At Home In The Woods

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks Kyle_in_Tex. The wife didn't want the back of the house to be ugly. I think she did a great job on how the house looks from the back. It's kind of funny though because almost nobody will ever see it from the back.

Congrats on you son. I hope he and mommy are doing well. We have a girl who was born on Feb 11. I guess I wasn't man enough to make a boy. That's ok. I love having a little girl. I just need to figure out how to keep the boys away from her until I'm dead.

Obed

I am so sorry, I must have gotten confused with another thread. I have 2 little girls too and I thought I wasn't man enough to have a boy either. Then, the good Lord blessed me with a surprise.

Trust me, you already have a back hoe. Just show those hairy legged boys the hole you keep ready on the back 40. Along with a nice collection of shotguns and maybe they'll take a hint.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Obed]

Electrical Trench Work Continues

After work today I dug some more near the transformer/pedestal area.

It was a little hairy digging so close to the temp pole. At normal tractor RPMs, sometimes the backhoe boom gets away from me and swings real fast and can hit something. My joysticks are a little touchy. So I ran the RPMs on my tractor lower than normal to slow the boom swing speed. The unfortunate part of this equation is that the backhoe moves more slowly and it takes me longer to dig. But that's better than tearing up my temp pole or getting electrocuted.

 

[Obed]

Primer for the Plumbing Drains

I do not see any purple pipe sealer on any of your plumbing fittings.

When Coyote Machine noticed that our drain pipes in the pictures didn't show the purple primer, I had the wife go check and sure enough, there was no purple. She then asked the plumber about the primer and he said he doesn't use it on unpressurized drain pipes. The wife called the county building inspector and found that our county does not require primer to be used on the drain pipes. I then called a GC from my home town an hour away; he said plumbers in his county don't use the primer for drains unless someone requires them. So not using the primer for drain pipes seems to be the "accepted practice" in this area.

None of this information made me happy. When I ran the septic line (unpressurized) to our camper, I used primer. The instructions on the glue container say to use primer. Unfortunately, by the time we noticed our house drains had no primer, 95% of the drain work had been finished. The only way to fix it would be to completely re-do all the drains. While not ideal, our drains will not have primer. They probably won't leak. If our drains leak, then most of the houses in our county will also have drains that leak. If our drains do leak, the plumber can come back and fix them. The drains are open to the basement and accessible.

Not using primer just amazes me. That's something I didn't think to check because it never occurred to me that plumbers would skip that step. That's something I won't miss next time. Our plumber has been informed that we want him to use primer on the rest of the drain work that he does.

 

[Obed]

Tomorrow the fireplace installation begins.

 

[dcyrilc]

Primer for the Plumbing Drains



When Coyote Machine noticed that our drain pipes in the pictures didn't show the purple primer, I had the wife go check and sure enough, there was no purple. She then asked the plumber about the primer and he said he doesn't use it on unpressurized drain pipes. The wife called the county building inspector and found that our county does not require primer to be used on the drain pipes. I then called a GC from my home town an hour away; he said plumbers in his county don't use the primer for drains unless someone requires them. So not using the primer for drain pipes seems to be the "accepted practice" in this area.

None of this made me happy. When I ran the septic line (unpressurized) to our camper, I used primer. The instructions on the glue container say to use primer. Unfortunately, by the time we noticed our house drains had no primer, 95% of the drain work had been finished. The only way to fix it would be to completely re-do all the drains. While not ideal, our drains will not have primer. They probably won't leak. If our drains leak, then most of the houses in our county will also have drains that leak. If our drains do leak, the plumber can come back and fix them. The drains are open to the basement and accessible.

Not using primer just amazes me. That's something I didn't think to check because it never occurred to me that plumbers would skip that step. That's something I won't miss next time. Our plumber has been informed that we want him to use primer on the rest of the drain work that he does.

Obed,
I think you have done a great job handling this situation. Although not ideal, I agree that your drains most likely will not leak. And if for some odd reason they do, you have easy access for repair. As primer is not commonly used in your part of the country, it would be unreasonable to expect the plumber to change it at his expense and with your construction allowing easy access it would be a waste of money to pay to have it redone at this point. IMHO. Adding the requirement for primer for the rest of the project is a wise choice also though. Again, my compliments on the handling of this.

 

[Mace Canute]

Unfortunately, we can't place the gas meter where we intended to put it because it would be under a window. So the gas meter will have to be put in a more conspicuous location on the front side of the garage. We'll have to put a bush in front of the meter to hide its ugliness.

As someone who has had to read meters, change them, do trouble shooting, etc I hope you realize what a PITA it is when a a bush is planted in front of it. I'm speaking from experience with electrical meters but the same hold true for gas meters. Try working on something at your place of work, then imagine what that would be like with a bush covering it up completely! Then imagine doing that hundreds of times. Lots of fun, eh? Be a considerate guy and leave a considerable amount of room to allow for future growth of the bush and room to work on the meter.

 

[nhkabotab7800]

Hey Obed,

I was helping my sister get her house ready to be sold and was fixing corner bead that had poped...which reminded me that most drywall finishers use a crimp tool to hold the corner bead on, I would require screws as well on both sides on the corner bead at ankle, hip and shoulder height this is where it most often gets hit and it will help to prevent it from cracking as your house settles over the years.

Rick

 

[jinman]

Obed, all the drains in my house were plugged and pressure tested. If your plumber does that too, you'll be sure there are no leaks. Of course, testing should be done before they close up the walls.

 

[mikefromnh]

Primer for the Plumbing Drains



When Coyote Machine noticed that our drain pipes in the pictures didn't show the purple primer, I had the wife go check and sure enough, there was no purple. She then asked the plumber about the primer and he said he doesn't use it on unpressurized drain pipes. The wife called the county building inspector and found that our county does not require primer to be used on the drain pipes. I then called a GC from my home town an hour away; he said plumbers in his county don't use the primer for drains unless someone requires them. So not using the primer for drain pipes seems to be the "accepted practice" in this area.

None of this information made me happy. When I ran the septic line (unpressurized) to our camper, I used primer. The instructions on the glue container say to use primer. Unfortunately, by the time we noticed our house drains had no primer, 95% of the drain work had been finished. The only way to fix it would be to completely re-do all the drains. While not ideal, our drains will not have primer. They probably won't leak. If our drains leak, then most of the houses in our county will also have drains that leak. If our drains do leak, the plumber can come back and fix them. The drains are open to the basement and accessible.

Not using primer just amazes me. That's something I didn't think to check because it never occurred to me that plumbers would skip that step. That's something I won't miss next time. Our plumber has been informed that we want him to use primer on the rest of the drain work that he does.

Are you sure there is no primer --OR-- just no purple primer?

There is such a thing as clear primer. When purple primer (which is required for cpvc) first started to be available a lot of plumbers thought it looked messy and instead used the clear primer.

Maybe he used clear primer, it would be hard to tell from a visual inspection if you don't know what you are looking at.

It should be leak tested, either by air pressure, or filling the lines with water. Either way you'll know if there is a problem.

 

[bdeboer]

Obed, all the drains in my house were plugged and pressure tested. If your plumber does that too, you'll be sure there are no leaks. Of course, testing should be done before they close up the walls.

They do this as part of the rough plumbing inspection here, before hanging drywall. It seems that leaks happen between the plumbing fixture and the pressure tested portion after the rough inspection. I fill sinks/tubs with warm water to the overflow and then drain them. The warm water causes expansion in the slip joints showing marginal connections.