Since I don't have a digital camera, photos will be difficult to implement, but I think I can describe my situation and how I plan on getting around my constraints.
I have a septic system with a roughed-in basement bath requiring a sewage pit and a sewage pump to get the bathroom waste up to the main drain line levels. The lip of the sewage basin is only about 5" from the poured concrete basement wall, so a 2x6 wet wall will not work. I will closet off the sewage basin, which will allow me to run an almost vertical vent line from the basin to the vent stub-out installed by the builder. So, for the sewage basin "closet", the vent line can go up to the vent stub-out by going "around" the top plate instead of through it; there will be no finished ceiling in their.
The problem is that the waste line out of this closet will go up (parallel to the vent line), then will turn left out of this basin closet to hit the main drain line about 10 feet away horizontally. The waste line will essentially run near the floor joists (the basement ceiling supports). It would have been nice to run them within the 2x4 stud wall attached to the concrete basement wall, but the piping is too big (unless I went with 2" thin wall, if there is such a thing, but I wouldn't want to do that with pressurized waste!).
So, I'll just run the waste line in front of this 2x4 stud wall and box in a soffit around it. That is the easiest way to do this, and it will look just fine (well, it would if I could drywall, tape and sand with any proficiency!). The run will be near the top of this wall so the soffit will be quite small in reality.
In fact, I may go ahead and put a soffit around all of the drain line which hangs on the outside walls of the basement, at least that portion in the finsihed living area. That way I can add insulation which will reduce noise. I know, make sure to keep access to cleanouts, which won't be a problem.
You would think the plumber would have left me enough room to put a proper wet wall in place, but that wasn't the case. In fact, in the bathroom itself, there is only about 3.75-4" of clearance between the outside of the sink drain stub and the concrete wall. I don't think I can get a 2x4 wall and 1/2" drywall behind it, but it might be possible if I notch it. I bought 2x3 framing lumber for that wall section (about 6 ft) just in case. I hate to lose the inch of insulation, so maybe I'll investigate notching, especially since that 4" pipe will get converted to a 1.5 or 1.25" sink drain anyways.
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Scott Sabin
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