DonHester's blog

Creating Indoor Water features

Submitted by DonHester on Wed, 05/05/2010 - 08:46.

Well a friend is getting married and he has a few projects to get done in the house before the wife to be moves in (pre-honey do list). So being the good guy, a home inspector, and part time tradesman I offer to help him get a couple projects done (pro bono). He is remodeling his family room and one bedroom in the basement of his 1951 home. We have early non-metallic (NM) cable no ground wire to deal with.

Well the wiring was a mess, a variety of home owner done issues: running splices, buried junction boxes, and wire runs that some abstract artist may have created. We get all that straighten out and cleaned up the mess and modernized the wiring to today's standards and codes.

Being a thoughtful guy I had suggested that he replace the main water supply line that runs through the family room. Best to do it now before he seals the lid and this pipe will be buried. Two issues here, the main shut off valve leaks and the supply line is galvanized steel that is 60 years old. No big issue it runs to his laundry room with an open ceiling.

We run a new PEX line from the valve to the main water junction in the laundry room with two shut off valves. So comes the day to cut the old pipe and reconnect to the new pipe and shut off valves. all is going well and I thinking yeah this will be done in 20 minutes. Now a little background this supply pipe run through some ductwork and branches to another line feeding an outdoor faucet prior to the main line junction. No problem we can deal with that later.

So we cut the galvanized line and reconnect to the new supply line. Now it's time to turn the water on. I hear water! Not where is should be, I have water coming out of the pipe that I just cut and in the duct of the downstairs bedroom ceiling register. Hence the new indoor water features! Nice if that is what you want. It turns out not only did this pipe branch out in the ductwork (so unseen) and some creative plumber had created a loop in the supply system, in the ductwork! Several hours later and few trips to the local hardware store and all the plumbing was sorted out and fixed.

So the message is- often what you see is not what is really there, and when performing a home inspection you may never really know what is going on behind those walls. Even when you think you know what you see it could all be an illusion. When my new X-ray glasses come in it will fix all of that.

So when you hire a Home Inspector remember he or she can only see what is visible. At NCW Home Inspections, LLC my aim is to provide my clients the very best inspections and reporting at a competitive price. NCW Home Inspections, LLC is "The Confluence of Quality and Integrity".

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DonHester's blog

Creating Indoor Water features