Home Improvement

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
Your old house/cabin is fucked, rewire the entire thing and do it properly. Dont waste money but dont skimp on shit. Do it right the first time and not worry about it for 40 years.
Yeah this is my line of thought. GFCI seems like a ghetto temp fix and wtf does the current wiring look like now considering how old the place is? Prob not great.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
Fuck I thought I'd be done with this project within 2 weeks and under 10k. Just talked to power systems design engineer and prob won't have lines buried for 2 more months.

While I'm dumping money into this pit is there any other gotchas on an old house I should look into? AC and roof have been redone. Gonna redo the gutters.
 

ver_21

Molten Core Raider
975
-361
All 2 receptacle outlets. House was built in 1960 I believe.

They might still have grounds behind them--ours is 1950s with mostly all 2-prong, but the grounding is available on the boxes. I'm not sure about the answer to your question about GFCI providing the same protection, but I know normal 3-prongs can be be on a GFCI protected circuit, so that might save you some trouble.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
They might still have grounds behind them--ours is 1950s with mostly all 2-prong, but the grounding is available on the boxes. I'm not sure about the answer to your question about GFCI providing the same protection, but I know normal 3-prongs can be be on a GFCI protected circuit, so that might save you some trouble.
Electrician coming out next week so guess I'll find out.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,366
2,139
GFCIs would be much better protection than having grounded outlets. The only thing the ground is for is if you have an appliance with a metal chassis and the hot wire shorts to it the breaker will blow instead of leaving a 120V washing machine for you to get a shock from. It's good to have it but it's a pretty unlikely thing to happen even if you do have metal stuff plugged into the wall. I wouldn't really consider it an urgent matter to have grounded outlets. I'm sure if the wiring is old it might be good to replace it, but as someone who has lived in old houses with shitty wiring it would have to break in a place where it would actually arc to something and then keep doing it for long enough to light something on fire without blowing the breaker. You could spend a shitload of money rewiring and re-plumbing the place for no good reason.
 

LachiusTZ

Rogue Deathwalker Box
<Silver Donator>
14,472
27,162
About to pull a Foler Foler

Dad bought some land a decade ago. Has an old as cabin on it.

My dad is a cheap ass, and wouldn't completely gut it, and has now replaced the roof, most of the ceiling, and floors.

My brother and I want to rip out the two bathrooms that share a wall and put in one really nice large one.

First stage all we want is a functional toilet and concrete shower.

I did construction for a few years, my brother is almost done with his electrician license, so we are going to do it ourselves.

Watched a few diy videos, but fucking with plumbing kind of makes me nervous.

Was going to use PEX, prolly the 3/4 mentioned a few pages ago.

Any obvious things we should be aware of?

And is there such thing as an in line water softener? Would be nice to have for the shower but done care about the rest of the cabin
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
About to pull a Foler Foler

Dad bought some land a decade ago. Has an old as cabin on it.

My dad is a cheap ass, and wouldn't completely gut it, and has now replaced the roof, most of the ceiling, and floors.

My brother and I want to rip out the two bathrooms that share a wall and put in one really nice large one.

First stage all we want is a functional toilet and concrete shower.

I did construction for a few years, my brother is almost done with his electrician license, so we are going to do it ourselves.

Watched a few diy videos, but fucking with plumbing kind of makes me nervous.

Was going to use PEX, prolly the 3/4 mentioned a few pages ago.

Any obvious things we should be aware of?

And is there such thing as an in line water softener? Would be nice to have for the shower but done care about the rest of the cabin
Welcome to the cabin club brother.

Fromy research with Plex, if you're using any that has crimping ends versus expansion then you want to size up because the crimps cut down flow.

Lots of people like pex-a uponor then other people like pex-b because it allegedly takes in less chemicals or something. Looks like doing the install right the first time is critical and not skimping on fittings. Also, one plumber I talked to said Plex can flex when water goes off suddenly etc so you'll want to secure it in the wall, especially if it's behind wood panelling where you would really be able to hear it knocking.


I've decided to go with cpvc after talking with my insurance agent since apparently insurance companies in Florida are being flakey about pex. Plumbing is such a shitshow rabbit hole man. Keep us updated.
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
6,690
16,851
Expansion PEX (PEX-a) can be used on crimp or expansion, is more bendy than PEX-B but is also requires a relatively expensive tool to do the expansion stuff. You want the expensive tool because it basically takes all the "Work" out of it, if you are gunna go the expansion route.

Expansion pex is the "Better" pex but the reality is if you have a small home you won't notice much, if any, difference in pressure if you have installed something like 2-3 sinks, 1 washer, 1 dishwasher, 1-2 toilets, 1-2 full baths. Sure if you turn on both tubs at the same time or like a appliance while you shower you might notice a slight drop, honestly I doubt it though.

Side note:

Foler...why the fuck would you buy a cabin in FLORIDA...bruh...wat.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
Expansion PEX (PEX-a) can be used on crimp or expansion, is more bendy than PEX-B but is also requires a relatively expensive tool to do the expansion stuff. You want the expensive tool because it basically takes all the "Work" out of it, if you are gunna go the expansion route.

Expansion pex is the "Better" pex but the reality is if you have a small home you won't notice much, if any, difference in pressure if you have installed something like 2-3 sinks, 1 washer, 1 dishwasher, 1-2 toilets, 1-2 full baths. Sure if you turn on both tubs at the same time or like a appliance while you shower you might notice a slight drop, honestly I doubt it though.

Side note:

Foler...why the fuck would you buy a cabin in FLORIDA...bruh...wat.
My family has owned the land for maybe over 100 years? They actually owned all the property currently surrounding the land but sold all of it and kept some for themselves.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
6,690
16,851
My family has owned the land for maybe over 100 years? They actually owned all the property currently surrounding the land but sold all of it and kept some for themselves.
I guess I'm misremembering then I thought you said you bought the land and it had a cabin on it. My bad.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
It's pretty cool. There's deer, turkey, bear etc on it but I'm still like 5 min away from a beer run. It's a pretty unique spot actually.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
Expansion PEX (PEX-a) can be used on crimp or expansion, is more bendy than PEX-B but is also requires a relatively expensive tool to do the expansion stuff. You want the expensive tool because it basically takes all the "Work" out of it, if you are gunna go the expansion route.

Expansion pex is the "Better" pex but the reality is if you have a small home you won't notice much, if any, difference in pressure if you have installed something like 2-3 sinks, 1 washer, 1 dishwasher, 1-2 toilets, 1-2 full baths. Sure if you turn on both tubs at the same time or like a appliance while you shower you might notice a slight drop, honestly I doubt it though.

Side note:

Foler...why the fuck would you buy a cabin in FLORIDA...bruh...wat.
Maybe you can elaborate for him on securing the pex like I had mentioned? Sounded like a big deal to the plumber so you don't get that shit knocking inside your walls when you turn a faucet off.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,366
2,139
the-plumber-s-choice-pipe-hangers-hc012100-64_1000.jpg


Just get some of these. They will have them wherever you buy your pipe. In my experience knocking isn't that common but it's like $12 for a bag of 100 so just put them anyplace that it's handy, especially in places where the pipes are going to be sheet rocked over and inaccessible so you can't go back and add it later.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
Never rented a dumpster before. All the companies seem identical. Anything to watch for? Any gotchas? Or is it a case of just order the cheapest?
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,762
39,976
Never rented a dumpster before. All the companies seem identical. Anything to watch for? Any gotchas? Or is it a case of just order the cheapest?
Make sure to lock it to keep the homeless out.
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
6,690
16,851
Maybe you can elaborate for him on securing the pex like I had mentioned? Sounded like a big deal to the plumber so you don't get that shit knocking inside your walls when you turn a faucet off.

Basically what BrutulTM BrutulTM said plus you can get a water hammer arrestor for various locations.


I'd put it somewhere you can replace it, I don't know how long they last but I hear they fill with water making them pointless over time. I don't know if it's true though. Copper water hammers too if it wasn't properly attached to / through studs. I have an issue with it right now in my laundry room. Mainly you would want it in high volume places, washer, Tubs.

Reports are out on the "Needs replacing" part, supposedly there are 2 types piston and "Stainless Steel" (fucking internet, thats not a TYPE...thats a fucking material..) piston types need replacing should they fail, stainless steel ones apparently are good for the life of the pipe.

Still I would install it in a place you can easily change it:


is kinda what I'm looking at, something where you can easily reach it to replace it.

Never rented a dumpster before. All the companies seem identical. Anything to watch for? Any gotchas? Or is it a case of just order the cheapest?

Depending on what you are doing, Bagster® may be useful, couple down the street is doing it.

Personally all I do is rent a uhaul and drive it to the dump. 60ish dollars and your house looks like a fucking squat for a day.
 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user