Skip to main content

Fully licensed · Fully insured · WSIB covered

Drip Doctor Plumbing Solutions Ltd

Installation & New Work

Plumbing Renovations

Kitchens, bathrooms, basements, additions and gut jobs, planned around what the existing drains and stacks will actually allow.

Request a Quote(742) 688-3747

What can move, and what fights you

Water lines are the easy part of a renovation. They are small, they run uphill and downhill without complaint, and a competent plumber can get 1/2 inch PEX-A or Type L copper almost anywhere you want a fixture. Drains are the problem. A drain has to fall at 1/4 inch per foot on 3 inch and smaller pipe, and it has to reach a vent inside the distance the code allows for its size, which for a 1-1/2 inch lavatory trap arm is roughly a metre and a half of developed length.

Those two rules decide more bathroom layouts than any designer would like. Move a vanity six feet along a wall and the trap arm runs out of room before it finds the stack. Move a shower to the far side of a room with a finished ceiling below and there may not be enough joist depth left to hold the fall without notching something structural.

So the honest answer to whether a fixture can move is usually yes, at a cost, and the cost is measured in what has to open up. We would rather walk a layout with you before drawings are finalized than tell you halfway through demolition that the toilet has to stay where it is.

Opening a wall is the honest part of the estimate

Toronto housing stock hides a lot. Pre-war semis in the west end still turn up galvanized steel supply lines scaled down to the diameter of a pencil, and cast iron stacks with hubs that have been weeping into a wall cavity for years. Houses plumbed or repiped between the mid-nineties and 2007 may have Kitec, whose brass fittings corrode from the inside and fail without warning. Older bathrooms produce S-traps under vanities, drains that were never vented at all, and joints buried behind finished surfaces by someone who assumed nobody would ever look.

None of that is visible from the outside of a wall. We quote what we can see, we tell you plainly what we suspect, and where there is real uncertainty we carry it as an allowance rather than pretending a number is firm. If we open a wall and find something that changes the scope, you hear about it that day with options and a price, not in a surprise line on the final invoice.

There is also the case where a repair is not worth doing. If a 1950s bathroom is coming apart anyway and the branch piping behind it is galvanized, replacing it while the wall is open costs a fraction of what it will cost to come back through new tile in four years.

Working with designers and general contractors

A large share of our renovation work comes through general contractors and designers, and the projects that go smoothly all share one thing: fixture selections locked before rough-in. A freestanding tub with a floor-mounted filler, a wall-hung toilet on a carrier, a linear drain, a wide-spread faucet on a stone deck. Each of those changes what gets built into the wall or the floor, and none of them can be decided after the drywall goes on.

What we need is the spec sheet, not the catalogue photo. Rough-in dimensions live in the spec sheet, and they differ between manufacturers on fixtures that look identical.

Sequencing matters just as much. Plumbing rough-in and its inspection come before insulation and board. Waterproofing and the flood test come after the drain is set and before tile. Trim goes in after the tile is grouted and the cabinets are in, because a vanity template drawn from the wrong drain height is a return trip for somebody.

Permits, stacks and the point where a renovation gets bigger

Swapping a faucet or a toilet for a like-for-like replacement does not need a permit. Adding fixtures, relocating drains or altering the piping system does, and in Toronto that permit is pulled under a licensed plumbing contractor with inspections at rough-in and final. Work done without one has a way of surfacing at the worst time, usually during a sale.

Adding fixtures also loads what is already there. A second bathroom and a basement kitchen hung off a single 3 inch stack, or a house still fed by an old 1/2 inch service, will show up as pressure drop and slow drainage no matter how good the new work is. We flag it when we see it and price the upgrade separately so you can decide, rather than folding it in and hoping you do not ask.

Questions

Plumbing Renovations, answered.

Can I move a toilet or shower during a renovation?

Usually, but the drain decides how far. A relocated drain still has to fall at 1/4 inch per foot and reach a vent within the length the code allows, so the practical limit depends on joist direction, joist depth and where the stack sits. On a ground floor over an open basement there is often room to work. Between two finished floors there frequently is not.

Do I need a permit for a plumbing renovation in Toronto?

You need one for new fixtures, relocated drains or any alteration to the piping system. A straight like-for-like fixture swap generally does not require a permit. The permit is taken out under a licensed plumbing contractor and the work is inspected at rough-in and again at final, so it has to be booked into the schedule before walls are closed.

How much wall or floor has to be opened up?

More than the finished job will suggest. Tying a new branch into an existing stack means exposing the stack, and a relocated drain means opening the run between the fixture and the connection point. We keep openings as small as the work allows and tell you where they will be before we start, so drywall and tile repair can be planned rather than discovered.

What is Kitec and why does it matter in a renovation?

Kitec is an aluminum-cored composite pipe installed in many homes and condos between the mid-1990s and 2007, later the subject of a North American class action after widespread fitting failures. The brass fittings corrode internally and can let go without warning, and the pipe is often flagged during a sale or by an insurer. If we find it while a wall is already open, replacing it then is far cheaper than after your new tile is in.

Can you work with my contractor or designer?

Yes, and most of our renovation work runs that way. We can price from drawings, attend site meetings, coordinate rough-in around the framing and tile schedule, and deal directly with the general contractor on inspection timing. We carry liability insurance and WSIB coverage and can supply certificates for the project file.

How long will my water be shut off?

For most renovations, only during the tie-in work, which is typically a few hours at a time. We plan the cuts so the rest of the property keeps water overnight and between stages wherever the piping layout allows. On a full repipe there will be longer stretches, and we tell you the day before rather than the morning of.

Related

Often needed alongside this.

Get a quote

Tell us about the job.

Send the details through the quote form and we will come back to you with next steps. For anything urgent, call the office. A phone call always beats a web form.

Call the office(742) 688-3747Request a Quote

Mon–Fri 9:00am–5:00pm · Saturday by appointment. We do not advertise 24-hour emergency service. Messages received outside regular business hours are returned as soon as possible on the next business day.