Potpourri of Changes

Here's where I've accumulated everything that wasn't either related to the kitchen or to the shop. There are a lot of things in this category, like

Here's a photo diary of these changes. Unfortunately some of the in-process pics didn't turn out too well, so there are some gaps.

 

Plumbing Repairs in early 2005.

Here are the pics for the waste line replacement. A little over a year after we moved in (April 2005) we found the trap in the middle patio over flowing (oh joy!). A national plumbing chain brought out their fiber optic inspection system and found the paper & tar pipe (Orangeburg) used for the waste line was collapsing. Their estimate was $6,500 to replace the line. We weren't too happy with the price, so we went looking for a cheaper solution. Tony Blea Plumbing (they ended up doing the plumbing work for the remodel as well) cut out a strip in the middle patio concrete, then dug a trench all the way out into the street, all hand work. They replaced the Orangeburg waste line installed in 1942 with present-day material (plastic), installed a new connection to the sewer, plus cleanouts in the patio so that the lines can be snaked. Here's what it looked like.

The concrete has been cut and the trench dug out to the property line.
Tony brought in a back hoe and started digging down to the sewer line. He had called the city and asked them to mark the street so he new where he could safely dig.
Once he got close it was back to hand work. Here the new waste line is connected and they're waiting for inspection.

The picture is a little misleading: this is a 6'+ deep hole. It had to be left open overnight, so Tony put up barricade tape. W. Houghton is a one way street, but Tony took no chances and put the barricade tape on both sides of the pit in addition to the mounds of dirt which blocked the whole street. In the morning we found the tape knocked down by a vehicle going the wrong way and tire tracks up onto the mound.
Backfilling under the retaining wall on the property line.

Here's the new waste line all connected to the old plumbing coming from the house. Everything was fine after the work was finished, but about 3 months after we moved back in after the remodel, we had the plumbing back up in the kitchen. We blamed it on the roughly 6' of old iron pipe that was still in there. Fortunately we haven't had a recurrence.

The upper connection is from the bathroom, the smaller one from the kitchen, and behind me is where the laundry connection is. The laundry connection was prone to freezing in the cold months, so as part of the remodel, that was abandoned. The connection is still there to the waste line, but nothing is attached. The washer now discharges thru the same line as the sink. Best of all, the washing machine no longer floods the kitchen during cold weather!
Here's where the new line goes under the foundation of the addition that extends to the rear of the property. We have no idea what that big steel water line is that crosses the trench... maybe it goes to an old well.

The hole in W. Houghton is filled in here and Tony is running his big Ford F350 (that is one big pickup!) back & forth over it to pack it down before regular traffic gets to pound thru there.