Home Improvement

In any normal plumbing configurations what direct to drain connections exist from the supply side without being visible? I think there's a slow drain to sewer behind the bathroom wall. Could something like a faulty mixer unit in a tub faucet somehow cause water to drain without it coming out into the tub?

I shut the toilets off this morning to see if there's a valve problem there but I still hear what I've convinced myself is a slight noise of running water. Of course since the main sewer line is there anywhere else in the house draining would cause the same thing.

All external spigots and sinks/faucets are visibly fine externally. The only thing that theoretically could run without someone doing something is the autofill on the pool but that has no drain component.

Maybe, that would just piggyback on the supply line right? I'll have to check if I have any of those.

Burren_sl said:

Shit Ryoz, that's fast. Are you in a hot market, or do you think it was just "right place, right time"?

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A bit of both. This was my starter home. Put a lot of work and some upgrades in, not enough to price out but enough to make it attractive. Just waiting on the inspection now - the guy has a va loan.

Day 3 of staining our decks. Doing it myself with my wife tapping in occasionally. This fuckin blows. The one deck i finished looks pretty good. Came out way more orange than it was supposed to

I have some wood around my house that needs repair. A few spots with some deep digs from my cat's claws and one spot where my dog chewed on it. This wood is all stained what appears to be cherry. I'm wondering if I could just find some cherry stain at Lowes and try to fix it myself or is this something better left to a professional and I should call a wood repair expert in to do it right. My concern is I do it myself and it just kind of looks like trash.

I assume I should also buy a piece of lumber to practice the color matching beforehand? I don't think its an exotic wood or anything just your typical stuff so it should react the same to a 2x4 I'd buy there.

Palum_sl said:

I think there's a slow drain to sewer behind the bathroom wall. Could something like a faulty mixer unit in a tub faucet somehow cause water to drain without it coming out into the tub?

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No.

Palum_sl said:

Maybe, that would just piggyback on the supply line right? I'll have to check if I have any of those.

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Depends on the trap primer, there's all kinds. I'd be surprised if there's one in a residential application, but maybe other jurisdictions are more on top of them. For the most part it's only been the past few years that inspectors are even enforcing them on commercial projects around here. Things just waste shit tons of water, as far as I'm concerned. I mean yeah, if the floor drain is totally inaccessible then it should have a primer. But otherwise, if you can pour a bucket of water in it, what the fuck do you need a primer for?

I've been given quotes to replace our 2 failing AC units. One is for 2 Goodman units at $7600 total (3800 per) and the other is for 2 Carrier units at $9800 ($4900 per). I'm getting the exact model numbers tonight, but let's just assume for now that the SEER rating is the same.

Do any of you guys have strong feelings about which way I should go?

So it appears I do have a leak someplace. The sound was still going when I came home - both toilets still full. Turned off hot water line and it went away immediately.

Can anyone fathom a price as far as rerunning the hot water line about 60 feet?

EDIT: to be fair it could just be a connection behind the wall too, I guess.

Picasso_sl said:

cut out a nice neat square section of drywall and see what you have

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It's behind the vanity and the mirror in the other bath so I'm going to try and cut out behind those two areas so the patch won't be noticeable.

I don't understand how you can have a leak you can hear, and you don't have any staining or water coming out anywhere. That's bizarre.

If it's hot water you should hear the hot water heater come on and off if you listen long enough, if you're not running hot water for something else.

Borzak_sl said:

If it's hot water you should hear the hot water heater come on and off if you listen long enough, if you're not running hot water for something else.

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Yea, it's clearly not a large leak because it isn't coming out anywhere - I don't really think it would be enough to drain the hot water tank more quickly than it would get tripped off again to maintain at temperature.

I've fairly narrowed it down to behind the master shower/2nd bath vanity/sink. I'm going to remove some of the escutcheons and see if I can kind of poke around behind there and find at least some evidence before I take out a patch.

Took a look through the holes in the wall. All original copper and not a trace of water. A little odd assuming gravity is still functional in the wall space because I'd presume any leak in the area to at least gather on the bottom plate eventually. Can distinctively hear the water in the pipes if I go near the opening after I turn the hot water on. I ordered one of those USB endoscopes from Amazon so I'll try and see if I can locate anything more tomorrow before I call a plumber.