Random plumbing pics

[webphut]

My dad had all sorts of horror stories from when he was a property manager looking after several apartment buildings.

They had to evict a tenant for non-payment of rental fees, gave him to the end of the month to move out. When the tenant was gone, my dad discovered they'd taken EVERYTHING with them. All the light fixtures, all the electrical outlets and switches, all the plumbing fixtures, faucets, toilets, etc, they'd even pulled up all the hardwood flooring. Nice.

This might be already known and this is probably old too. So What I learned from my experience with rental properties is if everything including copper pipe and wire is gone, usually them folks are crystal meth addicts. The ones that vacate at 2am are 120% positively meth heads.

 

[Zanne]

My deadbeat tenants were the meth dealers apparently. They didn't manage to gut everything before they left but they stole a LOT and damaged a lot. I think part of the reason they didn't take everything was that they still thought they could claim squatter's rights or something and maybe thought they could stop us from moving back in. They felt so entitled that after Mom and I moved back and Dad was still finishing up his last year of service before mandatory retirement they kicked our door in (I realized they'd made copies of our keys before giving them back and were still coming in after they moved out) to steal more stuff. They stole a breaker box with all the breakers, over 100ft of cable, electrical outlets, phone jacks, furniture, curtains, tools, etc.
They peppered oru driveway with rusty nails and screws and acted like we were the ones who wronged them when they had done well over $60k worth of damages to the place and not paid rent in YEARS. They were mad we messed up their criminal enterprise of growing, processing, & selling drugs plus having dogfights. They converted our barn to a dogfight arena and kidnapped other neighbors' dogs to use for "training" their dogs. If the neighbor hadn't been best buds with the chief of police he would have been in jail.

I remember watching one of the tv court cases where the former tenant was a plumber and was super angry about being evicted for non-payment so he poured cement down the vent pipes.

 

[webphut]

My deadbeat tenants were the meth dealers apparently. They didn't manage to gut everything before they left but they stole a LOT and damaged a lot. I think part of the reason they didn't take everything was that they still thought they could claim squatter's rights or something and maybe thought they could stop us from moving back in. They felt so entitled that after Mom and I moved back and Dad was still finishing up his last year of service before mandatory retirement they kicked our door in (I realized they'd made copies of our keys before giving them back and were still coming in after they moved out) to steal more stuff. They stole a breaker box with all the breakers, over 100ft of cable, electrical outlets, phone jacks, furniture, curtains, tools, etc.
They peppered oru driveway with rusty nails and screws and acted like we were the ones who wronged them when they had done well over $60k worth of damages to the place and not paid rent in YEARS. They were mad we messed up their criminal enterprise of growing, processing, & selling drugs plus having dogfights. They converted our barn to a dogfight arena and kidnapped other neighbors' dogs to use for "training" their dogs. If the neighbor hadn't been best buds with the chief of police he would have been in jail.

I remember watching one of the tv court cases where the former tenant was a plumber and was super angry about being evicted for non-payment so he poured cement down the vent pipes.

So what I learned from psychology class and also talking to a few recovered meth addicts, its the paranoia, which is a side effect of meth use. Every one of them have told me the same exact thing, "they were watching me" or "they were listening to me". Their reasoning was that they gutted everything that was not wood studs or sheetrock so they couldn't hear or see them. here is a scarier one for you, I had one recovered addict tell me they rewired all the electrical outlet and switches in the house they rented to stop them from watching and listening to them. I used to think the tenants pawned the copper wire and pipe for money, but no, that usually just gets hauled away by the homeless folks with the shopping carts. There is this kind of ecosystem within the drug infested neighborhoods. So as for the 2 am thing, drug addicts do not like light. I have been told it hurts their eyes. Drainage and sewage systems are warm and dark and the smell sensory system after prolonged use is dormant so the smell is not much of an issue for addicts. Crawl space foundations, I tore a house down once in the ghetto of Pittsburg, CA. We slid the roof off into the dumpster. We started pushing the house into the garbage dumpsters, kind of like sections of the house. All them meth heads come crawling out of the vents in the sides of the foundation.

 

[Twowaxhack]

So what I learned from psychology class and also talking to a few recovered meth addicts, its the paranoia, which is a side effect of meth use. Every one of them have told me the same exact thing, "they were watching me" or "they were listening to me". Their reasoning was that they gutted everything that was not wood studs or sheetrock so they couldn't hear or see them. here is a scarier one for you, I had one recovered addict tell me they rewired all the electrical outlet and switches in the house they rented to stop them from watching and listening to them. I used to think the tenants pawned the copper wire and pipe for money, but no, that usually just gets hauled away by the homeless folks with the shopping carts. There is this kind of ecosystem within the drug infested neighborhoods. So as for the 2 am thing, drug addicts do not like light. I have been told it hurts their eyes. Drainage and sewage systems are warm and dark and the smell sensory system after prolonged use is dormant so the smell is not much of an issue for addicts. Crawl space foundations, I tore a house down once in the ghetto of Pittsburg, CA. We slid the roof off into the dumpster. We started pushing the house into the garbage dumpsters, kind of like sections of the house. All them meth heads come crawling out of the vents in the sides of the foundation.

Nice pics !!!!!!

 

[Twowaxhack]

 

[Twowaxhack]

That pipe dumped into the ckeanout tee is temporary. So is the 4” 90 and the 2” pipe connection on the right.

 

[Ludington]

That pipe dumped into the ckeanout tee is temporary. So is the 4” 90 and the 2” pipe connection on the right.

That's one thing I wouldn't like if I was a plumber.... all that digging. Maybe with a good ditch witch for new.. but digging up the old, no thanks. I bet that took a while.

 

[Ludington]

My deadbeat tenants were the meth dealers apparently.

So how did you get rid of them, and keep them from comming back ?

 

[Twowaxhack]

That's one thing I wouldn't like if I was a plumber.... all that digging. Maybe with a good ditch witch for new.. but digging up the old, no thanks. I bet that took a while.

Took 4 men 8 hrs to dig the ditch.

 

[Ludington]

Took 4 men 8 hrs to dig the ditch.

Man that's a lot of pick and shovel... my back wouldn't have made 30 minutes,but then I'm not 20 anymore, or 30, or 40, or 50, or 60... wow that depressing. !

 

[Zanne]

So how did you get rid of them, and keep them from comming back ?

First thing I did was start going out with an Italian Mauser (rifle) and telling them authoritatively to GTFO and not come back. I kept popping out when they didn't know I was home and scared them a few times. Then we got big dogs. The 100lb rottweiler was a teddy bear but he had a mean sounding bark. Then we got the cow who grew big horns and she scared people off.

The neighbor eventually got colon cancer and died. Karma got him in the end. His sons still steal our packages sometimes so we are not on speaking terms.

To have some sort of picture, my friend got a new (used) washing machine.

He's trying to convince his wife to let him get a dryer but she wants to hang clothes to dry them.

I wonder how much it costs to buy a ditch witch for trenches...

 

[Ludington]

Sounds like something
You would see on tv.

 

[Twowaxhack]

 

[Steven Rivers]

Here are a few pics. If you have any questions I’ll try to ansView attachment 27780

Is that drawn tubing? I've never seen hard tube bent like that. My first thought would be to use a swing joint.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Is that drawn tubing? I've never seen hard tube bent like that. My first thought would be to use a swing joint.

It’s type L hard drawn pipe. I flowed nitrogen through the line and heated it, then slowly bent it.

No need for a swing joint.

 

[Ludington]

One of my favorites !

 

[Outinthewoods]

Just read all 83 pages of this thread (yeah, I need a life). Fascinating, enlightening, horrifying. And worth the time.

1) I learned that I'm the guy who fixes everything (heck, I built this house 15 years ago) and Dear Bride (tm) will really need an "operators manual" for it if something happens to me. Not worried about "something" but it is better to be prepared.

2) I learned that I really need to drain the water heater and change the anode. I've known that but somehow never gotten around to it. I even have the replacement anode.

3) I learned that we made the right decision to build with light gauge steel and face with block (split face decorative, it doesn't look like a bomb shelter). There is NO WOOD in this house except for the furniture. My building philosophy is this - wood is for hippies, steel is forever. Termites do not eat galvanized steel (even the roof trusses are steel, as is the underlayment and the roof itself), steel doesn't burn, doesn't rot, and if properly galvanized, will long outlast the two of us. I used to be a slumlord and I know lots of ways NOT to build houses.

4) I learned that I really need to redo the well pump plumbing and the paving slab (14" from Home Depot) the pump is on. The slab is settling and stressing the PVC pipe - one of the unions broke already, but the whole thing is poorly thought out even though it was installed by a professional well driller. Time for new PVC, new shutoff ball valves, an in-line centrifugal sand filter (have it), and a better filler cap to re-prime the well if the system is opened. Right now, it gets filled by unscrewing the pressure valve, inserting a funnel, and pouring. It needs a bigger opening.

I'm also going to add an anti-vibration pad or rubber mounts (like car engine mounts) under the pump. I already have a thermostatically controlled heat tape on the pump body. Fortunately it very seldom gets cold enough for that to kick on, and I do know that over the past decade it has become slightly warmer in the winter here (USDA plan zone 9B is now south of us, a decade ago it was north of us).

5) I learned that I'm a pretty passable electrician. I wired this house and a 50 by 90 workshop (110 and 220, lights and outlets everywhere), and there are NO exposed wires and ABSOLUTELY NO wire nuts anywhere. GFCIs and whole house surge blockers as needed, all the wiring in the workshop is in conduit, zoned lighting because if I turned everything on at once, you could see the building from space.

6) I have to pay some attention to the bathroom. The sink trap is connected with one of those accordion pipes because the PVC flat refuses to line up properly, and from what I read here, those things are an affront to civilization, which I did not know when I bought it. The toilet needs a rebuild (no big deal) and I have to change the shutoff valve to it - the handle and stem disintegrated. Finally, the grout in the shower floor is crumbling and it needs to be re-grouted.

All in all, I think I have a couple of full days work here (which I'll do a little at a time) and we'll be all set for the next 15 years (by which time we will have bought another water heater and water softener).

Comments are solicited by anyone here who is more experienced that I am (which means everybody), I like to fix things ONE TIME and be done with them, and I do appreciate and even follow advice!

Thank you and best regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[havasu]

I like your thinking Mike. Houses are a maintenance nightmare. This week, I had a new garage door installed
I had to caulk and paint around the door. I touched up the exterior paint. I re-stained 120' of retaining wall cap, sanded, used wood filler and painted the west fascia boards, scrubbed the garage, cleaned the pool filter, and mowed the grass twice.

No wonder why men die before women.