Need Blueprints wrote:

The wife wants another bathroom. Since the current setup has the pipes
inside the slab I need to know where exactly. The two options I have
are chopping up my floor with a concrete saw or finding the pipe
outside. In my garage I have 2 inch pipe for the washer to drain out.
This pipe is not in the concrete, however, it is buried in hard pan
and I suspect it goes under the concrete patio at some point on its
way to the 4 inch pipe. Ideally I would build a second bathroom in the
area of the garage and use the 2 inch pipe for the sink, I just need
to find where the 4 inch pipe is to connect the toilet. Being the lazy
person I am I do not want to dig into 40 feet of hardpan and under
another 15 feet of concrete patio until I have a damn good idea of
where the 4 inch pipe is.

Ahh -- knowing the real goal makes things easier.

Plumbers can put radio- or noise-based things down the pipes, then use
a detector to find them from above the ground.

Don't waste your time with the blueprints. There are two major
problems, and many more minor ones that way:

* Most blueprints don't show the _path_ of the pipes, only the start
and end points. It's up to the workman to figure out the path.
Electrical plans show only a dotted-line arc from the switch to the
fixture. Plumbing can be even more free-wheeling, since it might show
only where the final fixture goes, leaving it up to the plumber to get
the pipe there from anywhere he likes.

* Even if the blueprints specify the path, which they might on a
large, complicated building, the workman _always_ runs into a problem
requiring him to deviate from the plan. A well-heeled customer will pay
for "as-built" plans, but those customers are mostly governments and
corporations.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX