Kitchen & bathroom remodel plumbing

A remodel is where plumbing decisions get made by people looking at a drawing rather than at a building, and where the cost of a bad decision is discovered by whoever lays the tile.

Supply moves easily. Waste does not.

This is the single most useful thing to know before a layout is agreed.

Supply pipework is small, pressurised and can be routed almost anywhere. Waste relies on gravity. It needs consistent fall, it needs venting, and the further it travels the more depth it eats.

That is why a bathroom layout that looks fine on a plan sometimes cannot be built without dropping a ceiling below, and why moving a toilet three feet is a different order of job from moving a basin three feet.

In a condo it is tighter again: the stack and riser belong to the building, and what can be re-routed within a unit is limited by what the building allows and by what is physically in the slab.

Ask before it is drawn. A ten-minute conversation at layout stage saves more money than anything else on a remodel.

The stages

Layout and survey. What is actually there, what can move, and what the building will allow. In older Miami Beach and Coral Gables properties this is also where we find out what the existing waste is — because a remodel over failing cast iron is a remodel you will be doing twice.

Strip-out. Removing fixtures and existing pipework, capping safely, and leaving the space ready for the trades that follow.

Rough-in. Supply, waste and vent set out to the finished dimensions — not the framing dimensions. This is the part that decides whether the trim lands where it should.

Test and inspection. Pressure tested and presented for inspection where inspection applies, before anything is closed.

Trim-out. Fixtures, valves, trim and appliance connections set, connected and tested.

Setting out against the finish

Rough-in has to allow for what goes on top of it: the tile, the backer board, the cabinetry, the countertop.

Getting that wrong is the classic remodel failure — a waste that lands an inch off, a valve set at the framing depth rather than the finished depth, a supply that emerges behind where the cabinet back will be. None of it shows until the finishes go on, and by then it is expensive.

So we agree finished dimensions with whoever is making them, rather than working from the drawing alone. Where the tile setter has not been appointed yet, we set out to the allowance and tell you what it assumes.

Working alongside other trades

Most remodels have several trades in a small space. We sequence with the framers, electricians and HVAC crew, and tell you early if something threatens the program rather than on the day it slips.

Where the property is occupied, we agree which fixtures stay in service and when water goes off, so a family is not discovering at 8am that there is no bathroom.

All work is completed to the Florida Building Code and presented for inspection where inspection applies, by a licensed Florida contractor, Lic. #CFC1433820.

The thing worth checking first

If the property was built before the mid-1970s and the drains are original, establish their condition before the remodel, not during it. Opening a floor twice costs far more than looking once. See cast-iron drain replacement.

The order things have to happen in

Remodels go wrong on sequence more often than on workmanship. The plumbing has three separate appearances on site, and each one has to land between the right pair of other trades.

Strip-out comes after the space is cleared and before the framers make any changes. Anything found here — failing waste, a stack that is not where the drawing says — is cheapest to deal with now.

Rough-in comes after framing and before drywall and tile backer. This is the immovable one. Once board goes on, moving a waste is a demolition job rather than a plumbing job.

Trim-out comes after tile, after the cabinetry is set, and after the countertop is templated and fitted. Setting fixtures before the finishes are in is how they get damaged and how they end up at the wrong height.

If a program compresses, it is usually rough-in that gets squeezed, and rough-in is the stage with the least tolerance for being rushed. We will say so rather than agreeing to it quietly.

What affects the cost

• Whether waste moves. The biggest single factor.
• How far, and through what. Slab, wall or ceiling void are three different jobs.
• Fixture count and the number of wet walls.
• Condo constraints. Association approval, insurance certificates, booked elevators, restricted hours and scheduled shut-offs all take time.
• What is found on strip-out. We stop and re-quote rather than adding it to the invoice.
• Whether the existing pipework is sound. Remodelling over failing pipe is not a saving.