Above-Floor Systems Solve Plumbing Challenges

Adaptive reuse projects are defined as the process of repurposing existing buildings for new uses, often introducing unforeseen infrastructure challenges. When structures originally designed for office occupancy or other commercial uses are converted into residential or hospitality spaces, core plumbing and mechanical systems must be re-engineered to meet significantly different demands.

In this case, the project team at ABA Constructors Inc. was tasked with reimagining an office building’s plumbing infrastructure to support residential and hospitality demands, without the benefit of modern layouts, closely spaced plumbing stacks, or vacant floors to work below.

This presented immediate plumbing challenges. To get specific: The mixed-use project called for approximately 80 apartments and 40 hotel units, requiring more than 110 bathrooms in a structure never designed to support that level of plumbing density.

“That many bathrooms using a traditional gravity system just wasn’t realistic in this building,” says ABA Constructors president Wayne Cassity.

The challenge was heightened by the fact that multiple floors remained occupied by office tenants with active leases. Traditional plumbing methods would have required cutting into structural concrete slabs, thus disrupting tenants below.

“Because the floor below us was occupied,” Cassity explains, “we would’ve had to do all the plumbing at night. Between the dust, the noise, and shutting down occupied space, it just didn’t make sense.”

To keep the project moving forward, the team needed a plumbing solution that could bypass structural constraints, eliminate floor penetrations, and allow construction to proceed while parts of the building remained occupied. Just as critical, the system had to be fully certified and code-compliant, ensuring a smooth approval process with the city and avoiding any red flags during inspection.

Sanibest Pro Grinder Pump
The Sanibest Pro is a heavy-duty, one-horsepower grinder pump system used to install a complete bathroom up to 25 feet below the sewer line or up to 150 feet away from the soil stack. Recommended for restrooms and other commercial/institutional facilities serving the general public, the product has three inlets to handle drainage for a full bathroom: a 4-inch inlet for the toilet connection and a pair of 2-inch inlets, one on either side, to handle gray-water drainage from a sink, a bathtub, or a shower.

The 1.3-horsepower Sanicom 1 simplex drain pump is designed to drain high-temperature gray water in demanding residential and commercial applications. Its ability to handle temperatures up to 194°F makes it especially ideal for commercial kitchen dishwashers that must meet exacting health and sanitation standards. In addition, the unit can handle highly acidic liquids.

The heavy-duty pump can provide drainage for two water fixtures simultaneously. Gray water enters through one of two side inlets before being discharged up to 25 feet vertically or a maximum of 250 feet horizontally to the sewer or septic tank.

Sanicom 1 Drain Pump
The 1.3-horsepower Sanicom 1 simplex drain pump is designed to drain high-temperature gray water in demanding residential and commercial applications. Its ability to handle temperatures up to 194°F makes it especially ideal for commercial kitchen dishwashers that must meet exacting health and sanitation standards. In addition, the unit can handle highly acidic liquids.

The heavy-duty pump can provide drainage for two water fixtures simultaneously. Gray water enters through one of two side inlets before being discharged up to 25 feet vertically or a maximum of 250 feet horizontally to the sewer or septic tank.

Saniswift Pro
The Saniswift Pro is a powerful, compact gray water drain pump designed to remove wastewater from a variety of residential fixtures where gravity drainage is not practical. Ideal for renovations, additions, and spaces below the sewer line, the system discharges gray water up to 14 feet vertically and/or 140 feet horizontally, providing flexible installation options without major structural modifications.

Engineered for quiet operation and long-lasting performance, the Saniswift Pro features a space-saving design with multiple inlets, making it ideal for installation in tight spaces such as cabinets or utility rooms.

By implementing SFA Saniflo’s above-floor plumbing systems, the project team was able to continue construction without disrupting occupied floors while also preserving the integrity of the building’s structural slabs. The approach eliminated the need for night work and tenant displacement and removed traditional layout constraints imposed by existing stack locations.

As a result, the plumbing design scaled efficiently across a large, multi-phase redevelopment project. Penebade expresses strong confidence in the above-floor plumbing’s long-term performance.

“When we filled the system with water and released it, everything worked flawlessly,” he says.

With additional phases already permitted and more than 200 pumps still projected for the full build-out, the building owner has already committed to using the same Saniflo approach on future redevelopment projects.

“We own another building downtown,” Cassity adds. “There are three bathrooms upstairs, and we’re going to do it the same way. We’re not penetrating the floors.”