Home Improvement

iannis

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you're looking at decades worth of corrosion.

I'd be tempted to cut the water off and rebuild the entire thing. If it's not leaking it will be pretty soon.

Do those downs actually go anywhere at all? At a guess, whoever put that together thought he might want to put some sinks on the line too. Although that legitimately seems like a shitty way to do it because of the problem dirk mentioned.
 

GuardianX

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I have no idea wtf I'm looking at in that picture. Cap it all, and find a new source. Running from your sink might degrade water pressure in your shower, and any time anyone turned on that faucet, shower temperature changes like crazy. If possible, find a 3/4" feed near the water heater and run pex from there, reducing to 1/2" as close to the shower fixture as possible. Keeping it near the water heater keeps it upstream of all other calls for hot water.

LOL, I can't really cap it all...but it may be an answer to "Why does hot water last like 10 minutes" other than out water heater being 21 years old.
 

GuardianX

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To explain further

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Again I have no clue WHY 3 pipes merge into 1...nevermind they are all the same size. It would make more sense if it was like a 1 inch into a 3 x 1/2 split or a 3/4ths into a 3 x 1/2 split, but 3 x 1/2 inch into 1 x 1/2?

thing is, I think this is original 1978 plumbing, which makes me wonder...was that type of shit standard back then?

Follow up to the "Run new" statement.

How would I do that? My goal is to PEX this house up and run it entirely in the attic BUT I wanna run that shit from the the garage so I can basically have my water heater and cold water in at the same location. Will I need to call the city and have THEM re-run the main from wherever it comes in to my new location? I don't know where the cold comes in, I ASSUME it is near the water heater...

New location because we will need a new heater soon and I'm going to go tankless. I wanna "reclaim" that location that the tank is currently in and move the tankless against the garage wall. For convenience sake I want a panel of shit to be able to turn off water easily.

Shit part is I wanna go Natural gas because I wanna natty up for the cooking locations, water heater, Dryer, and furnace. So I'm gunna have to hire someone for that part, may as well have him handle the moving of the main if I have to have a pro do it and not the city.
 

iannis

Musty Nester
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That doesn't make even a little bit of sense to me. That seems like a truly odd bit of plumbing.

Maybe your water in from the city is more complicated than just 1 pipe. Why do that on the hot water side though...

I really don't get it. Maybe there was a reason for that. I can't figure what it would have been though.
 

Picasso3

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Water hammer prevention maybe? Truly odd.

As far as running all new shit everywhere I would temper myself. That's probably thick walled copper given the age and I would always prefer to have water under rather than over in case something blows.

Garage move may be difficult if you live in an area that may freeze.
 
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GuardianX

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Garage move may be difficult if you live in an area that may freeze.

I'm in DFW (Dallas Fort-worth) area so we don't really get long freezes, I was planning on insulating the PEX as it runs in the attic as well to deal with condensation forming. My plan was to run continuous to a branch and then branch to locations.

What would i do with my old plumbing if I did this BTW? just cut and cap it and leave it under the foundation untouched?
 

BrutulTM

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Whatever you do, don't pay $75 for that stupid 3 pin connector. If you can't find a mating one on amazon, just cut it off and buy something similar. They are plentiful and dirt cheap.

 
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Lanx

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GuardianX GuardianX
I'm in DFW (Dallas Fort-worth) area so we don't really get long freezes, I was planning on insulating the PEX as it runs in the attic as well to deal with condensation forming. My plan was to run continuous to a branch and then branch to locations.

What would i do with my old plumbing if I did this BTW? just cut and cap it and leave it under the foundation untouched?
strip it, leave it on your lawn and post an ad on craigslist for free copper pipes and watch all the crazies swarm in!

also what pex you decide on? pex-a(uponor) expansion or pex-b, crimp/clamp?
 

GuardianX

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GuardianX GuardianX

strip it, leave it on your lawn and post an ad on craigslist for free copper pipes and watch all the crazies swarm in!

also what pex you decide on? pex-a(uponor) expansion or pex-b, crimp/clamp?

How do you strip it? All of this stuff is under slab and sealed in concrete. Sorry if this seems like a super basic question but starting points for me are kinda hard to understand in this context.

I looked into PEX-a and PEX-b. B seems super common in big box stores but I wanted to get in on PEX-A since i wouldn't have to worry at all about crimping a tube by accident and having to hit the stores to fix my fuckup.

My general plan was to manifold off the main and the heater to the back bathrooms Where i manifold again for the bathrooms then, from the main manifold, run hot and cold to a manifold over the Kitchen / washroom...something like this abortion of a MSpaint. I don't know the length of the runs but the idea would be to go direct into the attic and then run it along a truss web for securing

1547845783195.png


I want to avoid outside walls wherever possible, but not going to lose sleep if I have to run there.
 

iannis

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Sounds like you're gonna have concrete slabs with metal pipes in it.

Apply for some state money as a Dedicated Spider Preserve.

Oooh, ooh. You could spray that foam insulation in the holes. ANY EXCUSE.
 

GuardianX

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Sounds like you're gonna have concrete slabs with metal pipes in it.

Apply for some state money as a Dedicated Spider Preserve.

Oooh, ooh. You could spray that foam insulation in the holes. ANY EXCUSE.

Oh, I'll spray something in there after that spider comment....

TAJ1uUL.gif


But for real, do I just cut all the lines as well as the line in and then blow air in it and then cap it? Unless it's not a nightmare, that shit is staying in the foundation.
 

iannis

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I would think so. There shouldn't be anything in there when you cut them since they're water lines. If you didn't cap them they would be a living area for bugs, but if you cap them it's no big deal.
 
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Lanx

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sharkbite makes a push to cap fitting
SharkBite 1/2 in. Brass Push-to-Connect End Stop-U514LFA - The Home Depot

at 6bucks it's stupid expensive like all sharkbite stuff and regular copper caps are 50c, just thought i'd mention it, i have 2 just in case a pipe bursts and i can't turn the water off for some reason.

might be good to have a one around in case shit hits the fan since you're doing plumbing. hell no one can even figure out wtf your spagetti shit from the 50s is doing.
 

BrutulTM

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I love those SharkBite fittings so much. They're too expensive to plumb your whole house with, but if it's just a quick repair, you better believe I buy those things.
 
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GuardianX

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hell no one can even figure out wtf your spagetti shit from the 50s is doing.

LOL

I already removed the tub plumbing and left a healthy amount of copper sticking up in the off-chance I need to fix a fuckup. Used a sharkbite cap to just hold the space for now, debated putting 2 opened sharkbite caps in the same bag since...home borrow (do other people call Home Depot this?)...but morals got in the way. Grabbed a removal tool too.

So, trying to plan out my pre-plumber game for PEX do I wanna basically do all the work before hand and then when I want the location that the main comes in changed, call up a plumber and have them just cut the main and relocate it?

OR do I need to have them along for more of the ride than just that part?
 

Lanx

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this looks simple enough

fucking hell, once you buy one circular saw, you just wanna cut shit up huh?

already bought 2pairs of those drawer slideouts for 20bucks for 2 pairs, should cost 30bucks for two?
 
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Falstaff

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Termites... we had termites in our basement behind wood paneling. Found it about a year after we bought our house. We paid a company to come out and take care of it. As others have said the idea is to ensure they can’t get in or leave the house as they need to go back to the colony once they’ve done their damage (at least in the variety we had). The deterrent is basically a chemical or whatever drilled three feet into the ground all around the house every foot or so. On the side of the house where we had the most significant damage they did some additional trenching and spraying or stuff.

We had them again the following spring which was basically whatever eggs laid in our house that year hatching but then subsequent years have been clean. We redid the basement after that and it was amazing the “tracks” that they created all over the place.

The studs itself were still in decent shape and none had to be replaced. Our insurance didn’t cover anything. We’re actually looking to sell and move this year so hoping the deterrent keeps working and we don’t see any damage this year.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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Termites... we had termites in our basement behind wood paneling. Found it about a year after we bought our house. We paid a company to come out and take care of it. As others have said the idea is to ensure they can’t get in or leave the house as they need to go back to the colony once they’ve done their damage (at least in the variety we had). The deterrent is basically a chemical or whatever drilled three feet into the ground all around the house every foot or so. On the side of the house where we had the most significant damage they did some additional trenching and spraying or stuff.

We had them again the following spring which was basically whatever eggs laid in our house that year hatching but then subsequent years have been clean. We redid the basement after that and it was amazing the “tracks” that they created all over the place.

The studs itself were still in decent shape and none had to be replaced. Our insurance didn’t cover anything. We’re actually looking to sell and move this year so hoping the deterrent keeps working and we don’t see any damage this year.
how did you find out initially? like what prompted it?
 

Falstaff

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Looked like dirt coming out of small holes all over the wall. Kind of like the salt and pepper mix posted earlier.
 

Lanx

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Looked like dirt coming out of small holes all over the wall. Kind of like the salt and pepper mix posted earlier.
ew, they were basically shitting so much, it getting pushed through pinholes in the drywall?

fucking hell you guys are freaking me out
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