Keep Calm and Dig Another Trench!

The old pipes

The new pipes

I have a lot of respect for designers as I struggle with ensuring all of my measurements are 100%.  When I design things I often try to "eyeball it" and then figure it out after.  Which is a slight problem when the work is as extensive as the work we intend to do in our basement.  I normally do a lot of moving around the space and squatting to imagine the actual size of a toilet, etc ... Being fully aware that if I took out a tape measure I would know for sure if these things would fit but I continue to do my thing.  Unfortunately, I was unable to use my "procedure" for a lot of the basement stuff because I had the plans done before we gutted the basement.  The process to develop a basement suite begins with submitting a site plan showing parking, the proposed floor plan for the suite, a floor plan of the main floor of the house, pictures of all sides of the house, a drawing of all the plumbing, heating and electrical changes and the location of the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.  I completed my application and received my permit in March and filed the plans away while we transitioned to foundation mode.  So, last Friday evening I got out the plans as we started prepping for the basement rough ins.  As I wandered around the space trying to place all of the plumbing I realized I had made a bit of an error.  The shape of the furnace/ laundry room would not allow me to move a washing machine in or out of the space without first removing the furnace.  Practical?  Not at all.  So after hours of working through how we could regain functionality and practicality while staying as close to the original plan as possible we went to bed.  I recently saw the saying, "Keep calm and take a nap" on pinterest and I do believe this is often the best solution.  Luckily we were right and in the morning (with the help of N and my dad) we maneuvered one wall and voila!  Functionality had been regained.  One full day of digging trenches + gluing ABS + 3 trips to Home Depot + help from great people and the rough ins in the basement were finished and ready for inspection. 

Before

After

The inspector came on Tuesday...  Tuesday is also the day I realized how susceptible I am to other people's feedback.  We had installed a mainline backwater valve - I had spent time convincing people who questioned this that the guy at the permit office had explicitly told me to do this.  However, we were not supposed to put in a mainline backwater valve, we were supposed to put in separate backwater valves for the basement plumbing.  When he first said this I told him that the only reason we had done this was because the man at the permit office had told me I needed to install one.  The inspector was really kind and helped me come up with a solution as to how we could remedy this issue without having access panels in the middle of our future bathroom.  We came up with a plan, I took a deep breath and then started digging a new trench.  As I reflected on the day and on how the guy at the permit office told me one thing and the inspector told me another I started to piece this turn of events together.  I would like to label it telephone.  The guy at the permit office had explained the need for backwater valves in the basement to me and he showed me a few pictures in a period of about 1 minute.  I processed what he said and then I talked to a few people about it and as I explained it someone started talking about a main line backwater valve.  I pieced all the information from the day together and transformed the original message into something slightly different.  WOW!  Anyway, this was my mistake and I was feeling terrible that I had blamed it on someone else.  I had N come over to help me and in a few hours we had the basement plumbing completely roughed in and up to the correct standards.  Wednesday, the inspector came back and gave us the florescent green sticker and I cleared up the accusation I had made the previous day.  It feels good to fess up to mistakes and accept responsibility when needed.  Now I need to get these pipes to the Eco Station...