Swill handyman advice

You guys are the best. I just wanted to say that.

Since I made the claim with this possibly being an issue on the plumber, and time, I will let you know what happens after they come on Friday.

MSU addict wrote:I am not a plumber, but may father was.  He taught me a lot.  I have flipped about 50 houses and have owned rental properties.  I have done a lot of plumbing repairs. 

To me, the most frustrating part of doing plumbing repairs on an older home is adapting new fittings/materials to the old plumbing.  Your dad probably ran into a number of situations and had to figure them out...sorta priceless knowledge before youtube came along.

First home I purchased was in RO...early 50's vintage.  Not really that old and the house had decent old school plumbing and fixtures...even got an old lawn sprinkler system back up and running though looked like it hadn't been used in many years.

The only real plumbing problem was in the basement.  There was a bathroom/shower.  Used it every morning getting up for work, to leave the main floor bathroom available.  Was showering one morning and discovered the floor tile was floating under my feet.  Got dressed and pulled out most of the shower tile floor right then and there.  Turned out there was no pan underneath...tile had been laid on a shower-contoured concrete base.  

Wanting to know more about the bathroom construction, called work to tell them I wouldn't be in.  Carefully took down the knotty pine boards on the outside wall behind the shower plumbing to discover the 2x4's behind the wall were mostly wet...had been for a long time.  

Near as I can tell, many early-late 50's SE MI basements were built to include plumbing for downstairs.  House I grew up in in Warren (mid-late 50's) had a couple drains in the floor not far apart.  One sewer and one gray water with a similarly contoured shower concrete base.   Dad walled-in the area and put a shitter over the obvious sewer drain, along with a bathroom sink.  Dad was extremely handy at all projects, but never finished the shower.

The RO basement shower made me think of why Dad may have not wanted to add the shower in the Warren basement.  Took me hours to cold chisel the concrete from around the old drain to be able to adapt it to a proper pan drain fitting.  Did the new carpentry and plumbing myself, able to save the knotty pine exterior wall.  Have done only cosmetic tile work.  Hired a professional to put in the pan, mud base, and tile.  Shower was perfect after that.

The problem with older homes...it's often hard to determine how they've been fucked with over the years.  Even paid home inspectors botch pre-sale.  For instance, the old RO home.  Ranch.  Was a three bedroom before a previous owner knocked out a wall to expand the kitchen/dining area.  Was kinda cool until I went to put a new light fixture in the ceiling.  Pulled the fuse that turned off the light.  Was literally shocked upon discovering someone had run two circuits through the box.

The Pantry wrote:

MSU addict wrote:I am not a plumber, but may father was.  He taught me a lot.  I have flipped about 50 houses and have owned rental properties.  I have done a lot of plumbing repairs. 

To me, the most frustrating part of doing plumbing repairs on an older home is adapting new fittings/materials to the old plumbing.  Your dad probably ran into a number of situations and had to figure them out...sorta priceless knowledge before youtube came along.

First home I purchased was in RO...early 50's vintage.  Not really that old and the house had decent old school plumbing and fixtures...even got an old lawn sprinkler system back up and running though looked like it hadn't been used in many years.

The only real plumbing problem was in the basement.  There was a bathroom/shower.  Used it every morning getting up for work, to leave the main floor bathroom available.  Was showering one morning and discovered the floor tile was floating under my feet.  Got dressed and pulled out most of the shower tile floor right then and there.  Turned out there was no pan underneath...tile had been laid on a shower-contoured concrete base.  

Wanting to know more about the bathroom construction, called work to tell them I wouldn't be in.  Carefully took down the knotty pine boards on the outside wall behind the shower plumbing to discover the 2x4's behind the wall were mostly wet...had been for a long time.  

Near as I can tell, many early-late 50's SE MI basements were built to include plumbing for downstairs.  House I grew up in in Warren (mid-late 50's) had a couple drains in the floor not far apart.  One sewer and one gray water with a similarly contoured shower concrete base.   Dad walled-in the area and put a shitter over the obvious sewer drain, along with a bathroom sink.  Dad was extremely handy at all projects, but never finished the shower.

The RO basement shower made me think of why Dad may have not wanted to add the shower in the Warren basement.  Took me hours to cold chisel the concrete from around the old drain to be able to adapt it to a proper pan drain fitting.  Did the new carpentry and plumbing myself, able to save the knotty pine exterior wall.  Have done only cosmetic tile work.  Hired a professional to put in the pan, mud base, and tile.  Shower was perfect after that.

The problem with older homes...it's often hard to determine how they've been fucked with over the years.  Even paid home inspectors botch pre-sale.  For instance, the old RO home.  Ranch.  Was a three bedroom before a previous owner knocked out a wall to expand the kitchen/dining area.  Was kinda cool until I went to put a new light fixture in the ceiling.  Pulled the fuse that turned off the light.  Was literally shocked upon discovering someone had run two circuits through the box.

We live in a house my great grandpa built by himself in the 30s and he expanded the next 50 years. He was also very resourceful and creative/cheap. Leads to a lot of fun discoveries.

aualum06 wrote:

The Pantry wrote:
To me, the most frustrating part of doing plumbing repairs on an older home is adapting new fittings/materials to the old plumbing.  Your dad probably ran into a number of situations and had to figure them out...sorta priceless knowledge before youtube came along.

First home I purchased was in RO...early 50's vintage.  Not really that old and the house had decent old school plumbing and fixtures...even got an old lawn sprinkler system back up and running though looked like it hadn't been used in many years.

The only real plumbing problem was in the basement.  There was a bathroom/shower.  Used it every morning getting up for work, to leave the main floor bathroom available.  Was showering one morning and discovered the floor tile was floating under my feet.  Got dressed and pulled out most of the shower tile floor right then and there.  Turned out there was no pan underneath...tile had been laid on a shower-contoured concrete base.  

Wanting to know more about the bathroom construction, called work to tell them I wouldn't be in.  Carefully took down the knotty pine boards on the outside wall behind the shower plumbing to discover the 2x4's behind the wall were mostly wet...had been for a long time.  

Near as I can tell, many early-late 50's SE MI basements were built to include plumbing for downstairs.  House I grew up in in Warren (mid-late 50's) had a couple drains in the floor not far apart.  One sewer and one gray water with a similarly contoured shower concrete base.   Dad walled-in the area and put a shitter over the obvious sewer drain, along with a bathroom sink.  Dad was extremely handy at all projects, but never finished the shower.

The RO basement shower made me think of why Dad may have not wanted to add the shower in the Warren basement.  Took me hours to cold chisel the concrete from around the old drain to be able to adapt it to a proper pan drain fitting.  Did the new carpentry and plumbing myself, able to save the knotty pine exterior wall.  Have done only cosmetic tile work.  Hired a professional to put in the pan, mud base, and tile.  Shower was perfect after that.

The problem with older homes...it's often hard to determine how they've been fucked with over the years.  Even paid home inspectors botch pre-sale.  For instance, the old RO home.  Ranch.  Was a three bedroom before a previous owner knocked out a wall to expand the kitchen/dining area.  Was kinda cool until I went to put a new light fixture in the ceiling.  Pulled the fuse that turned off the light.  Was literally shocked upon discovering someone had run two circuits through the box.

We live in a house my great grandpa built by himself in the 30s and he expanded the next 50 years. He was also very resourceful and creative/cheap. Leads to a lot of fun discoveries.

First of all, that’s cool as hell. And I cant imagine how things were done with tools available back then.

I.B. Fine wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:btw, my wife learned even less from her ‘rents. Her attitude is if something isn’t working, pay someone to replace it with a new one. Thankfully, she hasn’t found my replacement... yet.

Not sorry for taking your line, Pylon & KL.

At least that's what she tells you, Mr Gullibleway

You should go back to lurking.

aualum06 wrote:
We live in a house my great grandpa built by himself in the 30s and he expanded the next 50 years. He was also very resourceful and creative/cheap. Leads to a lot of fun discoveries.

Pretty awesome.

There's a home in Troy I general contracted from architecture to certificate of occupancy in the early 90's. Except for my kids, my proudest achievement.

Wyff got the home in the divorce and I ended up funding the mortgage via spousal support until she sold it a few years ago.

Spent hours there during the construction, after working 9-10 doing my regular job. Was in the architectural chimney enclosure one night putting in fire stop material to comply with building code when I decided to take a break. Pulled a pen out my pocket and wrote on a structural 2x4 something no one will likely ever see. Only I know where I penned that.

The Pantry wrote:

MSU addict wrote:I am not a plumber, but may father was.  He taught me a lot.  I have flipped about 50 houses and have owned rental properties.  I have done a lot of plumbing repairs. 

To me, the most frustrating part of doing plumbing repairs on an older home is adapting new fittings/materials to the old plumbing.  Your dad probably ran into a number of situations and had to figure them out...sorta priceless knowledge before youtube came along.

First home I purchased was in RO...early 50's vintage.  Not really that old and the house had decent old school plumbing and fixtures...even got an old lawn sprinkler system back up and running though looked like it hadn't been used in many years.

The only real plumbing problem was in the basement.  There was a bathroom/shower.  Used it every morning getting up for work, to leave the main floor bathroom available.  Was showering one morning and discovered the floor tile was floating under my feet.  Got dressed and pulled out most of the shower tile floor right then and there.  Turned out there was no pan underneath...tile had been laid on a shower-contoured concrete base.  

Wanting to know more about the bathroom construction, called work to tell them I wouldn't be in.  Carefully took down the knotty pine boards on the outside wall behind the shower plumbing to discover the 2x4's behind the wall were mostly wet...had been for a long time.  

Near as I can tell, many early-late 50's SE MI basements were built to include plumbing for downstairs.  House I grew up in in Warren (mid-late 50's) had a couple drains in the floor not far apart.  One sewer and one gray water with a similarly contoured shower concrete base.   Dad walled-in the area and put a shitter over the obvious sewer drain, along with a bathroom sink.  Dad was extremely handy at all projects, but never finished the shower.

The RO basement shower made me think of why Dad may have not wanted to add the shower in the Warren basement.  Took me hours to cold chisel the concrete from around the old drain to be able to adapt it to a proper pan drain fitting.  Did the new carpentry and plumbing myself, able to save the knotty pine exterior wall.  Have done only cosmetic tile work.  Hired a professional to put in the pan, mud base, and tile.  Shower was perfect after that.

The problem with older homes...it's often hard to determine how they've been fucked with over the years.  Even paid home inspectors botch pre-sale.  For instance, the old RO home.  Ranch.  Was a three bedroom before a previous owner knocked out a wall to expand the kitchen/dining area.  Was kinda cool until I went to put a new light fixture in the ceiling.  Pulled the fuse that turned off the light.  Was literally shocked upon discovering someone had run two circuits through the box.

Thats really cool to know and have those kind of experiences. What has frustrated me about my current house, are that we have these "not easy fixes" when it was only built in 79. The house I grew up in, and my mom still lives in is over 100 years old. Of course everything was fucked up in that house until my mom gutted it 15 years ago. My current house acts like the issues from when I grew up , and it shouldn't be that bad. But numerous instances have shown shoddy work from previous owners.
I had an old friend help build something in our basement a few years ago, and he's familiar with electrical shit. Well, that's another disaster, and shit isnt labeled and nothing was grounded. He spent hours grounding a bunch of stuff, and an old hidden outlet. I didn't expect those internal issues in a house built in '79.

I'm glad we will have everything new and up to code next year. I feel like any repairs should be easier to figure out on our own for a while at least (and after warranties).

Dendrobates wrote:

Thats really cool to know and have those kind of experiences. What has frustrated me about my current house, are that we have these "not easy fixes" when it was only built in 79. The house I grew up in, and my mom still lives in is over 100 years old. Of course everything was fucked up in that house until my mom gutted it 15 years ago. My current house acts like the issues from when I grew up , and it shouldn't be that bad. But numerous instances have shown shoddy work from previous owners.
I had an old friend help build something in our basement a few years ago, and he's familiar with electrical shit. Well, that's another disaster,  and shit isnt labeled and nothing was grounded. He spent hours grounding a bunch of stuff, and an old hidden outlet. I didn't expect those internal issues in a house built in '79.

I'm glad we will have everything new and up to code next year. I feel like any repairs should be easier to figure out on our own for a while at least (and after warranties).

Mid 70s to early 80s spec homes are some of the worst IMO.  Shoddy carpentry/workmanship and the cheapest materials/windows/doors/fittings & fixtures.  Sometimes wonder if there were any municipal building inspectors then, or if they had all been paid off.  Haven't been on a residential stairway built during that time frame that didn't creak.

Did a full remodel of the kitchen in my last home, originally constructed in 76.  Moved placement of every functional item, except where the range was.  Took out a non-structural wall and part of another to open the kitchen up to the dining and living room.  Turned out pretty cool...made the entire area more people friendly.

While doing the tear out came upon some of the shoddy.  Taking down the walls, many of the 2x4's were not even close to plumb...kinda surprised they managed to hang drywall on them.  Studded a little 45° wall to replace the partial wall I took out.  Used screws to attach it to the old structure because that stud was way off plumb...had to shim a few times to get the new wall square.  Old wiring and plumbing were sloppy, done in haste apparently.

The Pantry wrote:

aualum06 wrote:
We live in a house my great grandpa built by himself in the 30s and he expanded the next 50 years. He was also very resourceful and creative/cheap. Leads to a lot of fun discoveries.

Pretty awesome.

There's a home in Troy I general contracted from architecture to certificate of occupancy in the early 90's. Except for my kids, my proudest achievement.

Wyff got the home in the divorce and I ended up funding the mortgage via spousal support until she sold it a few years ago.

Spent hours there during the construction, after working 9-10 doing my regular job. Was in the architectural chimney enclosure one night putting in fire stop material to comply with building code when I decided to take a break. Pulled a pen out my pocket and wrote on a structural 2x4 something no one will likely ever see. Only I know where I penned that.

Sweet. Great story. This house is all cement block and hard timber from the woods on the property

DWags wrote:

aualum06 wrote:

We live in a house my great grandpa built by himself in the 30s and he expanded the next 50 years. He was also very resourceful and creative/cheap. Leads to a lot of fun discoveries.

First of all, that’s cool as hell. And I cant imagine how things were done with tools available back then.

Original house burnt down so they lived in the basement that was left while building the new one

The plumbers didn’t even look into it, they just replaced the disposal. All is well.

I’m looking forward to being able to do some projects on a house that wasn’t built like crap.

Pantry- It’s interesting that it was a trend in the 70s and 80s for those crappy houses. I’m glad it’s a trend and not that the house is just crap.