# Redid someone else's work.



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Now here is the story before you all tear me to shreds. 

Friday before lunch I get a call from my boss asking if I can go take care of a couple things that was on a punch list at a new residential home we build last year. They must have used it as a show house.

Here is the list I was told to deal with
1 garbage disposal clogged.
2 poor pressure in a lav faucet
3 roof vent still capped with fernco

Number 4 I happened to catch myself in the mechanical room that was not sheetrock.
4 tub overflow part badly installed.

Ok first off here is the background of the people that did the job in the first place. Main guy who roughed it in himself was fired before this winter for good. This guy had been laid off the previous 2 winters and lad time he was here he was told by the boss that all his work would be inspected by the boss because he had already had too many screwups before (2-3 times hot water to toilet, shower valves wrong debt, not hooking up shower drain or tub drain and we find out when new owner has water in the wall, and many more things.) The boss later tells me that he went and looked at 2 of his jobs and then asked him if he thought he got it together now and then never looked at any more of his jobs.

The second person which I believe is responsible for the tub overflow install at trim time. This is the 4 year apprentice we had for a year but recently got fired. The guy I have complained about before being unteachable and advocated for the whole time he was here that he should be fired.

Ok so around here we test the stacking with air and we normally cap the last pipe before going through the roof. This guy had the 3" pipe capped up on the roof so I had to go take the fernco cap off ( funny how the 2" pipe 8'-10' from it did not have a cap on it) oh well no big deal had it not been for the fact this was not the first time I had to do that because he forgot it or worse yet when we were told that he completely forgot to stub a vent through the roofjack one time.

Tile guy or sheetrock guy must have used the garbage disposal to clean up in because it was stuck with grey muddy stuff but I easily got it going again.

Poor pressure in lav faucet was because of the poor quality fixtures the builder supplies and the pressure was exactly what it should be in those faucets but we have since been told to just take out the little O-ring water flow restrictor in the areator so I did and now the pressure could take the ring off your finger.

For the tub overflow there are no words just the picture speaks for itself.


The main thing I had to do was secure the main water lines better. This turned in to me redoing most of it the best I could at the end of a Friday.









Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Unistrut firms things up nicely. Looks good.


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

PS. The 6" of 1" white PEX for a sprinkler line is an eyesore I know but like I said it was Friday and those jobs are bid low so my boss would not have wanted for me to do more than I needed to. I also know that the main waterline by the meter is technically in the way of the electrical panel clearance but that is where the original line was electrical inspector never said anything at roughing time so I just did did it in that same area again because the only other way to clear that space would involve opening up the sheetrock ceiling and also redo the line up there to go to the other side of the room.

Had it been my job to begin with I would have come out the ceiling in a different location and closer to the outside wall so I could have gone up from the meter and back in to the outside wall and be able to have another strap further up than I do on this one
Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

What kind of pipe comes from the floor to the meter?

Second question, I guess your code has nothing about radon gas? We know have to seal the sump pit with an air tight lid and all pipes and wires must be sealed air tight too. I just don't know how it's done though as our supply house don't seem to have those items to make it "legal".


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> What kind of pipe comes from the floor to the meter?
> 
> 
> 
> Second question, I guess your code has nothing about radon gas? We know have to seal the sump pit with an air tight lid and all pipes and wires must be sealed air tight too. I just don't know how it's done though as our supply house don't seem to have those items to make it "legal".


Main water line is a black poly pipe. I normally make mine stub up as straight as I can with my own method but this guy did not care so it's all curled up coming up.

We do actually have code for radon but it's kind of a newer thing. The deal with radon here is that We do it but it's actually in the building code and not the plumbing code. It states something like it has to have 20' of perforated pipe in the ground and passive systems I believe is now 4" and active systems can be 3" pipe inside the house. I think we now have to do radon on all houses but I'm not sure, so far it has been an extra option but I think we presently went over to automatically doing radon on all houses. 

I guess the pit should have been sealed but it's one of the older styles of pits we used but we presently went over to using sealed pit lids that just have a hole with gasket for the pipe and pump cord. Honestly no one will say anything about that lid. 

That house did not have radon. 

We have tied radon in to the pit before as an afterthought. The way we normally do radon at our shop is to drill a hole in the drain tile and screw on a closetflange and glue a 4" street 90° on the flange to go straight up and out of the concrete. This is the type of drain tile they use around here

Actually if it is to be true radon mitigation then they also need to put down poly plastic before concrete and the tub box in the basement needs to be sealed up. Never seen them do that.









Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

The Dane said:


> Main water line is a black poly pipe.


So if it's polyethelyne then usualy for us it's only used if the water is pumped from a well. Is this city water?


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> So if it's polyethelyne then usualy for us it's only used if the water is pumped from a well. Is this city water?


Yep city water. Standard pipe in all new houses from city line to meter and from there PEX in the house and we like to do copper in the mechanical room like you saw I did simply because it looks better.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

The Dane said:


> Yep city water. Standard pipe in all new houses from city line to meter and from there PEX in the house and we like to do copper in the mechanical room like you saw I did simply because it looks better.
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


That's the first time I see that. So what type of connection at the city curb stop valve and the meter? Is there a special fitting? I can't see good but it looks a little like the fitting I use for copper. I don't know the name in english though.

I'm used to seeing copper or in newer houses with kitec (called another name).


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> That's the first time I see that. So what type of connection at the city curb stop valve and the meter? Is there a special fitting? I can't see good but it looks a little like the fitting I use for copper. I don't know the name in english though.
> 
> I'm used to seeing copper or in newer houses with kitec (called another name).


I'm not sure of the brand but this is what we use. It has a thick beveled rubber gasket and you compress it by screwing in the bottom nut and then secure the nut to the pipe by tightening a screw on the nut. Around here the excavator guys do the sewer and water from the street to the house and we take it from there. Since we are not there to see it and the curb stop valve is buried deep down like minimum 7' I have no clue what kind of curb stop valve they use.








Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

The Dane said:


> I'm not sure of the brand but this is what we use. It has a thick beveled rubber gasket and you compress it by screwing in the bottom nut and then secure the nut to the pipe by tightening a screw on the nut. Around here the excavator guys do the sewer and water from the street to the house and we take it from there. Since we are not there to see it and the curb stop valve is buried deep down like minimum 7' I have no clue what kind of curb stop valve they use.
> View attachment 112642
> 
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


Looks very similar for copper. In my neck of the woods, if the excavator guy (I don't know who does that)would hook do the curb would need a different licence. I have it but never did piping outside the house.

Here's a picture of what the city has in their truck that's literally a work shop on wheels. I had taken a pic of their curb stop. My licence allows me to install those but I'll never do that, I don't want the blame and price tag if it fails.


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> Looks very similar for copper. In my neck of the woods, if the excavator guy (I don't know who does that)would hook do the curb would need a different licence. I have it but never did piping outside the house.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a picture of what the city has in their truck that's literally a work shop on wheels. I had taken a pic of their curb stop. My licence allows me to install those but I'll never do that, I don't want the blame and price tag if it fails.


What is that blue pipe? Painted copper?

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

The Dane said:


> What is that blue pipe? Painted copper?
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


Kitec, it has been bought I think by another company and renamed (not sure on this though).

All new houses have that pipe. It has an aluminum layer in between the blue layers(maybe pex type or polyethylene?).


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> Kitec, it has been bought I think by another company and renamed (not sure on this though).
> 
> All new houses have that pipe. It has an aluminum layer in between the blue layers(maybe pex type or polyethylene?).





Pex is polyethylene. The only real difference is that they "cross link" the polymer chains to differing amounts which changes how flexible it is at the expense of pressure resistance. That is why some guys will talk about pex grades A, B, and C.


I got a call one time for a leak in a basement. We had redone the baseboard heating system a couple years prior before it sold. All viega fosta pex to new finned copper. When it sold the new owner chose to have the fuel supplier do the heating service. They didn't check the anti-freeze and it went sour and rusted a bronze viega pex fitting causing a leak. 



But that is not what I got to fix. I got to fix the fix. 


Dingleberry from the fuel supplier used a piece of kitec and a sharkbite fitting to connect to the fosta-pex to make up the difference he cut out. How did he make the sharkbite seal on the fosta pex? Well after he chewed the outer layer off with his teeth he pushed the shark bite on with silicone!!! I saved it of course and will try to post a pic soon.









.


----------

