Déjà Poo

from the hammock

About 2.5 years ago or so, the sewer backed up into the laundry sinks, the lowest drain in the house. So yesterday when K went into the basement to get the hammock out, then promptly reappeared with an alarmed look and the dire news, I wasn't as horrified because I had some idea what to expect. More importantly, I knew what to do (i.e., call RotoRooter) instead of messing about myself, because the blockage was likely beyond what I could reach with a small snake. Since the problem was discovered early, and it wasn't 100% blocked, we were able to minimize the mess by reducing water usage, and so it wasn't déjà poo all over again.

And not insignificantly, we could schedule them to come today, which is not a Sunday or holiday, and thereby pay normal rates instead. Regular rates are bad enough, but totally worth it. As before, we had to pay for a second plumber, because the cleanout is far enough under the house it needs one to run the machine and one to feed the snake in and out. So yesterday we relaxed in the hammock, secure in the knowledge that help would arrive today.

$350 worth of roots

We actually got 3 guys for the price of 2, which worked out well. I was able to ask the 3rd guy questions while the other 2 were working, and found out a few things. First, we could install a sewer backflow preventer. However, besides requiring the digging of a really deep hole, it means the sewage backup would go somewhere in the yard instead of the laundry sinks. I'm not sure that would be an improvement. Another option is installing just an exterior cleanout. That in theory would allow a single person to run the snake, and probably be quicker, too, since they wouldn't need to snake as far as they do from under the house.

While the two guys were running the snake, we listened around in the yard and got a better idea of where exactly the sewer line runs to the main. Sadly, that info points to our lovely little Japanese maple as a likely culprit for the root intrusion, but I now have a better idea of where to dig if I need to.

The first thing to try though is something like RootX, which kills any roots in the sewer line. The local RotoRooter used to sell it, but changing state regs meant they had to get a pesticide/herbicide license (in addition to a plumbing contractor's license), and it got increasingly difficult to comply with so they no longer sell root killers.

In the meantime, I'm happy because we can use the bathrooms again without worry, and I've got a plan to deal with next time, by attempting to make sure there is no next time.

Dual Flush Toilet Conversion

The rains finally seem to have stopped for the summer. This winter was an El Niño year, which helped make up for the previous years of drought. But that means that it's time to get ready for fire season, so I've been busy pulling blackberries and weed-whacking the yard. Each year usually gets a little easier, but this year the growth has been above normal with all the rain we've gotten.

I took a break from that to fix the toilet in the original bathroom. It's a 1.6 GPF toilet that I installed some years back that's worked fairly well. Lately the fill valve sometimes doesn't shut off, which can waste a large amount of water if it goes unnoticed. I decided to replace the flush mechanism at the same time with a dual flush conversion kit.

I saw a similar product at West Coast Green last year, then saw them install one on Ask This Old House. On the HydroRight website they claim it can be installed without tools in 5 to 10 minutes. That's true, though it requires a pencil and a measuring bucket plus a few minutes to calibrate for optimal water usage.

Replacing the fill valve with their HydroClean valve took a little longer, though not much. The hardest part was removing the old fill valve and required a wrench. Installing the new one was very easy. The nut to attach the new valve underneath is even self-calibrating: you just turn it until it clicks once or twice, and it's properly tightened.

My only concern is the long-term durability of the valve and flush mechanism. They seem well designed, but they're all plastic. That's pretty common for toilet parts these days, but does give me pause. The manufacturer, MJSI, offers a 5 year warranty on both, though hopefully it will last longer than that.

enjoying the sun

As usual, Star was unimpressed. She was too busy enjoying the warmth and sunshine.






Hey, FTC! I didn't receive any thing in exchange for this review. Though I'd be happy to if MJSI wants to give me something :-)

That Stinking Feeling

Not to be confused with that sinking feeling, this was a smellier issue that confronted us the other week. Before I headed over to Casa Decrepit the Saturday past for some demo fun, K asked "does the bathroom smell funny to you?". Yeah, it did smell a little funky. Uh, oh. I mentioned it to Ayse that afternoon while we were working, and she said one of the most common causes is that "something's blocking the vent stack. You know, it crawled in the vent stack and died...but I mean that in the best possible way. :-)"

So I came home, cleaned off the roof (it gets slippery when there are lots of pine needles on it), and snaked the main vent stack. Over the next several days I tried various other things. I took apart the sink trap and snaked that drain and as far up as I could reach in its vent stack and lateral to the main. I checked that the shower trap had water in it, since a trap without enough water can allow sewer gases into the room, and we don't use that shower much any more. Snaking that drain is difficult because of the drain mechanism, but I tried covering it and the corresponding overflow. After each thing, there was no real change -- the bathroom still smelled funky.

So with much trepidation, I drained the toilet and removed it. I discovered two things: the flange was broken, and part of the gasket embedded in the wax ring was missing. Neither of those would necessarily cause the problem, but they were worth fixing in any event. I temporarily plugged the hole with a damp towel while I purchased a repair flange and a new wax ring. I had to chisel out part of a couple tiles in order to get the repair flange to fit, but I was encouraged I was finally on the right track.

With a lot of grunting (toilets are heavy), I lifted the toilet back into place, cleaned up the mess, and aired out the bathroom. All seemed well until a couple days later, when K asked, "does it still smell funny to you?". Arrgh! Indeed, there was a much fainter but still pungent smell noticeable. I then recalled having seen extra deep wax rings, and realized I probably needed one for this toilet because the repair flange and tile made for a slightly deeper space. So I purchased another wax ring, removed the toilet again, replaced the ring, and heaved the toilet back into place.

So far, so good. I haven't noticed any smell in a couple days, so the problem may finally be fixed. Of course, it could just mean my nose has gotten used to it, and the next guest will politely inquire if we've noticed that smell...

Seussian Plumbing

bye, K.C.

After more work than you'd expect (given where I was yesterday), we have a functioning sink, dishwasher, and yea, even disposal. After a trip to Home Depot, I discovered that my original dry-fit plan wasn't going to work (even if I'd gotten that last piece in the vent stack), so I made another trip to Home Depot for more fittings. The trip was totally worth it, though, because I saw this in the parking lot. Apparently it was the last day for someone named K.C., and his or her co-workers bid them a fond farewell by wrapping their truck (with a Home Depot shopping cart thrown in for good measure) in plastic. The antenna has a cardboard tube with goodbyes written on it, so K.C. will know who to blame.

the maiden voyage of the dishwasher

After returning home, I tried an alternative solution I'd come up while playing around with the available parts at Home Depot, but decided my original plan (updated) was the way to go. So I forged ahead and started gluing, and finally arrived at a completed vent stack and drain. After waiting a bit, I tried things out, and discovered a small leak around the strainer, but everything else was good. After re-seating that with more plumber's putty, everything seemed good to go.

So I tried the ultimate test -- starting the dishwasher. With little fanfare but much excitement, I let it run a 'quick wash' cycle, and all was well. Woohoo!

Almost There...

under the new sink

I got a lot done yesterday. I set the sink in place, cut into the drain line and installed a new T (after doing a little snaking to clean out the line, so I installed a new clean out, too), installed the disposal and strainer, the faucet and supply lines, and got most of the DWV connected. I just couldn't get the last piece in, so that's my main task for today. Well, that, and check for leaks. So far, so good, though.

That Sinking Feeling

After much ado, we now have a new sink. It's not installed yet, but the counter is re-cut to accept it, and we have it. And nobody played with the price in the mean time, like happened to This D*mn House.

I was figuring the new sink would fit, because it was the same dimensions as the old one (33"x22"). But I figured wrong, by about 1/2" on each side (the countertop guy was very precise with the old sink, I guess.) I cut most of it with my skilsaw and a concrete cutting blade, but I couldn't get into the corners (especially near the backsplash), so I rented an angle grinder and took out the last bits with that. Not surprisingly, it made a huge mess, even with the shop vac going. I got it all cleaned up, the dishwasher pushed into place, and the water supply shut-off valves installed, too. So tomorrow I can hook up the drain, put the sink in the new hole, and we should have a working sink (and dishwasher!) soon.

Inspection Passed!

Hugo, the inspector from the city, left a few minutes ago. I passed building, electrical and plumbing, so I'm good to go to cover the walls. He would have preferred I had all the plumbing done (right now I just have the vent stack), but was OK with deferring it to later. That's because I can't go into the wall and down, but have to go straight down, so more of it will be in the sink cabinet. The other comment upon inspecting the subpanel was that the bedroom breaker needs to be AFCI. That's relatively new to the building code, so I wasn't aware of the requirement. I'd seen AFCI breakers at Home Depot, but didn't know where they were required, and given the higher cost, wasn't going to go installing them in every circuit. In any event, I'm happy and K will be, too, because now I can cover the walls (and more importantly given the current weather, the ceiling.)

Pricing Puzzlers

We seem to be running a home for wayward deer. We spotted another pregnant doe today, along with what's probably one of her offspring from a previous year. More exciting was seeing four Cooper's hawks flying around, sometimes chasing and being chased by a crow.

I've pulled all the wire except for the new range fixture, and that I got pulled into the kitchen wall and started running up towards the main panel. Another couple hours of work and I'll be ready for an inspection. I might have been done today, but I ran out of 12-2 Romex on Wednesday and had to get more yesterday. In a curious bit of pricing at Home Depot, 100 ft. was about $30. A 250 ft. roll, rather than 2.5X as much, was $39. The 6-3 cable for the range (8-3 would have done, I think, but they didn't have any) had a similarly puzzling pricing scale: 50 ft. cut off a spool was the same price as a 125 ft. roll. I wasn't sure exactly how much 12-2 I'd need so that was a no-brainer. The 6-3 I pondered for a bit, but I figure the good folks at Casa Decrepit will be able to use the leftovers when the move their kitchen into what's currently the dining room.

During the week I plugged the DWV stack and left it filled with water for a couple days, so that's good to go, too. Thank goodness for trade-specific stores like Moran Plumbing Supply. They not only had the riser clamp I needed a couple weeks back, but they knew what I was talking about and had an extension hose for my test plug.

But any inspection will have to wait until next week. Saturday through Tuesday I'll be at the Habitat build-a-thon, all day and then some since I'll be a crew leader. Not only will this be the biggest build-a-thon that East Bay has done, but I think it will be the best organized I've seen, too. Hopefully that'll be the case...

The Week So Far...

Monday I ran the new supply lines for the kitchen sink. The process re-emphasized my love of the headlamp I bought last year. When sweating copper pipes, you generally feel like you need a third hand anyway, and if you're in a tight space under the house it's doubly so because even if you had a third hand, you'd be in the way of the light when you held it. The headlamp has no such problems.

blob-o-tape

The rest of the week I've been pulling wire for the various kitchen circuits. Mostly an easy task, as it's in the ceiling and walls, but it has required a number of trips under the house for the home runs, too. One unplanned for task was moving a switch for an outlet in the living room over to make room for the kitchen light switch (a 3-way switch outside one door; the other is on the half height wall by the other entrance). Because the existing wires from one side weren't long enough to reach the new location, I decided it was time to start a new circuit. I hadn't planned on doing any work on the living room until the far distant future (e.g., after the kitchen is done and the lengthy list of other tasks is completed), but with the wall open, it's a lot easier now. When I pulled the old switch out of the box, I was afraid I was going to find some dodgy wiring job with things just twisted together like I've read about on other blogs, but they'd actually soldered the splice before smothering it in tape, so it wasn't too bad. But now the living room has its very own 15 amp circuit, though only the newly replaced outlet has a proper ground. That leaves...um...the short hall in the middle of the house as the only thing on the old house-wide circuit? Maybe the closets? With this house, you can never be sure.

Today I was out to Habitat, and for a change I wasn't cutting stair stringers, or even doing anything related to stairs. Instead I was helping inventory the beams for the different house models, making sure each had the correct set in its pile. That meant pulling out a few that were too short and cutting new ones, and pulling out a few that were too long and cutting them down to size. In case you're wondering, 4x12 LVL beams are heavy. We also ran some temporary electrical for the speechifying and such that will go on during the build-a-thon. Finally, we repaired an extension ladder that had been smooshed on one end. It's now in better shape than it's been for a while, though it is about 4' shorter.

Little Blue Boxes

This week I worked on the kitchen, and actually moved forward with things. I finished placing the boxes and fixtures for electrical, which if you've ever looked at the code requirements for a kitchen, are substantial. Two small appliance circuits, dishwasher, disposal, lighting, and a 240v range circuit, and it all adds up. Plus there's the refrigerator, a 120v outlet for a newer gas stove (we don't need it, but it's easier to add now than later), range hood, under cabinet lights, and for good measure, we have a couple of recessed fluorescents above the sink and the adjacent countertop.

I ran the pipes for the vent stack for the kitchen sink. After puzzling over it repeatedly, as I was doing it I figured out how to run it using more of the fittings and pipe I already had on hand. So I returned one riser clamp and $25 worth of fittings, which is always a nice thing. And for good measure, I added a holder bracket for the pipe to the shower in the bathroom that I'd neglected to include back when I redid the shower a couple of years ago.

When I was at Home Depot to return the fittings and pick up a few other things, I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the service has gotten. Maybe they're training them better, maybe they're just afraid of losing their jobs, but whatever the cause, I'm liking the results. It was even quick and painless at the returns desk.

many stringers

I don't have any interesting pictures of the progress on the house to show you (wanna see a bunch of blue boxes nailed to studs?), so I'll include a picture from today's work at Habitat. I once again cut stringers for stairs. That means a lot of very careful identical cuts. "Sloop" John B. is the Americorps member who's been doing this week in and week out in preparation for the upcoming build-a-thon, so once a week isn't so bad. There's a lot to do -- 20 houses * 3 stringers per stair section * 2-3 stories per house adds up.

Bloomin' Idiots

That'd be and some of the flowers. The flowers for starting the process of blooming a couple weeks ago in the warm days we had before winter returned. Me for deciding to tackle more plumbing work than I needed to today.

space...the kitchen's frontier

This week started off well. With the clock ticking, I got an early start yesterday (thanks to Star; if she can't sleep because of some perceived problem, why should anyone?) K headed off to work and I ran the dishwasher for the last time. While it was running, I hung plastic in the doorways and moved the last items out of kitchen. As soon as it was done, I started removing the cabinets and the remainders of the walls. It was messy but fun work. I alternated between the sawzall and a hammer and prybar. I'd planned to have the mess cleaned up by the time K got home from work, but when I looked at the clock it was 5PM and I still had a lot of debris to remove. I was still hauling stuff when she got home, and did so for a while after. I took a shower and was in bed before 9PM, and asleep not long after.

After 11 hours sleep, I awoke today and got a much slower start. In order to remove the lower cabinets, I needed to remove the plumbing. After K left for lunch, I turned off the water, and started chopping pipes. And now we come to my moment of idiocy. Rather than just sweat some 1/2" caps on the stubs of where the kitchen supply lines had been, I took a look the mess of 3/4" and 1/2" and tees and such where the plumbing for the addition had been tied in and galvanized pipes replaced, I decided it was time to clean it up. So I cut out the mishmash and then spent the rest of the afternoon cutting copper pipes and sweating fittings. I only had one failure, but with plumbing that takes a while. The results are great: no mishmash, 3/4" all the way to the master bath, and I think I fixed the last of the water hammer by securing the new pipes better. But it took me all afternoon instead of the less than an hour that capping the stubs would have. I did get the drain pipe removed and capped, and the old dishwasher pulled, so there was some visible evidence for today's work, but I'm feeling almost as tired tonight as I was last night.

Tomorrow I'll remove the sink and take out the lower cabinets, and remove the last bits of wall. Time permitting, I'll start ripping up the vinyl flooring, too. I did a little test strip, and it shouldn't be too bad. It's glued to 1/4" plywood instead of directly to the subfloor, so it comes up with out leaving adhesive gunk behind. The bad news is that I'll have to replace some of the subfloor, because I've already seen from below what bad shape it's in.

Ooo...we're trendy

According to builderonline.com (via Charles and Hudson) our house is pretty trendy and has features that will help boost its value with buyers. We have their "10 Things You Must Put in Your Next House" list pretty decently covered:

1. Radiant-heated bathroom floors - check
   
2. Butcher block countertops - nope
   
3. Glass tiles - considering for the kitchen
   
4. Dual flush toilet - check
   
5. Low-flow showerheads - check
   
6. On-demand water heater - check
   
7. Water re-circulator - considered, rejected for now because our water usage is low
   
8. Folding patio-door - maybe if we had a bigger house...
   
9. Central vacuum - nope
   
10. Excellent insulation - check -- I've blogged about this before (1, 2)

That's 5 yesses and 1 maybe without evening trying in an addition and remodel. Of course, we're doing the work on the house to make it what we want and to reduce the resources it uses, not to increase the sales value. The nice-but-not-million-dollar view from the bedroom is for us, not the next people who own the house. But it's nice to know the work isn't detracting from the value of the house. The economy is doing that well enough on its own.

Mayhem Managed

Today was a not particularly productive but very exciting day. I dropped my neighbor off at BART, then came back and worked on cleaning up the debris from building the last wall (not much) and tearing out the old front door (quite a bit, despite the fact I salvaged the longer 2x4s and most of the glass block). That in preparation for using a jackhammer on the part of the front walk that's going to come out. Which needs to happen before I pour the new, higher (and sloped away from the door) front walk. Which needs to happen before I put the siding on the new wall bit of wall (and bottom of the existing wall where it was rotted).

After cleaning up, I considered: Should I work on running new electrical under the house for the carport light? (the existing switch is on a kitchen wall that's going away, and the new switch is now by the new front door.) Or should I dig up the conduit for the carport light? (because it needs to be replaced, being badly rusted, and I want to have an always on outlet in the carport, too, for eventual plugging of an electric car or plug-in hybrid.) Since it was a lovely day (70-something and sunny), I decided on the digging since it was outdoors. I began by moving some rocks we'd piled nearby, and scraping away the pine needles and such that had accumulated. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Pssssh! Ruh-oh, Shaggy!

Water was now spurting into the air, quite energetically. The water supply comes in near the conduit, so I figured I must have hit that. I noted that the leak was before the old shut off valve (which is before the new shut off valve I'd added inside the basement), so turning that off would be futile. Damp, but still thinking quite calmly after the initial, secondary, and tertiary panic, I ran in and grabbed a wrench and some pliers, then up to the street where the meter is. I pulled off the cover, and stared at some dirt. I hurried down to the basement and returned with a trowel, and scraped out dirt until I could see the meter and something that must be the valve. But there was no obvious handle. So I ran back in, found the number for EBMUD, and called and explained the problem. They said they'd someone out.

While I was waiting, I looked at the meter some more, then looked around on the web, but I couldn't find anything quite like it. So I made sure the water from the leak was flowing away from the house as best I could, and looked at the leak some more.

Then it starting occurring to me. That pipe seemed too small for the main water line. And as messed up as many things are about this house, would they really have put the water line that close to the surface? So I scraped away dirt (well, now mud) and pine needles, and realized that I had nicked the line to the faucet near the carport, not the main water line. And that it was (surprisingly, given the general state of other stuff) after the old shut off valve. So I tentatively turned off the old shut off valve as best I could by hand, and lo, the water shooting out under the rocks and flower pot began to slow. I was just about to call EBMUD and cancel the service call when an EBMUD truck drove by, turned around, and came back. I told him I was just about to call and cancel, but he took a look at the meter anyways, and said, "Well, that's good, because I couldn't have done anything anyways. The shut-off valve here is broken." He put in an order to get that fixed, so his trip was not a total waste.

I went back and stared at the mud pit, scraped away some more dirt, and figured out what was OK and what was not so good. Fortunately I had a galvanized cap from when the water was off to the hot side of the old bathroom. So I cut off the line down with a sawzall, removed a connector with some pipe wrenches, and put the cap on. And was able to restore our water supply before Katarina got home from work.

Carter Work Project with Habitat for Humanity, Day 5

With rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, four of us (Tom from NY, David from FL, Rich from CA and myself) decided to get an early start on finishing the roof. We left the hotel in Biloxi about 5AM (my body was just starting to get the idea that it wasn't 3AM) and arrived at the work site about 5:30AM. The drywall guys doing the texturing were just finishing up inside house #17.The Carter Work Project is a blitz build, moving at an unbelievable pace. A big part of that is incredible work on the logistics for the event, including food for thousands of volunteers (provided mostly by the Salvation Army), building the foundation and framing the walls ahead of time, and staging the tons of building materials needed, all spread out across multiple towns in multiple states. Another big part are the Habitat 'gnomes'. These men and women come in at the end of the normal work day, run the plumbing and electrical, and hang and texture the drywall after the volunteers go home. A huge 'thank you!' to all the Habitat gnomes who made the project possible.

After chatting with the drywall crew, we got up on the roof and got to work at first light. It was overcast when we started, so we worked through breakfast (Frank, our house leader, got us some food while we kept going). But the forecasters were right. We got down off the roof (and back up later) because of heavy rain or lightning multiple times. The rain didn't bother us much (though I think us being up there was raising Norm the block manager's blood pressure because none of us were wearing a house leader's yellow shirt), but we got down very quickly when the lightning started up.Others worked mostly indoors or on the porch installing trim, spreading insulation in the attic, hanging doors, and installing the kitchen cabinets.
After lots of trips up and down off the roof, we eventually got it finished. The work day ended a little early for the closing ceremonies back in Biloxi. Because of the weather, they were held at the hotel instead of at Yankie Stadium. That was OK by me because it meant one less bus trip.

Hammer Time

We have a new plumbing problem -- water hammer. It wasn't possible before because the pressure was so abysmally low, but now that there's 3/4" and 1/2" copper everywhere, the pipes rattle when a valve is closed quickly. I've added a hammer arrester for the washing machine since that was one of the worst sources, and been double-checking all the pipes are well secured, but there's still some work needed.

It's also hammer time in another sense. I leave Monday for Mexico to help take the youth group from RLC down to build a house for people in need in the barrios of Tijuana. We usually try to have the kids do most of the work anyways, but this year I need to be extra careful because my shoulder is still healing from the tendinitis. Supervising and translating are usually on my task list, but this year that's about all that will be on it. See you in a week or so!

More on Saving Water

I did a quick test and have continued my research, and calculated that we could save a minimum of 1,500 gallons a year. That's with very conservative values, and assuming that we hop in the shower as soon as the water gets hot. With the tankless heater and the new copper plumbing, it took less than 2 minutes for the water to get hot for a shower.

In reality, I don't stand there with my hand in the shower waiting for the exact moment the water gets hot, and I think our shower puts out more than 1.5 GPM. A more realistic estimate is 5,000 gallons a year. With current water EBMUD rates, that's about $16 a year in savings.

Which means it would take anywhere 12 to 82 years for a recirc system to pay for itself. That's not counting the small amount of electricity it would use on the minus side, and the unknown amount it would save on gas for heating water that's wasted on the plus side. So there's not much of a financial incentive to do it.

But I'll probably still go ahead with this, because while 1,500 to 5,000 gallons doesn't sound like much compared with annual usage totals, it's the equivalent of anywhere between 900 and 5,500 flushes of the toilet in a year. That's a lot of perfectly good drinking water to just flush away.

On the other hand, while rain barrels are a very cool, low-tech solution for saving water, even if I had nine 55-gallon barrels under the various downspouts and linked to each other, that's only 500 gallons that I could collect at a time. Given the wet winter and dry summer pattern here, that means besides some condensing fog, the last 500 gallons collected in April and May wouldn't see any company until October or November. So that may require some more thought, unless I get some free food-grade barrels offered to me.

Saving Water

The tendinitis in my shoulder is keeping me from much progress on the house, or from doing a lot of things like driving without some pain and further damage involved. So I've been researching various things for the house on the web. There are so many great ways to save energy and water that it's all kind of dizzying. The cats are happier when I'm sitting at the computer than making construction noise, so they like the research, too.

Given that California frequently has droughts, and by nature has dry summers, saving water makes a lot of sense. Of course, what we could save is a drop in the bucket (hah!) compared with gets used for commercial and agricultural uses. And agricultural uses are a drop in the bucket compared with what gets used for raising and processing meat, which is particularly water-intensive (especially when 143 million pounds of it has to be disposed of -- ugh!). But it still makes sense to save what we can.

Some ways of saving water are too simple to pass up, like rain barrels (unless you live in Colorado, where collecting rainwater is illegal.) For less than $50 you can get a food-grade barrel and some fittings, and collect 55 gallons of rainwater, perfect for watering plants and gardens. We've got 7 downspouts around the house, plus one from the roof of the carport, so we could easily collect more water than we could use (at least until we plant a garden again or actually take care of the plants in the yard.) I'm envisioning a system of two or three barrels, with pipes draining them leading to a spigot in the back of the house near the current hose spigot. It's low enough that gravity would give it a pretty decent flow, and be near the backyard where most of our watering needs are.

At the other end of the complexity scale is adding a graywater system to collect the water from bathroom sinks, showers, and the laundry, then using that water to irrigate or for flushing toilets. It would involve not only a storage tank with a way to deal with overflow, but a pump to drive the system, and a way of using EBMUD water if the storage tank is empty. It would basically be a second DWV system, plus parts of a second water supply system to go to the toilets. A lot of work for limited payback, and it's not legal in all areas.

Another fairly simple way is a hot water recirculation system. You've doubtless left the shower or a sink running to let the water get warm, and all that nice, drinkable water just goes down the drain. Hot water recirculation systems get water from the hot side, and if it's not warm enough yet, push it back down the cold side (a more complicated but more efficient variation uses a separate return line.) Some systems keep hot water circulating all the time, so it's available "instantly". That would waste energy keeping water hot whether you're using it or not, not to mention add unnecessary wear and tear to the water heater. And without a dedicated hot water return, it would make all your cold water lukewarm. Other systems like the RedyTemp or the Metlund D'MAND are timer, motion or demand-activated.

Our hot water use doesn't follow any set schedule, so we'd go for a demand-activated system: you push a button, wait a couple minutes, and voilà, there's hot water a couple of feet down the pipe instead of waiting for the water to flow, the tankless heater to kick in, and then for the cold water to be flushed from the system. Those systems and others are very easy retrofits if you've got an outlet near the fixture furthest from the water heater. Since I had a hot water recirculation system in mind, I didn't go as far as plumbing a dedicated return line, but I did stick a GFCI outlet in the vanity in the new bathroom.

Now the only problem is figuring out which is the right system for us. Tankless water heater manufacturers will reduce the warranty if you use the wrong recirculation system, because very high flow rates can erode pipes and fittings and put additional wear and tear on a water heater. Anybody out there in readerland have personal experience with one of these systems, with or without a tankless heater?

D'oh!

My friend Jim taught me these important truths about plumbing as well as various techniques. Sadly, while it flows downhill, if it can't, it backs up. In this case, the lowest drain is the laundry sink. I removed the trap and discovered the blockage wasn't there. (OK, technically I broke the existing trap because one of the nuts was frozen tight, and replaced it.)

So I bought a nifty 25' x 1/4" snake that attaches to a drill to ease the twisting that's necessary. However, there's no cleanout at the laundry sink. D'oh! (It goes from 1.5" or 2" galvanized pipe into a 4" clay pipe with cement to seal the junction.) Fortunately, I was able to get the snake in through the T at the basement wall. With some low speed turns from the drill, it snake went in fairly easily -- loosen the thumbscrew, push the snake in gently until it meets resistance, tighten the thumbscrew, turn with the drill, repeat. Unbeknownst to me, I'd reached about 23.5' on the snake. I loosened the thumbscrew to repeat, then watched in horror as the end of snake came out of the reel and whizzed down the pipe. D'oh!

I bought a 35' x 3/8" snake. This one has no reel, so I know how near the end I am, but it's harder to twist. I ran it as far as I could into the laundry drain pipe, but to no effect. Hmm. I did spend a perfectly lovely afternoon carrying buckets of, well, you know, from the drain over to the sewer. Fortunately there's a small manhole into the sewer on our property so I could dump it there; dumping it into a toilet would have (a) been smelly and potentially messy (b) futile, since it would just come back down to the laundry sink anyways.

So today I called a rooter company. I described the problem, the lack of a cleanout at the laundry sink, the access to the main cleanout under the house. They could come in the afternoon, but wasn't sure if they could do anything because their big rooter probably wouldn't fit. Then they called back later and said their small rooter wasn't working, so there was no point in coming. D'oh! So I tried running the 35' x 3/8" snake into the main cleanout. No joy, but the telling thing was that I pulled up a few small roots. Hmm. (Needless to say, none of this was particularly good for the tendinitis in my shoulder. Physical therapy starts next week.)

So I called Roto Rooter, and they said they could be there within 2 hours. Yay! But since I was just talking to a dispatcher, there was no one to describe the access issues to. So about 1.5 hours later a friendly plumber named Martin showed up. I took him into the basement and showed him the layout, and he immediately realized it would be a two man job (and told me it would cost more.) But we had to wait for another plumber to show up first. In the mean time I took down the saw horses and table I had set up for the tile saw, and moved other things out of the way to clear the access.

45 minutes later, the other plumber showed up. They looked things over, debated about going down through the roof vent stack (I warned them the roof was not good to work on), but they ultimately decided they'd have to lug the machine down the hill after all. Then they tried to get the cleanout cover off. They borrowed some WD40 and my beater framing hammer, but no luck. I got my 5lb. sledge, but no luck. They tried both of them pushing and pulling, but no luck. D'oh! Fortunately I'd added a cleanout where I tied the DWV line for the addition into the existing line, and they could work from there.

So they started the water running into the laundry sink, and fed the snake in. After about 85' of snake went out (which should have been most of the way to the sewer), the sink started draining. Yay! They kept pushing it in, and I watched from the manhole. We could hear the snake (and all that water running), but still saw nothing even when they got out to the end of the 125' snake. Hmm. They pulled it back, and what should they find? The 25' x 1/4" snake, now nicely wrapped around their 3/4" snake. It appears to have come out completely, though they took some bolt cutters to it to get it off.

It turns out that although the main DWV line angles towards the uphill side when it leaves the house and goes under the addition, it must bend around and tie into the main sewer line below the manhole. Where exactly the laundry drain ties in to it, I don't know. But it's all draining again. Yay!

25' x 1/4" snake? $14. 35' x 3/8" snake? $19. Two plumbers from Roto Rooter for an hour? $321. Being able to flush the toilets again? Priceless.

Behold the amazing power of goop!

I've written about Orange Goop before. It's a wonderful citrus-based hand cleaner with pumice for getting gunk off your hands. I discovered recently it's also got other uses. I Googled around for ways to remove sticker residue, because our wonderful new toilet had some on the top of the tank from a sticker extolling its virtues. Several sites suggested citrus-based cleaners, so I smeared a little Orange Goop where the sticker had been, waited 15 or 20 minutes, and the sticker gunk came off easily with a fingernail and damp sponge. Voilà!

Now if it could just do something about the drain in the laundry sink. Katarina did a load of laundry yesterday, and the laundry sink filled and didn't drain. Besides tying the drains in the addition into the main sewer line, I haven't done much with existing DWV pipes, but I guess I'll have to...

One step closer

I'm seldom -- I'm rarely --I've never been so excited about being able to do laundry, except maybe after a long trip overseas when laundry was difficult to do. Today I ran copper pipe to the cold water side of the laundry tub and to the hose spigot, and amazingly had no leaks after one pass. That was due in no small part to the use of a little inspection mirror, which my friend Jim showed me a while back for double-checking that a sweated joint had solder all the way around. A quick check after sweating a couple of joints allows you to go back and touch up things before moving on. Of course, this frequently doesn't work with a bronze fitting, only with copper-to-copper junctions, but that's most of the connections.

I also recently acquired a 4-in-1 brush for prepping copper pipe and fittings. I've had separate brushes for the insides, and sandcloth for the outsides before, because I'd acquired the different sizes over time instead of needing to do 1/2" and 3/4" all at once. I needed a new 3/4" inside brush because the existing one was getting smushed and rusty. I've still got a supply of sandcloth for dealing with tight spaces, but the 4-in-1 brush does an awesome job cleaning off the oxidation from the insides and outsides of 1/2" and 3/4" pipes, all in one tool instead of 3.

All that to say I was able to do a couple loads of laundry this evening, and I have the outside faucet working again, too. That just leaves running new pipes to the toilet and sink in the old bathroom. Woohoo!