Wastewater pipes and home construction

Why wastewater pipes cannot go anywhere

Sewer pipes (wastewater pipes) from your house usually have to be connected to the town system. If there’s no town system, then depending on the regulations, as well as the geology of your property, you may have to construct a sewer storage tank which has to be regularly pumped into a truck. Alternatively it could flow into a septic tank and French drain system. If your house is located in a clayey area, or on rock, then a septic tank and French drain won’t work. Always consult experts if there’s no town sewage system to connect your new house to.
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Sewer pipes can’t flow uphill unless you install a pumping system which is expensive. Sewer pipes feed from the drains in your home's bathrooms and kitchen to the local town system outside your property. Normally sewer pipes should fall at a constant rate of no less than one in sixty (check your local regulations) which means that for every sixty metres (sixty yards) of pipe the lower end must be at least one metre (three foot) below the higher end. This does depend on the type of pipe and building regulations. When there’s insufficient fall the solid material won’t flow down the pipe and results in a blockage.

Image by ReliableMidget from Pixabay

​Sewer pipes also need to be a minimum level below the ground level so they can’t easily be damaged (they could be squashed or broken by vehicles driving over them, or pierced by gardening tools). Obviously sewer pipes shouldn’t be above ground level where they are unsightly, can be damaged and create an obstruction. The location of bathrooms in houses on large properties, or ones where the location of the town sewer is at the higher end of the property could be dictated by their distance from the town system and the depth of the town sewer pipes relative to the floor level of the bathroom. Pipes near the surface will need protection so they aren’t broken.

Often sewer pipes are deep and are below the other utility lines, so it’s always best to install the sewer lines before the other pipes and cables are installed, and probably at an early stage of construction. Sewer pipes are often installed under floor slabs and are one of the first items to be connected. Always ensure that the open ends of all pipes are adequately protected to prevent sand, concrete and rubbish entering the pipe. 

For more on plumbing and home construction and renovations read this article: Staging plumbing and electrical when building and renovating houses
​And this article:
Understanding plumbing when planning a new home or renovation.

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