Recent content by Engineer Ben

Go for a bariatric hospital model! Just kidding. Big John makes an oversized seat. It doesn't look very good though... http://www.bigjohntoiletseat.com/seats.htm

Well, I'll let this one die. I was not claiming either that gas work is not risky or that it is easy. Working with threading anything takes a good hand at the ratchet. The main question was "how risky is it?" in comparison to other risky things. It's clearly not as dangerous as some...

No offense Ben, but your questions seem out of line for someone who lists his occupation as plumbing designer/mechanical engineer. Noted. I'll leave the packed joint until I can excavate and replace the clay elbow with a cast elbow coming up to a hub at the floor.

If your tiles are beveled then your grout joints will look larger. I've had to knock down grout with a grout rake before. It's a pain the butt. You would need to do this if you had way too much mortar, not too little, when the mortar is sticking above the tile. If you're not happy with it...

One more thought: A good argument for getting the gage would be: 1. It takes a trained eye to get the bubble test right. 2. Your gas meter does not read very low gas flows, such as small leaks. So you cannot test for leaks with a meter read. 3. Small leaks which are not detected by the...

Well, if you have to store, label, transport and distribute it at different pressures, that's one indication. If it has a different combustion heat, that's another. I suppose the critical pressure belt liquid/gas issue could come up. I certainly have a different level of caution when...

Thanks for the thought, but the clay hub is broken at the finished floor and the 6" clay to cast/pvc banded coupling won't bite. I thought about a compression fitting that would fit inside the 6" clay and receive a a 2" or 3" riser, but I've only found these for 4" hubs.

My 110 year old house has two sewers. The newer is cast iron hub & spigot. The older is 6" clay. Both connect as I have determined from a hose test and tracking the line with a snake and a sensor. One riser from the kitchen connects to a clay stub coming up through the basement floor...

I agree. Dark primer. I ran a painting biz for a year. I just painted my house and bought premium Sherwin Williams. I still had to do 3 coats for the red room because I paid the drywallers to do a white spray first coat primer for speed sake. No other colors have ever required three coats...

Good point Terry! This gets at what I'm saying. If they aren't going to do a pressure test off a capped line which has been extended a couple of feet and are just going to swab the joints then I don't think I'm actually getting any better risk management. I can pass the buck on the legal...

You may not have a problem. Are the edges square cut or slightly rounded on your tile? I installed a subway tile pattern in my showers with no joints. Be sure he uses fine grout (unsanded) and you will still pack grout in the narrow margins. Very fine lines are more common on nicer tile...

I'm a mechanical engineer and was talking with a Civil guy over the weekend. The real deal is the question of: 1. Where is the water? 2. What quality is the water? It may be the case that the net amount of H20 is basically constant. The problem is that taking water from, say, an...

Thanks for the candid thoughts. I'm going to procede with the same level of caution I would if were say, aligning the drive train of a motorcycle where a 1/100 of an inch may kill you suddenly and violently. I will also have the final installation inspected later in the week by the gas...

If you're not worried about a permit you will be fine. I would walk on it. You may get a very little bit of flex inside the porch if it will have a ceiling (paneling?). It certainly won't fail, but you may have a very little bit of flex.

Two thoughts: Either you have left a valve in the cold water off, or else you have somehow screwed up the PRV. Depending on the type of PRV, it should respond to flow. If you turned all your fixtures on full blast you could have a PRV stuck. Those valves do need occasional service.