Day 43

Over the years, houses have been plumbed with a variety of different pipes. Having personally worked with most all of them, copper plumbing is my favorite. While installing copper pipe is expensive with respect to parts & labor, a completed copper pipe installation has a certain beauty about it that can reflect the extra time required to carefully measure, cut, clean, flux, and finally solder each part involved. So I was thrilled when our builder listed the use of copper water pipes in the Contract:

But my level of joy dropped to below zero when I came home from work the other day to find the entire addition plumbed with PEX (cross-linked Polyethylene or, in essence, plastic) plumbing. The red & blue tubes in the picture below are PEX. Copper stubs have been crimped in to it to allow hookup of the fixtures.

During the course of the immediate phone call made to the builder, I was told that the plumbers said there was insufficient space under the addition to solder pipe.

I’m not biting. Big Tub has the required amount of crawlspace under it. It is a cakewalk compared to some of the houses I have soldered under. There are other factors at play here, and I know what they are. Since the builder is aware of my low level of joy, let’s shift back into “happy” gear.

Single-handle faucets are fine for motels. But my preference is hot & cold knobs and I will have separate knobs in the new shower. Kim knew that, and being in charge of plumbing fixture acquisition, took the stone tablet I had chiseled my preference on with her on her parts quest. But everywhere she turned, she was advised that hot & cold knobs are now verboten in the shower. “It’s a Plumbing Code issue” she was told.

Growing weary of hearsay, she made contact with Butch, head of the city’s inspection department, and found that the straight-scoop is that the separate knobs are okay as long as an additional anti-scald valve is installed.

So, moving back to the construction, here’s a shot of the shower’s plumbing just before the Inspector came out:

The red & blue PEX pipes terminate in the two-handled shower fixture. Notice the anti-scald valve? Well, the inspector did not either and failed the inspection. The builder called my office & left a message advising me that my two-handled fixture was not acceptable. Deciding that he had not had an opportunity to fully appreciate Kim’s mental prowess, I had her call him and explain the code.

Remember that game played in a group setting around the campfire where someone whispers a phrase to the person next to him, and that person whispers the same phrase to the person next to her and so on? By the time the Code phrase was passed to the plumber, it had become unintelligible. The plumber ended up calling Kim to find out what the current code is. Yes, there is something wrong with this picture; the plumber is supposed to tell the homeowner what the current code is, not vice-versa.

After returning to see the anti-scald valve installed, the Inspector passed the inspection. Here’s what will now protect the showerer when someone flushes the toilet:

With all the new codes in place, I was curious if I would notice anything different under the addition as a result. Yes, I did! The code appears to have relaxed requirements for gluing PVC pipe together:

Strapping pipe to the floor joists apparently does not apply to long runs of pipe anymore:

Hmm, copper pipes are supposed to be secured to the joists and not supported by the AC ducts. The rules for PEX are apparently different:

Of course I’m joking. It is obvious that these cases of poor workmanship were missed by the plumbing inspector. The builder was supplied with a list of what I thought could stand a second look, and he trotted the plumber back out. We’re not out of the woods yet on the plumbing, but the builder is making a good faith effort to address my concerns.

Pictures of Andrew Nearer’s excellent brick work tomorrow. Stay tuned!