[TheForge] housekeeping

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

comments below.

On Sun, 22 Oct 2006, paul wrote:

>
> Where do I start...
>
> 'lazy plumber'...
>

yes, lazy plumber. there is not one union in the entire plumbing system.
there is only one shutoff valve in the entire plumbing system. that is a
single brass globe value between the where the well line enters the
basement and the well pressure tank. there are no shutoff values for
any of the sink faucets, the showers, the clothes washer, the outside
sillcocks, etc.

thankfully this is a ranch and most of the plumbing is in the basement
except for where they decided to hide it in a wet wall for the one
shower, clothes washer, the one toilet. the plumbing in that wall is
totally non-maintainable. in order to repair several pipes and valves in
that wall over the years i have had to cut out portions of the wall.

numerous locations the plumber took out large sections of the floor
joists for no apparent reason at all other than he could.

the plumbing for one bathroom is run right underneath the subfloor.
they notched the top of the floor joists and ran the pipes right next
to the sub-floor. those pipes cannot be removed or replaced short of
cutting them with a sawzall and re-routing the pipes below the floor
joists. in running the drain pipes for the same bathroom the lazy
plumber took out more than 75% of several floor joists to run the
copper drain pipe.

five joists under that one bathroom have to be repaired because of
the lazy plumber and his hacking on the floor joists.

concerning previous owners of the home. i know all the previous owners
of this home. one previous owner, rick crawford, is also a member of
theforge e-mail list. the home is 33 yrs. old.

>
> I have been a master plumber for 20+ years, and have been in the trade since 
> 1968. In that time it has been my experience that  'mistakes and cheap 
> shortcuts' are the result of inexperienced and incompetent  handymen, 
> untrained hacks that call themselves plumbers and unskilled homeowners rather 
> than skilled  and trained craftsmen.  The presence of 'aging steel pipe' 
> speaks  more to  the age of the home than the competence of the installer. 
> Screwed galvanized water pipe and waste pipe were still common as little as 
> thirty years ago.
>

the drain, waste, vent pipes are all copper.
the original plumbing was/is galvanized steel.

>
> Romex is present because the builder did not want to spend the extra money 
> for BX cable, not because some 'lazy electrician' didn't want to drag BX 
> though the holes that he had just drilled, the same holes that would have 
> easily passed BX in stead of romex.
>
> It may be frustrating to have your children return home after beginning lives 
> on their own, but your frustration with the condition of your home is no 
> reason to insult honest craftsmen.
>

it is my opinion that the phrase "honest craftsmen" is an oxymoron.

>
> paul
>
>

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>