Expanding Your Master Bath
Bathroom Remodeling > Bathroom Advice > Expanding Your Master Bath

Relocating existing plumbing in an expansion project can be a headache without the proper know-how. If your house was built on a crawl space, then all you'll need to do is reroute the water lines underneath the floor. But if it was built on a concrete slab, you're going to have to get a little more creative in your endeavors. Don't worry; there is a way to do this without having to bust up a lot of concrete in the process.

First, it helps to know if there's any existing plumbing within the walls of the room that you're expanding into. With a little luck you'll be able to tie into the plumbing of an adjacent bathroom or washroom. If you know the contractor that built your home, schedule an appointment with them as soon as possible. Chances are good that they'll still have the plumbing blueprint for the house, especially if it's fairly new. If not, get with the realty company that you bought the house from and see if they know.

If the room that you're expanding into doesn't have any existing plumbing, then you're going to have to relocate your water lines back into the outside walls. You can accomplish this by cutting a small channel into the concrete floor that will lead the water lines into the wall. When the job is complete the channel can be filled in with concrete and smoothed over to match the existing floor. For this project you'll need a hammer drill and a skill saw fitted with a blade designed to cut concrete.

Grab a four foot level and draw a line on each side and about an inch back from the existing pipes, and extending all the way to the front of the outside wall. Leave a half inch of space on each side of the pipes to allow enough room for you to move the pipes inside the channel. Set a 3/4 inch dept on the skill saw and cut the channel out along your lines. Now use the flat tip on the hammer drill to knock out the channel. Be careful not to damage the water lines while doing this. Clean any loose material from the channel and get ready to reroute your water lines.

Cut the existing water lines about an inch above the bottom of your channel. Remember, more is better here. If you cut the pipes to short you won't be able to get a fitting on the pipe. Use a few regular and straight elbows to direct the water lines down along the channel and into the outside wall. Leave as much space between the pipes as the channel will allow. Remember to mark your hot and cold lines inside the wall. Now you can simply cover the channel with a little wet concrete and smooth out the area.

The same process can be used to move existing drains as long as you keep the fall on the pipe in mind. Use a torpedo level to keep no more than 1/4 bead of fall toward the main trunk line in any one direction. I cannot emphasize this enough. To little fall on the pipe will cause your drains to back up from the fixture side. Too much fall and you're liable to stop up a fitting at the trunk side.

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