Form Boards and Plumbing Rough

How 'bout them pipes?

When you drive by a home site in a neighborhood that has on-going construction you may notice that some of them just have a rough outline of a slab made out of what looks like 2×4’s.  That may stay there for several weeks before anything else happens.  Placing the form boards on the home site often happens before the builder has been issued building permits and that is why it stays there for so long.  The home site is surveyed and the lot dimensions are checked for accuracy.  The home site is “benched” meaning the vegetation is cleaned off the pad site where the forms will be placed.  The form boards are set according to the footprint of the home with 2×12’s.  The form is then surveyed to make sure they are on the property and out of any easements and within the building lines.  The next step is to obtain a permit.  A City Permit is an approval from the city to go ahead with construction.  By obtaining a permit the city has agreed to inspect the home at different stages of the building process.  No builder or remodeler can legally commence work with out a permit.  The next step is a drop of plumbing sand on the building site.  The sand is for bedding the pipes to give them cushion and fall.  The plumber begins digging where all of the plumbing lines will be placed inside and outside of the forms.  The plumbing lines installed in one day.  We install Zurn PEX water supply lines.  They are better than copper lines because they require fewer fittings and are more resistant to mineral lime and scale buildup.  PEX is more energy efficient because it does not dissipate heat as readily and it is better able to withstand freeze and thaw cycles because it can expand with a freeze and work just as well after it has thawed.  Once the lines are run, they are filled with water and we leave them filled to check for leaks.  The City Inspector will come to the site and conduct a Plumbing Rough inspection of all of the plumbing lines that will be concealed in the slab.  The Inspector will also look at the fittings to make sure they are installed correctly and make sure that they align correctly with the fall of the lines that will carry waste to the City Sewer lines.  And that my friend is the process from dirt to the plumbing rough.  Thanks Certified Graduate Builder Brooks Rowe for the consult on this Blog post!