Replies

1. 
   UncleDunc | Mar 13, 2004 05:50pm | #1

   Where do you live?

2. 
   DanH | Mar 13, 2004 08:03pm | #2

   What Dunc said: Where do you live? Without special precautions this would not be legal where I live (Minnesota) but it's probably fine in Tennessee.

   In cold areas you should even be wary of running it near the wall, then boxing it in, without additional insulation or some ventillation from the warm side.

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Mar 13, 2004 09:02pm | #3

   rob.. this is a 4" drain ?... run it any place you want.... there is almost no way this is ever going to be a freezing problem... it's not a horizontal run... it's a dropMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   DanH | Mar 13, 2004 09:17pm | #4

   > rob.. this is a 4" drain ?... run it any place you want.... there

   > is almost no way this is ever going to be a freezing problem...

   > it's not a horizontal run... it's a drop

   Oh? What if the toilet has a slow leak?

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Mar 13, 2004 09:29pm | #5

   dan it's still a drop... and a 4" drop...ever see 4" drains run outside a house in vermont ?... a lot of the old homes that were built without indoor plumbing use that route..

    i certainly wouldn't give a vertical drop in an exterior wall a 2d thought.. supplys and horizontal runs.. ok.. avoid it like the plague..

   Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

2. 
   greggo | Mar 17, 2004 06:11pm | #9

   Hey Mike :Just wondering,will that exterior wall be a lot colder(because of less insulation) where that 3"or 4" drop would be?Or is it not really worth worrying about.

   Thanks Greg

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Mar 17, 2004 07:14pm | #10

   gregg.. it should be about the same as the stud next to it..

    IE:  if you  are worried about the thermal bridging of the stud.. then worry about the thermal bridging of the pipeMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   greggo | Mar 18, 2004 03:38pm | #12

   Thanks Mike:In the new house I'm building I had a hard time roughing in the vertical drop for the main drain(big old micro-lam in the way)It's good to know that next time I have the option of an exterior wall.

   Stay safe Greg

3. 
   NickNukeEm | Mar 13, 2004 09:35pm | #6

   My house was built in 1985 and has a 3" waste stack located in an exterior wall that travels from the masterbath on the second floor to the basement.   We've never had a problem.  (2x6 walls, insulated on exterior side of bay.  I watched it being built.) 

   Can't say if it's not allowed by code, I only know that it has worked for us, and I'm with Mike Smith, it's a vertical drop; nothings hanging around to freeze.  I suppose a slow leaking terlet could eventually freeze up, but that would mean the interior (where the waste flange is located) would be below freezing also, in which case you have bigger leaks in store.

   My only gripe is the noise.  The stack is PVC and the computer sits next to the wall, about 3 feet away from the stack, so anytime the terlet upstairs is flushed, everybody in the living room can hear the falling water/whatever.

   I never met a tool I didn't like!
1. 
   RobKress | Mar 14, 2004 04:03am | #7

   Sorry guys, my rookie move.....

   I live in Cleveland, Ohio.  We had some wicked cold temp this January but I'm of the opinion that the vertical drop would probably be ok.  Is there any issue with the code?

   Thanks for all of your recommendations.

   Rob Kress

1. 
   brownbagg | Mar 14, 2004 05:29am | #8

   you got to be careful because a 4 inch pipe really will not fit in a six in wall. It is better tight. You might be able to drop straight down but any coupler or bends you cutting very close.

2. 
   Woodbutcher | Mar 17, 2004 08:43pm | #11

   One thing you aren't considering...

   A buddy of mine built a house with pretty much the same scenario you are describing.  The drain stack ran all the way from the master bath on the top floor, down the exterior wall and right into the floor in the basement.  The house shrunk enough in the next two years (lumber does shrink as it dries, ask any siding guy about this problem.)  that the soil pipe actually lifted the toilet off the floor almost an inch!    You ought to have a vertical run somewhere in the line to let some flex action in the pipe take care of this.