Most plumbing plans are prepared by a draughtsman who knows very little about the niceties of plumbing design and who gives the layout but little study. Consequently, very few sets of plans are submitted for estimates which cannot be improved upon. In some cases architects wish their drawings followed closely, whether or not the layout is economical; but when the architect will permit changes to be made and the contractor is at liberty to improve the installation much material can often be saved. A few examples will be given to illustrate the way fixtures and stacks may be changed in order to economize material and labor.

In Fig. 29 is shown the layout of fixtures in the bath rooms and kitchens of a row of flats. A line of 5-inch soil pipe, with an accompanying 3-inch yent stack, was planned for the two bath rooms on each floor, and a line of 3-inch waste pipe accompanied by a 2-inch vent stack was to be run for the kitchen sinks and laundry tubs. In estimating and installing the work the estimator dispensed with the waste and vent stacks for the sinks and laundry tubs, and by rearranging the fixtures and changing the location of the soil stack to the position shown in Fig. 30 effected a better and, at the same time, more economical installation. In planning the work a double angle Y, similar to Fig. 16, was used for outlets to the two closets, and a double Y with 2-inch branches calked into the angle Y, provided outlets for the kitchen fixtures on one side and the bath tubs and lavatories on the other. By this arrangement of fixtures and stacks not only were the time and material which would have been required for the separate kitchen stacks saved, but that saving was effected without the use of an extra fitting on the soil stack and with a considerable saving of labor roughing-in the bathrooms, which were made simpler by the change.

Fig. 29.

In roughing-in the work provision was made for an 8-inch partition in which to conceal the pipes, and nothing showed in the respective rooms but the short lengths of pipe from fixtures to wall.

Another example of the economy of rearranging fixtures may be cited in the case of a hotel in which the work, as originally laid out, was to have been as shown in Fig. 31. The illustration is a reproduction of the original drawing, showing the layout of fixtures and run of pipes for each of the 100 bath rooms. Owing to the soil stack having been indicated as exposed in a closet to one side of one of the bath rooms it became necessary to run all the roughing-in pipes under the bath room ceilings and all exposed. How the vent pipes were to be run was not shown, but no matter; by the time they were in, the partitions around the bath rooms would have been a network of pipes. It will be observed that under the ceiling of the bath rooms on each floor about 15 feet of 4-inch soil pipe would have to be run and supported with hangers, while 5 branches and about 20 feet of 2-inch pipe would likewise be required. All of this unnecessary piping was saved, the work simplified and hundreds of dollars' worth of labor economized by rearranging the fixtures as shown in Fig. 32 and running all the pipes in the partitions, which were made deep enough to conceal them. In addition to the saving effected by simplifying the design, no drainage pipes were exposed in any of the bath rooms, closets or other rooms of the building, but were concealed, as they should be, for large drain pipes are far from being ornamental in rooms.

Fig. 30.

Fig. 31.