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What is one of the most important features of a bathtub?

The drain.

Yes, without a drain a bathtub would be a quite painful apparatus----and probably wouldn’t get used very much----or the water would just sit there until it turned green and foul. It was probably part of why our ancestors bathed once a year whether they needed it or not.

Every house that has a basement should be thought of as a home covering a giant bathtub. Without a drain we are just plain asking for trouble.

Do you remember the rubber hoses on your washing machine I have warned you in the past about changing to braided stainless steel hoses? Well because you didn’t change them, and then you went to Baja for a month, when you came home you found two feet of water in your basement----all because there was no drain!

Well if that was NOT you---do you know where your basement drain is? Do you know if it works? It is always a good idea to verify the function of floor drains in basements to prevent major flooding that would cause way more damage than if there was no drain at all.

As an inspector I always do my best to locate basement floor drains. I found this one rather interesting.

Blocked floor drain

Filled flush with concrete----good thing it was dry basement----for now anyway.

Charles Buell

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Posted by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector on 10/22/2009 09:27 AM

Comments (23)

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Originally posted at: Seattle Home Inspector's Blog: What is one of the most important features of a bathtub?

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23 Comments on What is one of the most important features of a bathtub?

OCT

Oh yes, the drain is so important both in the tub and the sinks....Keep it clear!

Patricia

Hi Charles....drains are very important....but on the flip side, they are also an open door for radon gas.....homeowners are usually advised to seal all openings in their basement to prevent high radon levels.....this drain makes an easy path...please comment back on this.

Reason #6,235 why I am adamant about my buyers having a professional home inspection.

Well done Charles.

Patricia, too true:)

Barbara, in our area radon is not an issue, but more to your question----floor drains if they are properly installed should not be admitting radon gas, or any other gases, to the indor environment. It should be fairly easy to determine if they are. If they are the drain should be repaired. One is just asking for trouble to seal basement drains.

Craig, could you refresh my memory as to #6,234?

Charles - in our area, homes used to flood alot, from sewers backing up into basements. And many people in our area put in flood control systems that included "turn off" valves (or one-way valves) on their drains.

those valves have long since lost their use, rusted in place, but prior to that, many local residents "sealed" their floor drains with concrete, just as your sample shows.

Back Flow valves on sewer drains are required in many areas Alan----probably a good idea too.

I'm sure that drain worked EXACTLY as the homeowner wanted it too.

So Charles, what would your recommedation be on this. To drill the concrete out of the hole? We have very few basements here. Total since I have been in Real Estate I have only seen 1. It is good to know about these.

To Barbara,

Sealing openings like the drain in Charlies picture is normally part of the installation of a radon mitigation system. Now when I say sealed what I often see is a piece of wood or steel paced over the opening and caulked. This is a removable cover. Now if the drain is truely a drain with a pipe not a hole in the floor with earth and stone, then I do not see it as much of conduit for radon.

Heather, perhaps:)

Jan, my recommendation was for a proper drain to be installed----left it up the the plumber to decide whether the old one could be used or not

James, thanks----I remember those old "drains to nowhere"---we mostly see drains that are actual drains out here.

Well Charles I don't have a basement... but my bathtub drains are clear. I had to put a hair catcher in my shower drain because... well because I shed.

This is one that I don't have to run and check since we just don't have basements in Arkansas.

Mr Charles,

As a certifried assistant, the rules state that I have to traverse floor drains.

Nutsy

As almost anyone that gew up in an old house in Seattle with basement can attest ... those periodic basement floods were ... errr ... FUN! At least for us kids that got to slog around in our rubber boots while Dad cursed and mumbled!

OCT

Charles, May I advise Nutsy here, please?

Nutsy: Next time you traverse a floor drain, DON"T COME BACK.

Ms. Kate

I am drained of cute responses... I'll just stay plugged up.

Charles - in Minneapolis, that's actually an acceptable repair for a clogged floor drain with a missing cleanout plug, because there is no requirement for a floor drain. Granted, it's a stupid repair... but I guess that just goes back to building codes being a minimum requirement.

OCT

Tammy---don't we all---seems like even more lately:)

Barbara----you need to run right out and buy one:)

Nutsy---good idea---pay attention to Kate below

Gay, so true:)

Kate---great minds think alike

Jay, now I find that hard to imagine

Reuben, I hear you and it is perhaps one of the best examples of the codes being a minimum standard.

I imagine that the response up there was fairly, obnoxiously, and painfully cute.

Jay---in case your sweetie has never told you----plugged up is never cute:)

OCT

Well, she tells me every day. That is one of the side effects of her surgery -- they rehung her colon and suspended it in a nylon sack. It takes caffeine and walking to loosen things up.

Oh, you meant me...

Jay, you are treading dangerously close to TMI:)

OCT

Hi, Charles. I once lived in a house in Maine that was built in 1803. It had a fieldstone foundation and, while the basement floor was concrete, there was a channel from one side of the house to the other. Water simply flowed in...and out...leaving the basement was amazingly dry.

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