John Lansing

These chain-link fences are a menace.

Do it! Just think of the posts that will come of it.

What an absolute masterpiece.

Me peering through the fence of every construction site I pass by.

Diagram from NPCC of suds relief requirements

Diagrams from NPCC of connection clearance zones from other stacks

The suds relief requirements are an interesting point here, particularly since the NPCC copy/pasted NYC’s requirements which are much more restrictive than all other model codes. Adding another stack however only further complicates the connections where everything transitions horizontally.

1. The NPCC limits 2 inch wet vents in a scenario like this to 3 fixture units, which would exceed capacity here (according to the code, but this is nonsense in terms of actual loading conditions). The drainage fixture units are different in the UPC but the result is the same.
2. Agreed on this.

After talking with a local expert, a more likely possibility here is that this single stack is for a bathtub and this is separated from the other fixtures to avoid upsizing the horizontal drain to a 3 inch! Oversizing strikes again!

Yeah, it was pretty bad. I left the site after that and flew home. Thankfully I felt the nail quickly and it didn’t go in too deep. They literally left a flat head nail sitting up on the floor of a dark corridor! Who does that??

Photo from Google review of water filling the floor

Looks like sprinklers already flooded the place. I did my punch walk right before March of 2020 so people probably moved in a few months after. This place is still new!

I had to pursue an AMMR from the city to install a few AAVs at the outdoor sinks by the pool instead of giant exposed vent pipes looking like flag poles. These are very much not legal in California but they granted my request!

Arrow pointing to a nearby block

Actually it was the site next door!

I’ll never forget this project because I stepped on a nail in a poorly lit hallway while doing a site walk. 💀

Oh hey, I designed the plumbing for this building.

It’s for the stack that the horizontal wet vent fixtures connect into (WC, lavatory, bathtub).

Diagram of a drainage stack with a vent stack

This is likely a vent for the stack directly. Vent stacks are required for buildings with 5 stories or more in the NPCC, 6 story buildings in the IPC, and 10 story buildings in the UPC. The one to the right isn’t needed though, so it may be an erroneously specified stack or an even a storm drain.

The complexity between the fully vented configuration and the single stack is easy to see.

The piping in the background is a horizontal wet vent configuration.

The two holes adjacent to the P-trap are likely for the HW and CW risers to each unit, which are often located in the wall of the laundry closet.

This variation is also known as the Detroit single stack, added to the National Plumbing Code of Canada in 1985 and the BOCA plumbing code in 1990 (now in the IPC). It’s limited in application but the allowance for washing machines is incredibly valuable.

Photo from a post tension concrete residential building with cast-iron drainage piping installed

Zoomed in section of original photo with a red circle around the single stack

A single stack spotted, possibly for a washing machine or a floor drain. 👀 I had to submit an AMMR to do this on a project in Portland.

Sounds great. I’ll DM you.

It’s literally perfect.

Incredible that this is just a short walk from one of the densest neighborhoods in North America.

Photo of rendering that was submitted to the city on the same site in 2022. https://www.cejohn.com/properties/nw-23rd-marhall/

I’m just mad this got delayed 4 years, and they took 2 floors away and added a parking lot.

What would it have taken to make this a point access block?

Screenshot from original image with floor plans, showing almost all studio apartments on a double loaded corridor

I’m thrilled to see this site finally move forward…but this floor plan. 💀

Toilet class! Amazing.

No, but miasma pseudoscience was wildly accepted even by medical doctors until the end of the 19th century, which happened to overlap with the early development of plumbing theory and codes.

After all, the notion that vent pipes would save more lives than fire escapes preceded the 1881 regulations, so a proposal to eliminate vent pipes was a proposal to remove a critical life safety system for the building. That was the perception at least.

Putnam and Waring were unsuccessful with efforts to overturn the 1881 NYC trap venting requirement, which were soon replicated in other cities.