Do It Yourself Help-Home Projects
 

There's a lot of talent here. I was hoping we could help each other with home project questions.

I happen to have a few home projects going on right now and would like to ask some help of someone who knows plumbing.

This is my dilema:

Kitchen - good cold water pressure and poor hot water pressure
Bathtub - has poor hot and cold water pressure
Bathroom - sink has great hot and cold water pressure.

I have replaced the kitchen and bathroom sinks within the past year and I am hesitant to get to involved with my plumbing because it is old galvanized pipe--where is the problem at, just the screens or is it indicitive of an issue with the hot water heater (which is about 15 y/o)?

I've been warned about touching the galvanized pipes..is it true they are hell to work with?

Where is the shut off valve for the tub and how hard is it to replace the whole unit, shower and faucets in the tub. I have the tile slated to be torn down and replaced in Jan so opening the wall is no big deal. I'm just afraid my hot water pressure is not going to make it until then.

Also I have bit of rot in front of the tub--is there a way I can guage how bad the rot is without lifting the tub?

Help.

Good luck!!

Thanks--I do have a shut off valve at the house and there is one on the water heater, I didn't think about shutting it off at the water heater.

In the tub is there a screen to the faucet? I am trying to figure out where that hot water is coming in at, I have two knobs one each so I am assuming they each have their own line of water--I'm not sure where to dig for a screen to clean and suspect it is in the wall. I've never messed with any tub plumbing--replaced lots of sinks and toilets but never messed with the tub.

Do you know if you shut the water off at the vstreet, do you have to be concerned about how open it is when you turn it back on--is there such a thing as to much pressure turning it back on into the house?

I really appreciate the reponses!

If you have galvanized pipes, the problem with your low pressure water could be the pipes themselves. When they rot, the rot from the inside in. Thus, you won't see any damage until you cut the pipe open...at which point, you'll see all the rot clogging up the pipe. I had this in a house once. And it was the hot water pipes. I started in the bathtub, and ended up replacing all the pipes...allllllllll the way to the street. It was a nightmare.

For the rot in front of the tub: If you're planning on replacing it anyways, you can always try to old "If you can stab a screwdriver through it, it's rotten" test. But that only works if A) you don't have tile, and B) you're already planning on replacing any linoleum (or whatever else you've got on top of the subfloor).


Dylan...hates plumbing

Great thread! Thanks Kimbo for getting it started!

Sorry to hear about your water pressure issues. We have taken on the joys of an older home also ( circa 1850's) which has been updated in interesting manifestations over the years. This includes the labyrinth of pipes and fittings under it. Most of the copper has been replaced, however it wasn't replaced with the size pipes that provide for better pressure so we will be changing those all out this spring. The size of your pipes may have something to do with it, along with what has been mentioned earlier in the metal decay itself.

We just replaced the gauge on the water holding tank and the nipple was totally clogged going into the filter. We are on a well, so I'm not sure if you even have a tank, so that may not be something you can check. Repairing those two things increased our pressure 3X.

Good luck and I hope it turns out to be something manageable for you!

Yay for the DIYers!

Our new countertops are FINALLY in! I cant WAIT to be rid of the existing country blue ones!

As per usual, I am expecting what should be fairly straightforward to be ANYTHING but... By the end of the day, we will have shiney newness and hopefully Jess won't have too much more "tinsel" at hys temples!:wallbreak:

Wish us luck! :dance2:

Christie

Do you know if you shut the water off at the vstreet, do you have to be concerned about how open it is when you turn it back on--is there such a thing as to much pressure turning it back on into the house?

Kimbo, yes you need to !. Shut it off at the main first, replace, add a water pressure regulator, ask at the store what pressure it should be set to.
2. When you get ready to turn on the water, open all the faucets in the house, this will prevent a bang to the pipes from the sudden pressure return.
Good luck buddy!

I hate plumbing too!!

This is actually my fear, Dylan. I've been warned about galvanized plumbing a lot. I've also been warned about the knob and tube electrical in the house. It's a 1942 house that I have very little attachement too.

I am not fixing the house up for my pleasure and am trying to put as little financially into it, I want to put it on the market--this is my last year in Seattle. Chances are someone will buy this house and rip it a part or even rip it down and put a bigger house on the property.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I really need to give in and crawl under the house--not my favorite thing to do. I know I have new copper coming in from the street, I need to get under there and see if I can find some of this stuff, but now I know a few things to look for.

Shit--I'm not liking what I found. I crawled under the house and I can see the copper coming into the house, it looks like there is a regulator in place where they have tied the copper and the galvanized together. The main galvanized line coming in looks clean and rust free.

What is scaring the hell out of me is what I see coming out of the bathroom wall (under the house). I found one of the pipes with a very small drip coming out of it and is right next to a dime size rust spot--I suspect this is the major culprit and is ready to go--however when looking at the array of joints and lines I see quite a few rusty spots but no other visible drips. I am really having a hard time figuring out where this one line with the drip is going to and quite frankly think it is one of the lines out of the water heater.

This is what is really bothering me--it is sitting right next to my furnace and right by one of the cement slabs that is holding one of my major wall structures--I don't have a full slab, it's all dirt under there with the exception of these obvious reinforced area's to hold up a wall in the house. That slab does not look to stable to me as the dirt is removed from atleast 1/2 of the underside. I am really concerned if the water pipe broke what other damage it has the potential of causing.

Jack this is my question--what are the chances it would explode? Or is it just going to drip and the leak will get bigger? The leak is sitting in a bad spot-right where the pipe is coming thru the floor-. I need time to get some quotes -- I am thinking it is time to open the damn wall and do all the plumbing--at the same time I am going to have them put in a tankless gas water heater. Do you think this is an emergency or will be soon?

The good news is that the furnace has a new air filter and I got to go to home depot today!!

I'm sitting here debating on whether to open that wall up today---this is a '42 house--when you open these walls they flat ass stink.

I'll check this out when I get to working in the bathroom--still projected for Jan of 2010.

Jack I cannot thank you enough--

The game plan is that tomorrow at 0600 I will begin taking down the wall on the opposite side of the bathroom plumbing, at 0830 my friend will be here to train me in the art of plumbing. She thinks we will have it done by noon but what is not done she is going to leave me to do and will check back in on me after she gets done with her racing. We are going to drop the gas lines in for a gas tankless water heater and for a dryer while we are at it. I'm working on the water heater to buy--I think the Bosch Aquastar that is 6.4 GPM, it meets all the criteria for the energy credit. She'll check in with her distributor for a price break and by next weekend, if not sooner we will get that installed and get the wall back up.

We are going to completely replumb all the pipes with the exception of the main pipe in--for now we are going to let that one be and concentrate on everything else. Once I know something like this is going on I have to get if fixed -- I'd be constantly crawling under the house checking on the pipe and I really hate crawling around under there.

I sure hope I can find my knee pads, I know I'm going to be needing them. One thing I am really glad I did is part of the sale agreement on my house was that the prior owner had to clean out the crawl space and install new visqeen (sp?). I've had the house 10 years now but that plastic is still pretty clean and the crawl space seems to be rodent free. The spiders don't bother me but I hate the cobwebs on my face--I take a broom in with me to take care of that.

Wish me luck--I've never plumbed a house before especially after a plumbing crash course.