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The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

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  • #76
    Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

    Sounds like your engineered beam wasn't engineered very well. I have neither steel or engineered beam, no issues

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    • #77
      Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

      Originally posted by walrus View Post
      Sounds like your engineered beam wasn't engineered very well. I have neither steel or engineered beam, no issues

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      • #78
        Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

        More like tract homes thrown together as opposed to owner built with care and attenion to detail

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        • #79
          Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

          Originally posted by burd View Post
          It's real interesting how building practices can vary from region to region. I'm sure there are a lot of factors to this--even building codes can be the result of purely historical practice.
          In some cases, building codes are also influenced by local politics (i.e., who has enough electoral clout that can be exercised to give themselves a competitive advantage through regulation).

          In some parts of the country, building codes say that you cannot use PVC for indoor plumbing....because that forces you to use other materials that require more skill, and more specialized tools, to install.

          In some places, building codes say that you cannot use PBX for internal wiring, you have to use conduits. Most skilled do-it-yourselfers can handle PBX, while to use conduits you need an additional set of specialized tools that generally are only owned by professionals (yes, I know that you can rent a conduit bender if you are ambitious enough...).



          One of the most contentious zoning regulations where we live now is about setbacks. It makes a big difference whether you are "repairing" something or "replacing" it because structures that were in place before the current setback limits were implemented were grandfathered.
          Last edited by FreshFish; 06-29-2017, 08:42 AM.
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          • #80
            Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

            Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
            In some parts of the country, building codes say that you cannot use PVC for indoor plumbing....because that forces you to use other materials that require more skill, and more specialized tools, to install.
            I think San Francisco used to require cast iron DWV plumbing, even in residential construction. I think they allow plastic now (probably mostly ABS, but I assume most places allow PVC by now...), but only in places two stories or less.

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            • #81
              Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

              I know ND used to be copper supply and PVC drain. That's been changed to allow PEX supply also.

              What I wish was allowed more here in the US is the Teck cable they use in Canada. Canadians aren't required to run that in conduit. It's basically MC cable with an extra water-resistant PVC outer and inner.
              http://www.southwire.com/ProductCata...rodcatsheet329
              Last edited by The Sicatoka; 06-29-2017, 10:32 AM.
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              • #82
                Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
                In some cases, building codes are also influenced by local politics (i.e., who has enough electoral clout that can be exercised to give themselves a competitive advantage through regulation).
                The old joke is local politics is just developers fighting over the graft. Growing up on L.I., local politics was hilariously corrupt and the party label meant absolutely nothing -- it was just which machine you'd hung your shingle with. The backroom dealers were all* realtors and developers. That's how we got constant growth for twenty years despite every single voter screaming STOP!

                * Well. Almost all.
                Last edited by Kepler; 06-29-2017, 10:41 AM.
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                • #83
                  Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                  Originally posted by The Sicatoka View Post
                  I know ND used to be copper supply and PVC drain. That's been changed to allow PEX supply also.
                  Maine was also primarily copper supply and PVC drain, but now PEX is common for supply in new construction. My old house was a mix of cast and copper for DWV (waste/vent) and copper for supply, new house is PVC for DWV and PEX for supply.

                  ABS is available and legal for DWV, but I don't see it being used much. I find it strange some places allow ABS but not PVC, others allow PVC and not ABS, and some allow both but one is far more common in that particular area.

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                  • #84
                    Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                    My house has PEX and it is an enourmous pain in the butt. I feel like whoever built the house just did it to mess with every future owner. I forget which size it is in our house, I think 1/2" PEX, where 3/4" seems to be more common (or maybe the other way around). But any time I go to put in a new faucet, new dishwasher whatever, I end up needing to string together a couple adapters to make it work. Home Depot and Lowes both seem to have exactly the part I need, but for the other size PEX, every stinking time.

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                    • #85
                      Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                      Originally posted by jerphisch View Post
                      My house has PEX and it is an enourmous pain in the butt. I feel like whoever built the house just did it to mess with every future owner. I forget which size it is in our house, I think 1/2" PEX, where 3/4" seems to be more common (or maybe the other way around). But any time I go to put in a new faucet, new dishwasher whatever, I end up needing to string together a couple adapters to make it work. Home Depot and Lowes both seem to have exactly the part I need, but for the other size PEX, every stinking time.
                      Maybe your builder was European.

                      I was completely convinced that whoever wired my old house was running psych experiments. From not just room to room but wall to wall within room there was absolutely no common pattern. You just had to learn every switch. And the box looked something like this.
                      Last edited by Kepler; 06-29-2017, 02:13 PM.
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                      • #86
                        Originally posted by Kepler View Post
                        Maybe your builder was European.

                        I was completely convinced that whoever wired my old house was running psych experiments. From not just room to room but wall to wall within room there was absolutely no common pattern. You just had to learn every switch. And the box looked something like this.
                        He wasn't well grounded in the code.
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                        • #87
                          Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                          Chicago still requires conduit for electric in residential construction. That's a gift to the union boys

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                          • #88
                            Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                            Originally posted by jerphisch View Post
                            My house has PEX and it is an enourmous pain in the butt. I feel like whoever built the house just did it to mess with every future owner. I forget which size it is in our house, I think 1/2" PEX, where 3/4" seems to be more common (or maybe the other way around). But any time I go to put in a new faucet, new dishwasher whatever, I end up needing to string together a couple adapters to make it work. Home Depot and Lowes both seem to have exactly the part I need, but for the other size PEX, every stinking time.
                            1/2 inch would be more common to serve an individual fixture. You shouldn't have to mess with the PEX to put in a dishwasher or new sink faucet though. There should be a threaded shut off where you screw on a supply line that connects to the faucet fixture or to the dishwasher. There is no pex between the shut off and the fixture. For all my sinks the pex is crimped onto a copper Ell (something like https://www.supply.com/shop?nid=7160...j0HRoCbhPw_wcB), and then a threaded shut off is soldered onto the copper. From the shut off you run a braided supply line (or if it is a pedestal sink you run a chrome rigid supply line that needs to be bent to shape).

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                            • #89
                              Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                              Originally posted by BassAle View Post
                              1/2 inch would be more common to serve an individual fixture. You shouldn't have to mess with the PEX to put in a dishwasher or new sink faucet though. There should be a threaded shut off where you screw on a supply line that connects to the faucet fixture or to the dishwasher. There is no pex between the shut off and the fixture. For all my sinks the pex is crimped onto a copper Ell (something like https://www.supply.com/shop?nid=7160...j0HRoCbhPw_wcB), and then a threaded shut off is soldered onto the copper. From the shut off you run a braided supply line (or if it is a pedestal sink you run a chrome rigid supply line that needs to be bent to shape).
                              Not the case in my house. I have a PEX manifold in the utility room with a shutoff for each line, then the PEX runs straight to the faucets with a connector on the PEX to directly attach to the faucet. The one exception is the toilets do have a copper Ell with a shut off.

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                              • #90
                                Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

                                This discussion about plumbing parts reminds me of when I first began working for a home builder and remodeler (as an untrained grunt). My boss did his own plumbing on some jobs, so early on they often sent me on runs to the plumbing supply store. It was always an anxious experience for me because I didn't know shyt and they would always listen to me give the order (or hand it over to them) then ask me something like, "male or female" or "right or left-handed" or "this thread or that thread." They ALWAYS had a question I couldn't answer, no matter how careful I was to get the order right.

                                I eventually learned that the guys behind the counter were good friends with my boss and foreman and were just messing with me. And my boss and foreman knew about it and got a kick out of it. They were all good natured people, and I never caught grief for my ignorance, primarily because the guys behind the counter always made sure I went back to the job with the right parts. Kind of an initiation, I guess.

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