Plumbing . . . and the "joy" of working alone . . .

[beanhead]

Well this thread brought up a lot of memories... I worked for the cable TV company years ago before I got into the electrical trade... It's one thing having to go under your own house, but spending your days going under the houses and up in attics of homes all over town from nicer ones to the absolute ghettos... oh my the horror stories I could tell! We got paid by the job back then, they knew it was the only way they could get anybody to go in some of those places..

 

[conv67bdere]

Finished with the crawl space ( for now ) and the insulation and hanging of the pipes . . . glad that's done . ..

Here's an insulated pipe and the hanger holding it in place . . . notice, as I said, all the floor joists are primed . . .

Don't mind the spiders - I don't have many down there, after meeting a 6' black snake down there, I found where he/she got in and got that sealed up real good, and I don't have much of any problem with mice nor snakes anymore . . . the cave crickets drive me nuts, and when I get it all sealed up, and get rid of the moisture, they'll all be dead too.

How about attics - some of you have mentioned them . . . oh boy . . .

Installed a full radiant barrier on the bottom of all the studs in the attic and I've reduce my attic temps by 50-60 in the summertime . . . HUGE difference ( lot of work )

The Radiant barrier was bought at the local home improvement store - it's (2) pieces of silver mylar on both sides with bubble wrap in the middle - works GREAT !

Ant another shot of how it's attached . . . I've got eaves vents on the house, all the way around, and a ridge vent at the peak - the air flows in the eaves, travels up the 4" gap ( ok, 3 1/2" gap ) between the roof decking and the radiant barrier - and exits out the ridge vent - it the temp get above 100, a attic vent fan kicks on and blows the hot air out . . .

Next project ( as if I don't have enough ) is solar heating, and solar hot water ( or both combined ) - then solar DC lighting in the house too . . .


Now it's time to take another COLD shower and get this insulation off me .. .

 

[conv67bdere]

Wearing this!

View attachment 534663

No . . . probably should . . .

But I also rode a bike without a helmet, drank from the garden hose ( still do ), rode in the back of pickup trucks . . . and a bunch of other things that use to be FUN . . .

 

[coloradodave]

Don't mean to be a smart *** but I installed one of these recirculation kits from Lowes and never went under the house. What was different about your system?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Watts-Wate...IuJez_pGc1wIVxVx-Ch3Swg93EAYYAyABEgKuwfD_BwE#

 

[conv67bdere]

Don't mean to be a smart *** but I installed one of these recirculation kits from Lowes and never went under the house. What was different about your system?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Watts-Wate...IuJez_pGc1wIVxVx-Ch3Swg93EAYYAyABEgKuwfD_BwE#

Not a smart *** comment . . . actually a very good question.

The one that you installed from Lowes - feeds the hot water back through the cold water line . . . yes, you don't have to go under the house, but now if you want cold water, you'll be waiting at the tap until all the hot water is out of the line . . . I want the best of both Worlds - Hot on demand, and Cold on demand . . . and no wasting water to wait for it to get the way I want it.

So my circulating loop is solely for the hot water line - my cold lines are all on a trunk to themselves - no mixing of the hot and cold.

Hope that makes sense . . .

 

[mopar 3 B]

Makes perfect sence. But one question if you are ok with pumping a continuous loop of hot water why not radiant heat?

 

[mopar 3 B]

Wearing this!

View attachment 534663

Hazmat suits. I know. I am an old farm boy. Grew up working in all kinds of ****.
Just don't light a match in grain dust or the hay mound while putting hay in the barn.

 

[khryslerkid]

You must be running low? Here's one for ya!

 

[beanhead]

Now it's time to take another COLD shower and get this insulation off me .. .

Try dusting your arms,wrists, or any areas prone to getting itchy with baby powder(or just talc) before getting into the fiberglass..old insulator's trick

 

[SoCal440GTX]

Sorry....I missed the picture of the Great Dane.

 

[kiwigtx]

I've got eaves vents on the house, all the way around, and a ridge vent at the peak - the air flows in the eaves, travels up the 4" gap ( ok, 3 1/2" gap ) between the roof decking and the radiant barrier - and exits out the ridge vent - it the temp get above 100, a attic vent fan kicks on and blows the hot air out . . .

If I had those temps at my house, I would consider bringing that set-point down a little bit....to like around 80 degrees.
You've done some nice work there Larry, and I feel your pain. I try not to crawl under anyone else's house these days....although a trade-off for some fuel line work in late Nov will catch me crawling in dirt once more.

 

[kiwigtx]

Anyone know how to get rid of cave crickets under the house ? ? Gawd do I hate those ugly things . . . they give me the creeps . . .

Not sure about Cave Crickets, but Slugs, Snails and other slithery creatures really hate salt. Common old table salt. You could try blasting some under the house....although it may cause corrosion, meaning you'll need to crawl under there again to wire brush that off.

BTW...do you have ventilation grates around your base course? You mentioned that everything is sealed up tight.....a lack of ventilation will lead to a build up of moisture and condensation, and increase the foulness of the odour of wet soil......just saying.

 

[conv67bdere]

Sorry....I missed the picture of the Great Dane.

I thought I was missing something . . . thanks for the reminder . . . here he is after a long tough weekend ( wore him out )

That's a twin sized futon for his bed . . . and he uses up a good portion of it too ! !

 

[conv67bdere]

Makes perfect sence. But one question if you are ok with pumping a continuous loop of hot water why not radiant heat?

It won't be continuous - it can be set up on a timer ( the pump has a timer built into it ), but I think it will be wired up with temp sensor in the line and only run if the water temp drops below a set temp ( will have to work on where that temp is going to be set ) . . .

 

[Glenwood]

Sounds like you had fun Larry! I've had my fill of working in crawl spaces and attics. One of the worst times I remember was under a large food store. It had a 3-4 ft crawl space with a sandy bottom. I had to install lots of conduit and wire that had to be fastened to the underside of the concrete. There wasn't enough room to bend the conduit under there, so you crawled in, measured, crawl out, make your bend, crawl in, try the fit and crawl back out to adjust or add another bend, etc.
It was hot and dusty which woudn't have been so bad if sand fleas weren't biting you constantly!

 

[mopar 3 B]

Does it really take more energy to do things on your back in a cramped crawl space? Or is my imagination getting the best of me?

 

[conv67bdere]

Does it really take more energy to do things on your back in a cramped crawl space? Or is my imagination getting the best of me?

I don't know about "more energy" . . . but that adobe brick clay under the house, that is mostly dry is like crawling around on concrete and my hips hurt from all the work that I've been doing down there . . . just glad to have most of it done and behind me now . . .

 

[coloradodave]

Not a smart *** comment . . . actually a very good question.

The one that you installed from Lowes - feeds the hot water back through the cold water line . . . yes, you don't have to go under the house, but now if you want cold water, you'll be waiting at the tap until all the hot water is out of the line . . . I want the best of both Worlds - Hot on demand, and Cold on demand . . . and no wasting water to wait for it to get the way I want it.

So my circulating loop is solely for the hot water line - my cold lines are all on a trunk to themselves - no mixing of the hot and cold.

Hope that makes sense . . .

Yep. Thanks for the clarification. The small amount of warm water that comes out of the cold faucet doesn't bother us. Actually feels good when you get up and splash your face in the morning. We use a stand alone water cooler for our cold water, as my son-in-law owns a water delivery company.
Dave