New home construction - Any plumbers in the house?

[tamu94]

If you are going to leave a house unoccupied during the winter its a good idea to blow the lines and water heater out and fill the traps/toilet with RV antifreeze. This way you wont have to worry no matter what happens. I learned this the hard way. A quick 30 min routine when we leave the cabin in the winter is all it takes for peace of mind.

 

[greenmojo]

If you have a particular inspector you don't like you can call the office the morning of the inspection, before he heads out, and ask to speak to whichever one is coming that day. If they connect you to the guy you don't like, just tell him you need to re-schedule and apologize for the trouble. You might even be able to find out which days he goes to your area and then schedule accordingly. Or ask the good guy which days he comes out your way.

I took your advice and modified it a bit. I called and asked for the inspector I prefer, asked if he had an email and if I can email him and find out when he is rotating into the field. He said no problem. :thumbsup:

~Moses

 

[kenmac]

If you have a particular inspector you don't like you can call the office the morning of the inspection, before he heads out, and ask to speak to whichever one is coming that day. If they connect you to the guy you don't like, just tell him you need to re-schedule and apologize for the trouble. You might even be able to find out which days he goes to your area and then schedule accordingly. Or ask the good guy which days he comes out your way.

That won't work here... They only have 1 inspector per area

 

[kenmac]

Thanks!

It's pretty cool thus far to have water in the veins of the house.

They allow water tests here, so we stuck a hose in the main stack and let it go. I have to admit it was pretty unnerving to here water filling the DWV system and gurgling above and below. Especially since I hadn't tested it myself, I was nervous.

~Moses

That's the way we test here... Get on the roof and fill the vent stack with water

 

[JRobyn]

Reminds me of the time when as a kid, my dad let me stay out of school for a few days while we re-routed our house DWV plumbing from the septic tank on one end of the house to the new county sewer connection on the other end. Ranch house over full basement, and we trenched down through the basement floor about 4ft deep to meet the new sewer connection. Gave us a chance to put a full bath in the basement. All cast-iron/oakum/poured lead joints. We did very nice work, and were proud of it!

Came time for the inspection. Dad had bought inflatable plugs for everything, but forgot to get one for the basement tub/shower drain. We found that a tennis ball would JUST squish into the hole, so we used that, secured with a few pieces of plumbing pipe strapping.

You guessed it..... it held until JUST as the test water was almost to the top of the vent stack nearly 20ft above the tennis ball plug!

The gusher hit the underside of the main floor above. There was enough water to almost completely fill our new trench.

The inspector couldn't decide whether to be angry with us or amused, but evidently came down on the side of amused, because I think he granted us a "pass" on the inspection anyway!

- Jay

 

[greenmojo]

Came time for the inspection. Dad had bought inflatable plugs for everything, but forgot to get one for the basement tub/shower drain. We found that a tennis ball would JUST squish into the hole, so we used that, secured with a few pieces of plumbing pipe strapping.

You guessed it..... it held until JUST as the test water was almost to the top of the vent stack nearly 20ft above the tennis ball plug!

The gusher hit the underside of the main floor above. There was enough water to almost completely fill our new trench.

The inspector couldn't decide whether to be angry with us or amused, but evidently came down on the side of amused, because I think he granted us a "pass" on the inspection anyway!

- Jay

That's terrible! And exactly what I feared. Ours held okay, but I had to remove the 3" plug on the main drain out of the house... problem, it stops short 2' inside the foundation under the house. So I attempted to aim the 3" line out of the hole in the foundation. Short version, the first 10 seconds of exploding water soaked me, then a few gallons made it out. ;-)

~Moses