Where is the riser in the five-story stalin

Hello! Where is the riser in the five-story stalin? The toilet is on the podium and no pipes are visible at all!

Eugene

Expert Answer

Good afternoon, Eugene!

The houses of the Soviet housing stock, built in the post-war period until the beginning of the 60s of the last century, in most cases were built of brick, which made it possible to easily and simply install sewer pipes directly into the masonry. Most likely, the riser in your case runs directly along the wall from the toilet outlet.

As for connecting the plumbing fixture itself, two options are possible here. The fact is that the peculiarity of Stalin's houses are beam ceilings. They are a system of reinforced concrete or steel channels, laid in increments of 50-100 cm. The floors were filled in two ways - with full-size slag concrete blocks or thin concrete slabs, followed by backfilling and arrangement of a wooden base.

It was in the second case that often part of the communications was laid on the floor - perhaps this is your case? If the overlap is arranged more thoroughly, then one cannot exclude the option that the drain from the toilet passes through it. At the same time, the knee of connection to the riser is located below the ceiling of your neighbors - many plumbing fixtures in the "stalinkas" were installed in such a "sophisticated" way.

If you do not live on the top floor, then most likely this knee can also be found in your bathroom. Otherwise, we recommend that you go to the apartment below and ask your neighbors. By the way, one of the most knowledgeable people in sewer communication schemes is the locksmiths of the housing office or the house management company - perhaps it is better to find out from them? In addition, a survey of other people living nearby can also give results — it cannot be that no one in the entire house does a repair of the sewage system.