Pipes-a-Plenty

19-Dec-09
Today we began the troublesome task of removing the pluming from the house. I will admit that that this was a task that I was not looking forward to due to the fact that in the multiple remodels of the home. Turns out that each owner added to the to the previous owners efforts. In the end the pluming looked similar to the MacArthur Maze.

After the water heater removal experience we determined that it would be best remove all of the plumbing. My reasons were simple.
1. Tangled pipes that were impossible to decipher or service.
2. Improper mixing of pipes (Copper, Steel) which had caused lots of corrosion.
3. It does not support the floor plan.




The pipes in this photo was from the basement alone
The additional wood, well that was what needed to be cleared out to get to the pipes.



The job was laborious but was 80% complete by the end of the day.


Labor time 8hours
MVP Tool: The Pipe Wrench. (the lower Tool)

So what is in your water anyway?

12-Dec-09
The rains have come to the Bay Area and none too soon. We need water in California badly but I must admit that I greet the rains in with mixed emotions. I am rather happy to see the water form in the sky but it will slow work considerably. The roofer is currently had delays of his own and the rains will most likely compound that. I inspected the tarp job that was done last week and it seems to be holding. It slows the leaking down a bit, not stopping it completely, but it should hold until the roofer arrives. At this rate I am guessing early January.

Today’s task was to remove the old hot water heater and the cabinet in the basement. This is in preparation to remove the pipes and reroute the pipes properly. The water heater was in very bad shape and not very safe.




I took a couple of fuzzy shots of the offending items.









A whole lot of pipe going on there. This was only the beginning of the snaked pipe work throughout the basement. (And yes, that is a 'mix' of metals connecting both to and from the water heater.)





After removing the water heater I made the mistake looking down the pipe that connected to the heater from the main line, and what an eyeful I got. I am not an expert but but this can not be good.



What the $#%!$#% it that!






My wife and I guess this that because the house had been left abandoned for almost 2 years the sediment in the pipes has probably collected here. I am removing that pipe and I will do further inspection. I'm hoping that the salvaged pipe that we were able to keep will be suitable for reuse. I will have to see , and likely flush the lines at minimum to make sure that they are suitable for reuse. I definitely do not want to drink that.

Approximate Labor time 3.5hr
MVP Tool of the day: 18" Pipe Wrench. (Tool on the bottom )