Fine Copper Sinks

Presume a l l items are in brand-new condition, freshly bought, and clean (for soft/flexible rubber ‘fetish’):

1. Four-inch red or black rubber suction bulb(s)? ?

2. Rubber Bathtub/Sink Plunger(s)– whether with or without flange; earth-toned copper-tan color or black color? ?

3. Skin-tone colored Rubber Bathroom Mat with suction cups? ?

4. A pair of Silicone rubber gloves/mittens? ?

5. Silicone rubber or latex rubber baby feeding bottle tops? ?

6. Latex rubber balloons? ?

7. Rubber band(s) or hair ‘elastic’ band(s)? ?

8. Red rubber ‘hot water’ bottle? ?

A Sarah Palin Sex Doll.

2 Comments »

At first I thought it was my water pipes, but it’s not. It must be the main drain that all the sinks/showers hook into because it does it weather I’m taking a shower in the upstairs bathroom, or if I’m downstairs running water down the sink, or the dishwasher is draining.

What would cause this? I’ve only lived here since November, and it’s been doing it since I’ve lived here. Could the hot water going through a drain pipe cause expansion (like in copper water pipes), and if they aren’t fastened securely… they will knock?
I plug my sink drain, and it doesn’t start the knocking noise until I unplug the drain. Same story w/ the upstairs drain.

It’s the drain.

Knocking is only found in a pressure pipe line.. Can be hot or cold lines.. Usually the knocking is caused by air traps with the pipe acting like a hydraulic.. It will make the pipe bounce and the knock is the sound of the pipe either hitting on something when it is turned off or on or when the bubble comes to an elbow or corner in the pipework.. This can be overcome by installing an anti knocking valve in the pipe line..It is simply a ball and spring,like a shock absorber that takes the thump out of the water motion.. Note ..Ok two of you with the same problem now.. Freezing cold weather..Drain pipe is freezing inside… Hot water enters drain and expands the pipe.. The pipe makes noises as it expands.. Especially if it is copper, lead or steel..

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so last night i had a terrible chain of events , i was babysitting my younger sisters for a few hours . i was starting to make them dinner when my sister came into the kitchen and told me the light bulb in the bathroom exploded. before anyone got hurt i rushed into the bathroom to clean it all up. only a minute and a half later i came into the kitchen and found the stainless steel copper bottomed frying pan smoking . i had put it on my glass top oven on medium . i saw a a big brown spot in one corner but assumed that it was just burn oil and i would wash it off later . so i cooked the cubed chicken in it and then i put it in the sink. later i went too wash it and it wouldnt come off . i even used the special cleaner we have for them ( new pots and pans set) and it wouldnt come off . i think the finish came off !? my parents rarley use it so i put it in the back of the cabinet ( small pan ) . did i ruin the pan ?

pans i have
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00809581000P?vName=For the Home&cName=Cookware, Bakeware & Gadgets&sName=Cookware
(smallest pan )

spot looks like http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee207/catiebdevil/?action=view&current=DSCF2006.jpg
(i took pic)

It doesn’t look ruined. I think it is just burnt oil. You need to take some steel wool or a steel sponge to it and scrub the hell out of it. It won’t be easy but it should come off.

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i live in an apartment building and my landlord is going to remodel the whole unit and she sent a letter stating that the apartments are going to be gutted out to make them more energy efficient also updated so everything in the apartments would be new like floor sinks cabinets doors etcalso rewiringf the electric and removing copper ect to make it energy efficent my problem is that at the end of the letter she said we have to pay for any damages that we caused i think that she is trying to make us help pay for the remodeling that she wants. i dont think that i should have to pay for damages if everything is going to be ripped out of the apartment any way. also i dont want her to add damages to the bill that i didnt do. there were damages already befor i moved in and she has the list. also they are not the greatest apartments cause when you call her to get somthing fixed they do a half ass job for ex. i had to get my bathroom floor redone because there was water leaking through the walls to my down stairs and she said it was my fault because my kids splashed to much water but in the long run the man who fixed it said that it was a pipe leaking that caused the damage with her knowing that she said if i have water damage again i would have to pay for it but the man did a half ass job and while he was fixing it water was still leaking when he put up new dry wall and i still have water spots on my ceiling and i know the damage wasnt from me or my children because we couldnt use the bathroom for a week. i dont have a problem paying cause my house shouldnt have much damages. i just dont want to pay for the remodeling if it was her choice to have everything ripped out

before they do the remodel take pictures of EVERYTHING every wall every floor etc

1 Comment »

I’m having an issue with my shower…hopefully someone can help. Just bought a house did alot of re-modeling & had new copper piping run up to the upstairs bathroom. Now that we are living there we notice that every so often (usually when the dishwasher or washing machine is running as well) the showere pipes will make a loud clanking noise and the water will stop coming out of the shower head…i’ve never had it happen with any sink or anything just the shower and once it hapens you have to adjust the water and pull the stopper up again to get the shower working..anyone have any ideas?

It sounds like an air lock the plumber should have put a extra piece of copper pipe to handle that The extra pipe is caped off it just let the air in the pipe have a place to go . Call him back and have it done RIGHT @ no cost to you , as they say DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

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Before I spend wads of money I wanted to see if I can handle the problem myself.
The hot water in my shower froze and when it unthawed I was unable to turn it off. The bathroom is very small and located on the west side of the house. Only the shower is having the problems. The hot water in the sink turns on fine. I have copper pipes. I know that nothing is busted, just frozen. My question is, do I need to replace the faucet completely(cold water turns on and off fine) or can it be repaired? Also once I get this fixed how do I keep that pipe from freezing again? Our basement is very cold even with the heat on, so is there any kind of insulation I can use to protect the pipe?

Thanks for any advice.
I think they run up from the basement through the wall.

Once the water unthawed it most likely pushed some dirt or something up into your faucet valve. Cut off the hot water supply, take the faucet valve out, turn on the hot water supply for just a few seconds to flush out anything that may be there, check the faucet valve washers or O rings and make sure there’s no damage from some ice that may have came through and cut/torn the rubber washer or O rings or plastic valve parts. Replace any parts damaged. All the parts are replaceable and most hardware stores will stock them if it’s not too old or discontinued, take all the valve parts with you to properly match it up and it helps to know the brand of faucet that is installed too.

The water lines can be easily insulated with fitted foam pipe insulation found at most hardware stores. Check the diameter of all you water lines you want to insulate (usually they are 3/4 inch and/or 1/2 inch and downsize to 3/8 inch supply lines under the sinks), get the insulation made specifically for the pipe size. The Pipe insulation comes in 4 foot lengths and 6 foot lengths, is split lengthwise down the middle to pull apart and apply around the pipe and can be easily bent to apply around elbows. Once applied around the pipe squeeze it back together completely at the split/seam and wrap it with duct tape approximately every 2 feet to hold it together and at all the butt joints of the insulation (you can use zip-ties instead of duct tape if you want except at the butt joints). Be sure to squeeze the insulation together well at the elbows & duct tape it well there, it only takes a small area of exposed pipe to freeze up completely at that point (trust me, I’ve been there!). At the valves along the pipes place the insulation on the pipe so the valve body is in the split/seam of the insulation and continues along the pipe, squeeze the insulation tight around the valve body as best you can and apply duct tape on both sides near the valve. I usually cut a short piece of insulation to wrap the valve also below the handle & leaving just enough space to use the valve & making it a good fit against the pipe insulation and tape it well at the intersection of the T. Where the water lines go up through the floor or through the wall be sure to get a tight fit up against the bottom of the floor and/or wall to prevent any small gaps that will freeze there. If you want to spend the extra money you can buy some can spray foam and seal all those places from above too but only after you insulate the pipes first. The insulation is easily cut & I recommend using a good sharp kitchen paring knife or a sharp pocket knife with a blade at least 3 inches long (a typical utility razor knife doesn’t have a long enough blade).

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I’m installing a new bathroom and finished laying all the copper. I turned on the water to the bathroom to check for leaks, and everything is great, except for a small trickle coming from the joint coming the cold water side of the mixer. The joint is a threaded joint with teflon tape. I had trouble getting the elbow after that joint hot enough to melt the solder (thought the mixer might have been acting like a heat sink) and so I’m thinking I indirectly damaged the tephlon tape when I was trying to heat the elbow joint.

So, I’m wondering what my best choice is to fix it. I have everything soldered, so I can’t just screw the problematic joint and replace the tape. Is there a way I can get at it or something else I can flow into the joint to fix it without having the take apart the elbow joint I soldered?

Finally, if I have to undo that elbow joint, what’s the best way to get that joint apart? Do I use heat or force or something else I don’t know about? Thanks in advance for the help.

You cannot reheat the elbow if there is any water in the pipework and the elbow.. If there is, then cut into the elbow with a junior hacksaw and let any water run out of the joint. Then heat the elbow up and remove it by gently tapping the pipe out of it, but as you do don’t overheat the solder joints or they will crystalise, and you will never get it off. Then replace with a new elbow, and make sure you have enough heat to do the joint. keep the heat on the pipe close to the elbow and keep toucjhinh the elbow until the solder starts to run. One circle of the joint with solder should be enough. It is also to keep the elbow and pipe ends clean and don’t touch the pipe or elbow until you have applied flux to them. Apply flux to both pipe ends and the elbow as well inside. If the pipe ends and the fitting are not clean, then the joint will leak. Clean with steel wool. You should see the solder run into the joint as you apply it. This is the capillary action of soldering. make sure you apply Teflon tape in the same direction as you are screwing the fitting in.

3 Comments »

I just bought a foreclosed vacation home. It shows water damage in the kitchen with buckled floors and hanging insulation in the crawl space. I cant figure out how to turn on the water supply. The system has a direct copper line from the crawl space to the bathroom with several tees to supply toilet, tub, sink, then directly to hot water heater, which returns hot water to sink and tub. THATS IT. there is no storage tank or pressure switch. Could this be hooked up directly with an electric switch to turn on and off as needed ? Is that possible? Should I be looking at switches on the wall for my answer?

You need to look for a well-head – typically an iron pipe about 6" in diameter sticking out of the ground somewhere. From the well-head you will be able to determine the type of pump that is/was installed.

It is often the case that foreclosed houses are gradually stripped of anything valuable during the foreclosure process. We purchased a house under similar conditions last year, it was stripped of appliances, some plumbing fixtures, heating system components and about anything else that could be easily removed and pawned or sold for a few bucks. You may have no system at all in place.

Anyway, from the well you can determine what sort of pump you will need or even if one is in place. If it is an in-well pump, there will be a fairly thick cable going into the well-cap – trace that back to the house and see where it is connected – typically at or near the main electrical panel, sometimes with a separate pump switch, usually labeled as such. If there is no cable at the well-head (or fitting for a cable, or trace of a cable to it), then you likely had a shallow-well system somewhere inside the house itself – typically near the manifold you described. And that would also typically be a pump mounted on a bladder-tank, pretty obvious.

But that there is no immediately visible pressure-tank in place suggests that the entire system has been removed, and you may have to start from scratch. If you cannot find a well-head, the system may have used what is called a ‘well-point’ – this is a system where an iron pipe (usually a 2" galvanized iron heavy-wall pipe fitted with a ‘well-point’ foot valve) is actually hammered into the ground into the nearest aquifer and that is connected to a low-capacity pump and tank (a reciprocating ‘Myers’ pump was the usual choice). If you have an older house, very likely this is the system that was in place – and, again, it was stripped out during the foreclosure process. It is usually a poor idea to try and reuse a well-point as most modern pumps are of a higher capacity than they can deliver safely,

Good luck with it – I hope you find the well, and, better, a working pump in it. Tanks and switch-controls are not terribly expensive – but make sure you deliver the correct voltage to that pump – call an expert if in doubt. If you have a good shallow-well, you can purchase a pump & tank for a few hundred dollars or so, but if you have to start from scratch you are in for a few thousand anyway. While you are at it, take the opportunity to install a good whole-house filter system.

3 Comments »

I’m looking at an older home that needs A LOT of little tiny things. Before we get the assessment done, our seller did agree to $200 in maintenance, but no more – so, I need to know what of these little things we need to get him to do before we get the assessment. I know it will cost a lot more than $200, and we’ll need to repair some things afterwords to qualify, I’m sure, but what of the following (and I’m not even going to list everything) should we do before we order the appraisal?

1. Tree branches resting on service wires.
2. needs gutters
3. decayed wood on windows/ door trim – needs protective finish – these are older, and there are not that many spots that are bad, just a few here and there.
4. foundation – cracks along mortar joints
5. Chimney – cracked cap. Deteriorated bricks/ mortar, loose/ missing bricks, needs cap and screen on top – fireplace missing damper door.
6. garage – decayed and deteriorated sill plate (only one wall, only small area)
7. Garage Electrical – connections not made in junction box, lacks ground, altered wiring
8. Basement Electrical – disconnected wires not removed
9. Main Electrical – open knockouts on service panel, lack separation of grounds/ neutrals, disconnected wiring/ outlets not removed, lacks ground in 3 prong outlet at beam.
10. Plumbing water leak at service entry – copper and galvanized piping are touching, open waste lines
11. Kitchen – recommended GFCI outlets
12. Bathroom – GFCI didn’t trip, sink has s-trap
13. Bedroom doors – only half stained

Those are the bigger things – like I said there are a lot of tiny things wrong, but that’s going to happen in my price range. The reason I am asking is because we want to get into this house – we will do almost every single one of these repairs as soon as our stimulus money comes in – but that won’t be until after the sale is finalized, and we’d like to work towards that first, and wasting $200 on something major that the FHA doesn’t care about is not a good idea in our circumstances! If you are knowledgeable about these things, just listing the numbers of the most important thing the assessor will look at would be very helpful. Thank you.
the foundation isn’t bad – it’s minor, easy repair that just takes time – the floors and heater are practically new, nothing wrong with them at all.

The foundation is the only thing on your list FHA will care about. It depends on how bad it is. minor cracks mean nothing, there is steel inside the concrete.

The other things they will look at that you did not mention is a heater and flooring, you have to have floor covering of some sort.

None of this other stuff would prevent a loan.

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I can’t find my gf. So here’s what happened: During a party I go downstairs to find that Damon, who was supposed to be our designated driver, is participating in a crack-circle. Obviously, I am pissed cuz I wasn’t invited, but also cuz there is now no way I can get home. I turn around, narrowly avoiding a lacrosse player tackling an armchair and walk upstairs to tell Alex that we might need to spend the night. But as I open the door I’m immediately punched in the face. Dazed, I get up and look at my attacker, it’s my gf, who somehow lost her shoes. "Wtf happened?" she asks, worried. "The fyck does it look like?" I reply, "You ****ing punched me." Apparently she can’t remember. Then I go to the bathroom where 22 people are in line. 2 minutes later a mutiny occurs and 15 people pile in the bathroom. Inside I notice the sink has been torn from the wall and that there is a 4-way wrestling match in the bathtub, as ice water rains down from a broken pipe.

I turn around and receive another punch, this time to the stomach, I look up, it’s my ex-gf. "Can I ****ing help you?" I ask. She draws back her fist crying something about our great chemistry but is suddenly spear-tackled by some unknown girl. I quickly run downstairs, tripped and landed on a now unconscious person. Some guy yells praise about my signature wrestling move and shakes my hand. I finally stumble outside where I see my car.

As I approach it I can’t believe what I’m seeing. In my car are 5 people I’ve never met before, who are passing a bag and eating what looks suspiciously like shrooms. I back away and notice that not only are there people in my car, but that there is also a 3some occurring, on top of my goddamn vehicle. I turn around just in time to greet yet another fist, this time barely grazing my shoulder. Damon has apparently finished his cocaine-spree and is now demanding that some day in the future, we go to Syria, explaining that it will change my life. He then passes out.

I try to get free from the huge crowd that is dancing to the deafening techno beat and spot my gf. She, along with 20+ others, are chanting for some lunatic on the roof to jump in a kiddie-sized, un-inflated, empty pool. I grab her arm and lead her away to an empty room, which was a bad move, cuz she interprets this as a request for sex. She starts undressing, and by the time I realize what she’s doing, 9 guys burst in the room singing the Canadian anthem taking pictures. I am not Canadian. Anyway, I am forced to leave after 6 girls (including my gf) enter the room and pull out an Ouija board. As I go downstairs, I witness a stand-off between 13 guys in yellow polo shirts holding ripped-off chair legs facing about 10 guys from the soccer team who have found a cache of frying pans and are now branding them as clubs. A particularly spectacular fight ensues after a drunkard falls off a table and 2 minutes later all are unconscious save for one soccer player holding a copper-bottom pot. I try and make my way past him but someone yells "Another challenger!" to which the crowd cheers. I realize I am about to be clubbed unmercifully, but luckily the guy trips and hits his face on an monopoly board where 4 very high people were playing checkers. I run outside and must have lost consciousness because that’s where my memory ends.

The next day I wake up and can’t find Damon or my gf. It has been 3 days and neither of them has called me, which is worrying me cuz there’s a party tomorrow. What should I do?
I apologize if it’s lengthy.

yeah, ask random people on the internet….

They’ll probally meet up with you at the party

25 Comments »