The plumbing connections to the main water lines are made in this part of the basement bathroom project. If I make a mistake and have a leak or a connection bursts, I could have a flooding problem and water damage.
The T-fittings to the house mains for hot and cold water are indicated by the red arrows in the picture below.
Hot and Cold Water Plumbing Connections
The plumbing connections are built from bottom to top, starting at the T-fittings at the bottom center of the photo below. Notice the shutoff ball valves with the red handles for hot and cold water. These are a nice-to-have option. I’m thinking of adding a kitchenette in the basement and the shutoff valves will be a big convenience when working on the plumbing.
Riser Pipes and Ball Valves
Below is a closeup of the SharkBite T-fittings. A huge plus of the fittings is they freely rotate, making the 45 degree elbow installation really simple (red arrow).
BTW – That gnawed out area of the 2×4 stud to the right where the pipe passes through is the work of the contractor that finished the basement under the previous owners. If this had happened under my watch, I would’ve made the contractor replace the stud and drill a proper hole. It’s more of a cosmetic and quality concern than a structural issue (“everything is built by the low bidder”). I’ll fill in the area later with Great Stuff expanding foam to prevent rattling water pipes.
SharkBite T-Fittings for Hot and Cold Water
The ball valves to the shutoff the water to the entire bathroom are sweat-type solder connections.
Shutoff Ball Valves
A bracing block for the copper riser pipes is marked and drilled. This keeps the pipe aligned vertically and provides bracing when filled with Great Stuff to prevent rattles.
Bracing Block for Riser Pipes
The 45 degree elbows for the connections for the ‘dog leg’ to the main water supply are dry fitted first, then taken down and soldered together at the workbench. This way, I avoided soldering in awkward positions on the ladder. Copper tubing is very soft and held gently in the bench vise.
Workbench Solder Connections
Dry fitting the cold water (left dog leg) pipe fittings. The 45 degree elbows for the hot water piping (right side) has already been soldered together.
Dog Legs for the Overhead Plumbing Connections
The cold water supply dog leg is soldered together at the work bench.
Cold Water Dog Leg Soldered Together
Here’s how the assembled riser pipes look in perspective.
Hot and Cold Water Riser Pipes
The bottom ends are soldered into the ball valves (red handles).
Riser Pipes Soldered into Ball Valves
Main Water Supply Connections
Now I’m ready to cut the main water supply pipes and install the T-fittings for the bathroom plumbing. If I mess this up, I could have a leak or a worse a burst connection flooding the basement.
To prepare for cutting into the main water pipes, it’s necessary to:
- Shut off the water to the entire house, either at the water meter by the street or the main shutoff valve in the basement.
- Drain the water from pipes by opening all of the faucets in the house and letting the pipes drain out through the garden hose bib at the basement deck. (This will introduce air into the water pipes, making for much sputtering when the water is turned back on.)
In the next photo, I’ve already installed the SharkBite T-fitting for the hot water supply and starting to cut a section out of the cold water pipe. This is a measure 3 times and cut once operation – if I cut out too long a pipe section, I’ll have to cut an even longer section and install a straight connector to fix the mistake. Fortunately, I got it right the 1st time on both T-fittings.
Tapping into the Cold Water Supply
The second cut is being made on the 3/4 inch cold water main for the T-fitting.
This is where the SharkBite system really shines because water was running out of the pipe despite my efforts to drain the system. I stemmed the water flow by elevating the pipe with a 2×4 block. If I had been using a solder fitting, it’d been next to impossible to solder the joint with water in the pipe as any water in the pipe keeps cools the joint and the solder will not wick into the fitting. SharkBite push-fit connectors work fine wet or dry!
2nd Cut on Cold Water Main for T-Fitting
The T-fittings are installed by flexing the horizontal pipe ends upward a few inches and slipping the ends into the SharkBite T-fitting. The vertical riser pipe is then slipped into the center opening of the T connector.
Installed SharkeBite T-Fittings
It’s 17 feet from the overhead water mains to the bottom of the sewage basin.
Sewage Basin and Copper Plumbing
A survey of the completed copper pipe connections from floor to ceiling follows in the next three photos:
Hot and Cold Water Plumbing Connections
Mid-level Piping - Shower Valve and Shutoffs
Shower Valve and Supply T-Fittings
Testing for Leaks
Time for the “big event” – turning on the water and checking for leaks. I had a helper with a cell phone stand in the utility room while I turned on the main water valve to house. My helper would let me know if anything went wrong. The air was bled out of the faucets and water pressure restored. No leaks!
With a 5 gallon bucket to catch the water, I turned on the shower and checked the hot and cold water flow. Everything was OK. Then I checked the water flow from the 1/4 turn ball stop valves at the toilet supply and vanity. These too were fine with no leaks! All SharkBite connectors and solder joints held fast.
In the next phase of this project, I’ll install the sewage pump and sewer pipe connections.
Take care,
Bob Jackson
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I am installing a basement bathroom with rough in and need to know how much of the sewage line that is capped off that goes into the basin I should leave
Are you talking about the capped 4″ PVC pipe for the commode as shown in this photo?
If so, you can saw it off even with the concrete floor. The toilet flange extends several inches into the PVC sewer pipe and adjusts to fit the finished tile (or wood) floor. I laid the tile first, then sawed it off even with the tile. If I were to do it again, I’d saw it off even with the concrete to get it out of the way before laying tile.
Thanks,
Bob
Bob, thank you for posting this. Sorry for a stupid question, but could you explain a little more how you connected SharkBite tees to the water main? I need to tap into a copper line (underground) for my irrigation system. As far as I understand, sharkbite grabs the pipe as soon as you insert one into it. How would you insert one end and then slip the tee onto another when it would grab the first one right away?
You say “The T-fittings are installed by flexing the horizontal pipe ends upward a few inches and slipping the ends into the SharkBite T-fitting.” Did you flex them enough to increase the distance between two ends enough to slip into the fitting at the same time?
Not at the same time, rather one end then the other, which minimized the gap needed to install the SharkBite fitting.
I slipped the SharkBite fitting over one side of the copper pipe first, then pushed/flexed the other side of the copper pipe just enough to insert the pipe into the SharkBite fitting. I was lucky it was a long run of copper pipe that allowed for some bending.
Careful measuring is critical before cutting into the copper pipe. I practiced with some scrap pipe to be certain I had it right and understood the required clearances for the fitting.