Here's a snap shot of the FX50's door pocket holding the ticking time bomb our home's former owner left me. I'm no chemist or plumber, but when this bit o' kit was attached to a copper pipe, there were 3 different metals (copper, galvanized steel, and brass) within 4 inches of one another. Even I know that ain't right. A quick trip to the local home improvement store solved the problem.
The multi-camera system afforded unparalleled parking precision.
And as long as I was there, I picked up a couple furniture dollies that have been on my wish list ever since my back began acting up--so worth it.
Am I alone in feeling so damned satisfied doing a job right?
Chief Road Test Editor (and amateur plumber), Chris Walton @ 26,150 miles
hondacura4 says:
08:36 AM, 11/11/09
Given I have substantial experience in historic home/structure renovation, you wouldn't believe the stuff I've seen. It goes FAR beyond what's presented above.
Some advice: I've you're planning on purchasing a home, especially an older home, make sure you AND your home inspector looks at EVERY DETAIL. This is essential to your safety and investment.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
08:43 AM, 11/11/09
Also true for brand new houses - some builders really try to cut corners, in an unsafe way.
joefrompa says:
09:19 AM, 11/11/09
If you haven't yet used a shark-bite style fitting to connect 3 different types of plumbing materials (i.e. cpvc, copper, and pex), you haven't lived.
A $8 fitting can connect 3 different materials in about 15 seconds, and each can be instantly un-connected without a problem for the life of the fitting.
When I re-did my kitchen and ran supply piping to my new sink and dishwasher, it was like the most glorious thing I had ever done in my life.
Have you ever used Pex? I haven't yet, but I'd like to do an entire house one day with it. Regulations require anywhere the pex connects to be accessible, but it's so damn flexible and easy to use that that's pretty easy. Just install a manifold somewhere accessible and then run 8 lines of pex to everywhere you need to supply. Anyone know if it makes noise? My C-PVC hot-water piping was supposed to be a cheap alternative to copper, but it occasionally sounds like a sledgehammer it tapping on some joists :)
Joe
rick8365 says:
09:25 AM, 11/11/09
Sweet piece!
Oh.....and the FX50 is nice too.
brn says:
10:50 AM, 11/11/09
This whole thread is going to be way off the automotive topic and I'll enjoy it.
To hr4's point; It amazes me people that don't spend the $250 (or whatever) to have their multi-hundred thousand purchase checked out. If I hadn't, I'd have purchased a different house than the one I'm in now. It would have cost me an insane amount of money in structural repairs.
Even in the house I did buy, the $250 allowed me to get the seller to take money off the agreed price to pay for some minor issues. The inspection pays for itself, both financially and psychologically.
hondacura4 says:
11:26 AM, 11/11/09
"Also true for brand new houses - some builders really try to cut corners, in an unsafe way."
Kurtamaxx, although that is 100% true, the new growth lumber that's used in new construction isn't all that great. The grain isn't anywhere as dense as the older houses in which most were built with fully matured lumber where the grain was extremely dense which leads to greater initial strength and a much greater level of strength/durability for numerous years after it was constructed. I can't tell you how many times I've seen GREEN wood in new construction.
Our current house was built in 1906, and when you look at the craftsmanship, building techniques and materials used, in a lot of ways it's clearly superior to a lot of the new construction.
We've added 3 bedrooms, a master bath, a full bath/wash-dryer room, a great room and a 2 tiered deck and used mostly reclaimed wood (except for the deck as its teak) and similar construction techniques for strength, durability and cohesiveness. We also salvaged quite a bit of yellow pine hardwood flooring from complete tear down from another house a few miles away and it turned out to be nearly identical to the original yellow pine wood floor in out house. We simply installed it, refinished it and you can't tell where the additional wood starts.
The potential downsides of old construction are:
- The expense of the house and renovation.
- Lack of insulation.
- Inefficient windows (if original).
- Past owners who didn't execute projects correctly.
- Poor craftsmanship/installation from previous repairs or upgrades.
- Wrong/cheap materials used in projects.
- HVAC system improperly installed and/or inefficient.
- Old noisy plumbing. (can be quite scary after dark)
- Old inefficient electrical system.
- Incohesive additions.
In the end it's all worth it as I won't live in newer construction unless it's an ultra modern steel/concrete/glass structure, pre-fab or custom. Marmol-Radziner & Associates in California are masters at this.
My advice to everyone is to buy the cheapest house in the best neighborhood and maybe an FX too if you like it.
hondacura4 says:
11:39 AM, 11/11/09
"It amazes me people that don't spend the $250 (or whatever) to have their multi-hundred thousand purchase checked out. If I hadn't, I'd have purchased a different house than the one I'm in now. It would have cost me an insane amount of money in structural repairs. Even in the house I did buy, the $250 allowed me to get the seller to take money off the agreed price to pay for some minor issues. The inspection pays for itself, both financially and psychologically."
Smart man BRN. As I always say scratch the surface and look at the details inside as that's where all the valuable information is. Anybody can make a rat pretty but not everyone can smell a rat.
the_big_al says:
07:15 PM, 11/11/09
Pex is awsome stuff. Much better than copper. No more bad solder joints. flexible so that your plumber no longer has to be accurate with the holes (to a certain extent) he drills through the studs... makes his life easier so he gets done quicker. Multiple reasons why Pex is better than copper. Thieves don't rob your home of the Pex, but they will with copper....
7driver says:
08:31 PM, 11/11/09
Yeah, I've used pex. Great stuff, but I still prefer copper. To me, copper's been around a lot longer and is therefore more trustworthy. Pex has the advantage of going together way faster and easier and more reliably. But I figure I know how to sweat copper properly so any one section of pipe I put it is going to be there for a long time. If copper takes a few minutes longer to install but both will last decades, I figure the advantage is minimal.
Of course, plumbing's not my career so somebody's dollar isn't dependent on my time. That certainly colors the decision.
7driver says:
08:38 PM, 11/11/09
I pretty much agree with H/A4, but a few other disadvantages:
face nailed vs. T&G flooring.
modern engineered I-beam joists and subflooring are much more straight and level.
They really didn't know much about attic ventilation in the old days.
Overall, I wouldn't buy a brand new house unless it were custom and I designed/managed it myself.
paragon2 says:
06:22 AM, 11/12/09
JoefromPA - My fiancee and I completely gutted and rebuilt our first house after a natural disaster (yay flooding!). We used Viega Pex for the project and learned a lot.
It is true that the holes don't have to be lined up so the cutting can go faster, but make 'em big or line 'em up. It took a serious amount of muscle to get some of these pipes run even though the holes were 125% bigger than the outside diameter of the Pex.
If you run a double sink, take a single line to the bathroom for at least the hot and T from there, even with a 1/2" feed from the street (not my choice) we have plenty of pressure to run multiple sinks at once and it is kinda silly to pay for hot water to fill two pipes, and the delay exists for both.
In the past two years (since we got the system running) I've not noticed any sound from the Pex.
If you use fittings the Pex is much easier to turn corners and such, but its kink free turning radius is officially 8 inches (i think), but I never managed without a turning radius something over 12 inches. It takes up a LOT of space in the walls / floors. Take pictures while the wall is open. You can drive a nail for a picture through Pex, and possibly not even know why the wall just exploded open...
The stuff is great, and the cost per foot is relatively low, I'd use it again in a heartbeat, but I'd likely go with a slightly different setup, in of course, the dream house with more than one bathroom. Central distribution manablock with 3/4" pipes to the kitchen, mudroom, and each bathroom. Inside each of those rooms have a separate manablock that feeds all the individual fixtures. I haven't decided if I'd use a central water heater or a separate one in each room, but I think either way it will be more cost effective long term than a single central manablock. Which is still far better than the copper system IMHO.
7Driver - I'm with you 100% on designing / managing myself. I can't believe some of the corners I've seen professionals cut, and inspectors turn a blind eye to.