Plumbing Rant

[N80]

Eddie, building the cabin was a big adventure. I thought I'd done my homework but I had not. It was much harder than I expected, took a lot longer (rainiest spring in years when we started construction) and cost a lot more. I was very lucky to have a B-I-L with building experience, a boom truck, a tractor with pallet forks, and scaffolding. He is also a stickler for doing things right and if I started taking shortcuts or getting sloppy, he'd set me straight. He also loves doing this sort of thing. He understood then, as I do now, that if something isn't right at the start of the project, nothing will be right at the end. He also pushed me to do it all without hiring anyone. (We did it all except the foundation.)

In the end it was a trying experience. But, his whole family (3 girls and wife), my whole family (son, daughter and wife) helped and it was a great experience for all of us. We learned a lot and we're all proud of what we accomplished, and the kids (and I) gained a lot of self confidence as well. My son will be able to tell his kids that he and his Dad built the old log cabin.

As for cost, well, it cost a lot more than my estimates but still a lot less than if we had contracted it out. We're still digging out from it, but it has been worth every penny.

It is structurally solid, the plumbing and electric are done right, but there are fit and finish issues that no one notices but me, but they still bother me. Our motto was "We're building a cabin, not a piano." I may correct some of them in the future...but probably not.

We spend a lot of time down there. It's been a dream come true for me and I hope it will be around for my kids and their kids.

 

[EddieWalker]

Gearge,

Thanks for sharing a little of what went into your cabin. If I remember right, you posted a few pictures of it awhile ago on a different thread.

You accomplished what most of us dream about. If you find the time, you really should start a thread on what it was like from start to present. From clearing the land to building the walls and finishing it off.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Jagmandave]

One quick and easy trick when trying to fix a copper joint, stick a piece of bread well up into the pipe, it will keep the water back so you can sweat the joint, then when you turn on the water, the bread just washes right out.

 

[Dusty]

One quick and easy trick when trying to fix a copper joint, stick a piece of bread well up into the pipe, it will keep the water back so you can sweat the joint, then when you turn on the water, the bread just washes right out.

Only use white bread. Other types that contain seeds and grains can lodge in the valve. I always run the bathtub to clear out the bread. Not much can clog a bathtub spout.
Dusty

 

[Westonium]

i dont think i understand the safe grounding of pipes thing you mention West.
why do you need to ground your pipes?

when i built this house i used copper for the supply lines and pvc for the drainage lines. the water comes from my well through a black plastic pipe into my basement. sweating copper is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. the most important part is cleaning the pipe and fitting. i had one supply leak after sweating many many many joints in this house and it was very easy to fix.

I thought I knew the answer to this off the top of my head, but I do know that it is code required here and the electrician that re-did all the major wiring on our house insisted that it was very important.

If you purchase in-line whole-house water filters, they will include heavy gauge wire and clams for ensuring the electrical path can make it past the pastic filter assembly.

As to why this is important? I don't know. Maybe it is only for protection against lightning hitting the pipes, protection against the well pump delivering a shock or?

Paging a licensed electrician to answer this question!

 

[Dusty]

I believe that it is to protect the homeowner in the event that a electrical were were to short out to the copper plumbing pipes. If the pipes are grounded, they will carry that errant current to ground. I just purchased a whole house water filter, and when I saw that there was no grounding strap included with the filter, I contacted GE to ask why. They sent me one at no charge, along with the fittings to hook up the filter.

 

[RalphVa]

I always do the drains with PVC, very easy to work with and generally no leaks. For the supply, I always use the flex hoses, new ones every time generally.

Once had a house with 6 bedrooms and 6 baths. For toilets, my modus operanda was to replace everything from supply cutoff valve outlet to flapper valve. If I didn't, something would surely leak or break. Back then, it was only about $22 for everything, well worth it.

Ralph

 

[randy41]

so heres my unprofessional take on the grounding/copper plumbing thing.
at one time, before electrical grounding at the receptacle was not a typical installation, many home appliances and electronic devices were grounded to the plumbing. it is a good ground, especially before the widespread use of plastic plumbing. it all eventually ended up underground.
but then electrical codes changed and in houses wired the more modern way the plumbing grounding then became unnecessary.

 

[Dusty]

When I built my home in 1982, they didn't require me to have but one ground rod at the meter service entrance. When I did a upgrade a few years ago, I had to install ground rods at the generator transfer box, generator, and in the cellar at the main panel, in addition to the one that was at the meter socket. The worse part of all of this was that they wanted one #4 copper cable from end to end. One end was in the cellar at the main panel, and the other end I had to ground it to the well casing 30' from the house. The copper water piping also had to be grounded to the ground rod in the cellar.
Dusty

 

[turnkey4099]

so heres my unprofessional take on the grounding/copper plumbing thing.
at one time, before electrical grounding at the receptacle was not a typical installation, many home appliances and electronic devices were grounded to the plumbing. it is a good ground, especially before the widespread use of plastic plumbing. it all eventually ended up underground.
but then electrical codes changed and in houses wired the more modern way the plumbing grounding then became unnecessary.

No, it doesn't matter how lthe house is wired, grounded receptacle or no, a good electrical ground is still required. I had to have mine professionally installed after I replaced my sewer pipe with ABS. House had already had all wiring upgraded. Should have been done by the so-called electrician that replaced my main panel (changed from fuse to circuit breaker. In my case, it required two long ground rods spaced about 6 ft apart.

Harry K