[AT] OT- Pex

Indiana Robinson robinson46176 at gmail.com
Tue Jan 5 04:42:47 PST 2010


On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 6:34 AM, David Bruce <davidbruce at yadtel.net> wrote:
> When we remodeled here in the mid 1990's before moving in I had all the
> 1940's/1950's plumbing and electrical replaced.
> Pex and PVC were used extensively.  I've had no problems other than the
> lack of a shutoff on the lines into the well (surface pump) which made
> priming said pump a bit difficult.
> Dad has some work done in the past with isobutylene tubing and
> fittings.  So far one minor problem.
>
> I absolutely HATE plumbing so I'll call my plumber when I need more than
> simple fixes.  Bad thing is neither he or I could EVER manage the
> crawlspace under this house.  We I had the remodel done the plumber that
> did the work was like my grandpa was - very much on the tiny and skinny
> side.  Mr. Howell has retired now (he had just come out of retirement
> then to work with his sons in his old plumbing business), is 90+ and
> sings every Sunday in the church choir.  One can only hope to be  as
> spry as he is if I every make that age milestone.
>
> David
> NW NC
>
==========================================



I have a mix of working space in our house. The old original house I
grew up in is still in the middle of this house. It was a 36'x36' with
a 10'x10' cellar with only about 6' 2" of height under part of it. The
rest was "slither" space. It also had an about 8'x36' unheated "back
porch" on a slab "lean-to" across the back. About 1970 the porch was
removed and a 36'x40' (a little over 1400 sq. ft.) addition with a
full basement (also a little over 1400 sq. ft. with 8' height) was
built on. Everything is easy to access there and there is a door that
connects the new basement to the old cellar. About the late 1980s a
12'x36' "all purpose" room and a 12'x20' slant window mostly glass
solar room were added to the front of the old core house in an "L"
shape which wraps the south-west corner of it. The GP room/solar room
area opens off of the library and is where I keep my computers and
Diana has her sewing machine. The GP room is on a modern crawl space
and while the solar room floor is the same height as the rest of the
house it is on concrete with ceramic tile so zero access there.
I have plans to hire some cheap labor to dig out the "slither" space
under the old core house at least down to the depth of a deep crawl
space. We did dig a few "channels" in that area back in the 1950s to
give limited access to parts of it for plumbing and to add some needed
support under an area where the floor was a little springy. That part
of the house was built around the 1840's and had a pretty long span.
We added a long 6"x6" beam (also in the 1050s) across that area which
supports it well but is very much in the way as far as access goes.
We stuccoed the old brick foundation inside and out back in the 1950s.
I with my intense claustrophobia did most of the outside and the part
accessible in the old cellar and a classmate/friend who worked for us
that summer did the rest of the slither space. It didn't bother him at
all but I hated to even watch him.


-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com




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