a 'Prospect Owner' bother about Plumbing Plan when the builder can take care of that?

Builder will provide only the standard fittings. Also some not-so-professional builder may fit some cheap fittings which may create lot of trouble for the 'Prospect Owner' in the long run. If this Plumbing Plan is prepared with the help of 'Prospect Owner', the occupant of the house will have a comfortable living since this is one thing used most often by everyone everyday.

Q) How to identify various plumbing points in a Plumbing Plan?

Start with each location. The list provides some basic plumbing points. There can be more depending on individual needs.

a) Kitchen

1. Tap for drinking water

2. Tap for well/borewell water

3. Tap for Solar Water.

4. Sink with provision for tap to connect just cold or cold & hot water.

5. Tap / angle valve for water filter.

6. Towel Ring near sink (yes, this is part of plumbers work).

7. Geyser point for Hot Water and valve arrangement (for solar / geyser combination).

To explain the last point: In many European and American countries, it is a common practice to have both hot and cold water in the Kitchen Sink. An instant geyser is connected to the hot water connection so that when a person opens the hot water tap (which will be a two-in-one tap which can mix both hot and cold water), the instant geyser operates and hot water is obtained instantly from the tap.

b) Bathroom

1. Tap for Wash Basin – cold water / cold & hot water.

2. Stopper for Wash Basin.

3. Connection point for Wash Basin – cold water.

4. Connection point for Wash Basin – hot water.

5. Mirror in front of the Wash Basin (yes, this is also part of plumbers work).

6. Wall Mixture for Hot and Cold Water

7. Optional tap for ‘Sump’ water (means, by default Cold Water is well / borewell water).

8. Provision for Solar Water Heater Tap.

9. Wall Shower and/or Hand Shower

10. Tap for Toilet (if Indian type WC is used)

11. Health Faucet for Toilet (for both Indian Type and Western Type WC).

12: Flush Unit for Toilet.

13. Towel Ring near Wash Basin.

14. Towel Rod (bigger one is better).

15. Stand to place items like shaving set, detergent powder box, etc.

16. Holder for Tooth brush, toothpaste, etc near wash basin.

17. Holder for Soap near Shower.

18. Paper Towel Holder near toilet (optional in India).

19. Shower rod (for screen).

20. Geyser inlet and outlet points.

21. Bathtub points (I’m not explaining in detail here because there are various models available and customer has to choose depending on their need and budget).

22. Any special arrangements like steam bath, etc.

c) Utility Area

1) Taps for Well water / Solar Water and Sump water.

2) Sink or sinks – because single sink may not be sufficient for some family.

3) Towel Ring near the sink.

4) Inlet valve for Washing Machine

d) Car Shed

1) Tap for cleaning the car

e) Garden

1) Taps at a distance of 10 feet to fetch water to Garden.

Q) How to identify internal materials in a Plumbing Plan?

Based on the various plumbing points identified, internal materials can be identified.

Few examples of Internal Materials are:

1. PVC Pipes for water from Over head tank to taps.

2. Heat Resistant Pipes (GI or other superior quality pipes) for Geyser / Solar Water outlets.

3. Valves – at different stages – few from Over head tank, few near the plumbing point, etc.

4. Drain Pipes – made of PVC.

The list is long. But it is better to identify all these before the plumber starts to execute.

Q) Why should a 'Prospect Owner' bother about Internal Materials in Plumbing Plan?

Because, Internal Materials are going to decide the fate of the plumbing quality of a building, it is better to bother at the beginning. Read “common mistakes in plumbing” section below to understand better.

Q) What are the common mistakes a not-so-professional Plumber may commit?

Some of the common mistakes are listed below:

Mistake 1. Not providing information about the size of over head water tank required.

I know a friend who built a Over Head Water Tank which was so big the tank never over flew for long time when the motor was on. That meant the size was so big for a small family. Another friend had the opposite problem. The tank was so small that he had to put the motor once every 4 hours as their number of family members were more.

Mistake 2. Not providing information about the power required for the water pump.

Some plumbers, to save money, put low power motor. The motor may not perform and it may take a long time to fill the tank. Also, some low power motors never reach the tank or may require regular maintenance. Note: If for a given requirement a 'Prospect Owner' puts a high power motor, it may not consume more electricity because the motor will fill the tank quickly compared to low power motor and the 'Prospect Owner' will switch off once the tank fills up.

Mistake 3. Not providing information about the type of motor.

Mistake 4. Not providing enough clearance for outlet pipes inside Over Head Water Tank .

Sometimes there may be some dust or sand accumulation in Over Head Water Tank. If enough clearance is not given between the outlet pipes and the bottom of the tank, those particles may enter the pipe lines and may clog the taps.

Mistake 5. Not providing enough Outlet pipes from Over Head Water Tank to avoid pressure loss.

Some plumbers, for their convenience and to save cost, provide just one or two outlet pipes from Over Head Water Tank to supply to all the bathrooms and other areas in the building. The problem with this arrangement is that it will be difficult to maintain and most importantly, the pressure may reduce in all the pipes if proper pressure pump is not installed. Most of the 'Prospect Owners’ doesn’t prefer pressure pump. This is applicable mainly for them.

Mistake 6. Not providing enough control valves for the pipes from the Over Head Water Tank.

Providing control valves would help maintain the system easily. Also in case of any failure in the tap, a control valve near the Over Head Water Tank will help reduce leakage. Also such valves can reduce pressure in the outlet pipe.

Mistake 7. Not providing good quality and correct size pipes.

To reduce cost, a not-so-professional plumber puts all low quality pipes which may create problem in the long run. A good quality pipe will serve for a longer duration without any problem. Also if the size of the pipe is bigger, the pressure will be good in the taps. The bigger size pipes will also help in places where there is high salt formation. Another aspect in this is, it is easy to work with PVC pipes compared to GI pipes (i.e. galvanized iron pipes) because PVC just needs a solution to join where as GI Pipes need a separate effort called “Thread Preparation” because which many plumbers don’t prefer it now-a-days.

Mistake 8. Not testing each and every pipe line for leakage during installation.

A not-so-professional plumber does not test the pipe line for leakage during installation. If this is done properly, the water seepage won’t be there.

Diagram 1: Water seepage in the walls due to bad plumbing.

Diagram 2: Water seepage has damaged this “wall picture” also. It may also lead to weakening of the wall and if any electrical circuit is on its way, may lead to electrical shock.

Mistake 9. Not following new technology there by incur more cost and effort.

In this internal piping, for hot water pipe, an insulation rope is used. This is due to the lack of knowledge about latest developments in construction industry by the plumber. Because there are heat resistant pipes which doesn’t need any insulation like this. Such pipes are also easy to fix and maintain in the long run compared to the rope-insulated pipes. Had the 'Prospect Owner' planned for the materials, this could have been avoided, irrespective of the knowledge of the plumber.

Mistake 10. Not taking care of costly fittings during installation, there by reducing its life-time.

Some not-so-professional plumbers don’t take care of costly fittings during installation. The mason, who closes these points with cement mix, doesn’t care what these objects are. They will just complete their task and leave. Since plumbing depends on masonry work, the plumber has to protect the costly fittings which are embedded inside the wall by putting protective cover as shown here. This way, the life of such fittings will improve.

Mistake 11. Not properly positioning the taps / plumbing fixtures.

I had seen in many places, the tap & the sink will be far away and some external pipe may link them both as shown in this picture. This may not be 100% mistake of the plumber. The 'Prospect Owner' didn’t do a proper “Wall Plan” because of which the plumber didn’t provide the tap at the required height. You may think that the plumber must have used his common sense. But my thinking would be – he wouldn’t have got enough money to apply his common sense (there must be some motivation even to apply common sense – isn’t it?). Such unmotivated plumbers are employed by not-so-professional builders.

Mistake 12. Using low quality fittings which may require huge maintenance cost.

If the not-so-professional builder does everything on a contract basis, he would mostly suggest his plumber to go for low quality fittings which may require huge maintenance in future. So, it is the responsibility of the 'Prospect Owner' to make an agreement with the builder to go for good quality materials.

Mistake 13. Not using proper basin for granite top wash basins.

Left Picture: The granite with the sink top above it is very difficult to clean when water spills over. Where as the granite with the sink top below the granite is easy to clean if water spills over.

Mistake 14. Not using P-Traps properly in the drainage system.

P-Traps prevent foul smell and small insects, especially cockroaches entering into the home. Many not-so-professional plumbers don’t use this P-Trap in the plumbing system. Since the customer is not aware of the internals of drainage system, they never bother when they buy it.

Mistake 15. In some toilets, the plumber will place the “Health Faucet” on the wrong side.

If “health faucet” is placed on the wrong side, it will be very difficult to use. This kind of mistake should be avoided using proper “Wall Plan” (means don’t blame the plumber alone).

Mistake 16. Not using proper cockroach traps in the drain.

One of the important fittings in plumbing is installation of cockroach traps in the drain. If this is not installed, insects and cockroach may enter through the drain. Also if some precious things like ring fall by mistake into the drain, these traps will save them from flowing into the drain.

Mistake 17. Very common mistake done by many plumbers – not testing the entire pipeline before masonry work.

The very common mistake by many plumbers is that they don’t test the entire pipeline before masonry work. The testing is done by filling the tank fully, closing all the plumbing points and wait for 3 to 4 days to identify any possible leakage in the pipeline. If there is any leak in any place, the plumber has to fix it. Once the masonry work is completed, doing this is very difficult. This would be the root cause for water seepage.

The list is bigger than this for the common mistakes done by not-so-professional plumber. It is important that the 'Prospect Owner' plans for all plumbing needs of their dream home so that the mistakes by plumber will be minimal.

Q) What if Plumbing Plan is not done?

The rework cost is nearly five times costlier if a 'Prospect Owner' wishes to rectify any mistake in plumbing. Rework in plumbing is not as simple as re-painting, etc. Hence it is better to do this plan before building construction.