More Plumbing Work

NOTE: As of September 23, 2009, this post has been edited in
accordance with a court-mediated settlement. The names of the
contractor and his excavation subcontractor have been replaced with
pseudonyms.

The plumbers were back this week to tie up some loose ends on the plumbing work. We'd asked them to to the vent lines for the plumbing, knowing they needed work (some were legacy bad plumbing, and some were new: Contractor A (who was remarkably stupid, and unfortunately has several children to carry on the stupid for him) did some plumbing work under the house that was not properly vented).

Also, when the inspector came to check the water main, he looked at the waste lines Contractor A (who bragged to us about how good he was at plumbing, but then again, bragging was sort of a specialty of his) had put in and said he would not close the permit with those in that condition, so we had to fix that, as well.

Here's what the drain line on the back of the house used to look like, with no vent at all:

Here it is, properly vented:

Yeah, it looks like hell. But none of that plumbing is staying in the long run and for now it's acceptable. At least the lines don't burp sewer gas any more, which is a nice change.

The old venting on the side:

New stuff, which is also not staying forever, since one day this will be our dining room:

Here are the waste lines Contractor A (who showed up on the job site drunk) installed during the foundation work, strapped together and totally unvented:

And the new waste lines, less slapped together and properly vented:

We have four points on the house were we will eventually have hose bibbs, once the siding is reinstalled. For now, we had the plumbers put one in in the back for the garden, while the side ones can wait on the siding. Very nice to have a hose in the garden again.

They also seated the water heater on a little platform, which the inspector asked them to do, because of the risks from overheating and overflowing. I'm not sure exactly why, but they had to do it.

It feels nice to have things wrapping up. Here's all the old Contractor A (who was definitely earned his reputation as a nitwit: one former client told us he put roof shingles on their house upside-down; apparently the water damage was epic, so we got off lightly) pipe in the dumpster:

And the trench through the front yard is filled in. Sometime soon I can plant my roses.

Technorati Tags: dumpster, plumbing, renovations

posted by ayse on 01/21/06