Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[ötzi]

We had steam showers in the past 2 houses, a total of 25+ years, with no major issues. Both steam generators were "Steamist"" brand and worked fine. On the one occasioon we had a problem Steamist sent a guy and we never got a bill. While that was probably a fuckup on their part, hey no bill.

The first one was a purchased unit we put in during a remodel, made of formed fiberglass or whatever it was, so it was one big piece with no cracks or crevices for grime to build up in except along the sliding-door track. It was kind of cramped but fine.

The second one we had purpose-built in new construction. It was also our shower in the master bath. It was tiled, with a glass swinging door that sealed arund the edges. It was harder to keep clean, for sure. You had to make a point of leaving the door ajar or it would never dry out and get funky quick. But asides from that it was fine. It was a pretty big volume of space in there, It was like 6 x 7 by I think 8 high, so it took a while to get hot in there, we should have put something more powerful on it I guess but it worked fine.

We never had any probems with leaks but I know that can happen so make sure there's a floor drain handy. If you insulate the tubing you can have the steam generator quite a distance from the unit, it was probably 40' at least in our application.

With that said, we didn't put one in the new place and I'm buying an infrared sauna. We just stopped using the steam as much after a while, no real reason.

[::: :::]

We just stopped using the steam as much after a while

into wim hoff now?

[ötzi]

well after all...

[schindlerpiste]

I think that water hardness, and the minerals in water, have a lot to do with the efficacy of the steam unit.
As we know, UT's water is mineral/metal rich.

[ötzi]

Butchers wanted to run PEX all over the place...

It's cool that you can do your own soldering and more power to you but I'm pretty sold on PEX at this point. Maybe we'll find out it has issues in 20 years but for now it's cheaper than copper, easier to work with, and has fewer problems like pinhole leaks etc.

[ötzi]

In my hood you can put pretty much anything in the ally except an old urine soaked mattress and the people that cruise the alleys will take it back to TJ.

So what'd you do with the mattress?

[BmillsSkier]

So what'd you do with the mattress?

Juarez?

[Foggy_Goggles]

What’s with insurance companies needing to complete a profile with mother maiden name before giving some ideas of what a business coverage might cost? Fuck. Anyone want to throw out a ballpark? Curious what liability coverage might cost me for a small time tree biz. Are there tiers like if I’m only cutting trees that weigh 200 pounds or less and 25 feet or less, or is it just a tree company and one bracket? It would be pretty hard to do more damage than a broken fence picket or window. Not going to be caving in any roofs. Not sure it’s even worth the insurance game, just pay for something if I fuck up might be less than premiums. Some homeowners want to know you have insurance though so I’ve lost a couple gigs.

Call and agent...you know...a human. Liability Insurance starts around $100/month and goes up from there. Good record keep and no claims is key. Some contractors pay a ton.

[Rideski]

I did, they want a name and an address just to start the convo.
Not wanting to be on more spam lists just for a ballpark.
$100 is manageable. I could see it being lots more of they don’t differentiate little trees from big trees.

[Timberridge]

It's cool that you can do your own soldering and more power to you but I'm pretty sold on PEX at this point. Maybe we'll find out it has issues in 20 years but for now it's cheaper than copper, easier to work with, and has fewer problems like pinhole leaks etc.

It may be easier and cheaper for long runs but they soak you on fittings for the connections. I see some really bad solder work by some plumbers so it's best they stick to PEX if they can't solder.

[ötzi]

Yeah pex is cheaper if you're doing a lot, like a house, but it's a wash or worse for smaller projects, in those cases it mainly gets used because them fellas can't solder good.

[fastfred]

What’s with insurance companies needing to complete a profile with mother maiden name before giving some ideas of what a business coverage might cost? Fuck. Anyone want to throw out a ballpark? Curious what liability coverage might cost me for a small time tree biz. Are there tiers like if I’m only cutting trees that weigh 200 pounds or less and 25 feet or less, or is it just a tree company and one bracket? It would be pretty hard to do more damage than a broken fence picket or window. Not going to be caving in any roofs. Not sure it’s even worth the insurance game, just pay for something if I fuck up might be less than premiums. Some homeowners want to know you have insurance though so I’ve lost a couple gigs.

call an insurance agent don't fill out some bs on the internet
an agent is the only way to go and my agent hates me but whatever
I pay over 40k a year in liablity and w/c have one claim that was denied long story in a 15 plus year time span
insurance fucking sucks balls and is a total scam but if you fuck something up real bad it's nice to have
get the best policy you can take it in the ass like a man and pay for it and don't ever hesitiat to yell and scream at insurance people they deserve it all the time

[Ted Striker]

Someone who can't sweat pipe is not a plumber.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Someone who can't chase shit is not a plumber. Someone who can't sweat pipe is not a pipefitter.

FIFY

[Rideski]

Someone who cannot tickle ivory is not a pianist.

[Skidog]

It's cool that you can do your own soldering and more power to you but I'm pretty sold on PEX at this point. Maybe we'll find out it has issues in 20 years but for now it's cheaper than copper, easier to work with, and has fewer problems like pinhole leaks etc.

Ran all pex when we re did. So much easier and cheaper. As mentioned fixes seem easier and have had no issues yet.

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[bigdude2468]

Yeah pex is cheaper if you're doing a lot, like a house, but it's a wash or worse for smaller projects, in those cases it mainly gets used because them fellas can't solder good.

Through practice have discovered that copper is really easy as long as the fittings are clean. I have a man cave basement with nine foot ceilings, plumbing and electrical are exposed. Nothing against Pex but when copper is installed properly, straight & level it really looks nice.

[Timberridge]

Another advantage of PEX is you can tell which is the hot, and which is the cold, though I would get confused which color to use after the mixing valve. That might be a question for fastfred

About 5 yrs ago I had a new water heater installed. The plumber started making the connects and he's overheating the joints with MAP gas and solder is dripping out the open end. The outside of the pipe doesn't look bad but the inside is a mess. After a discussion with him about his technique, I convinced him to leave me the fittings and 5' of pipe and took it the rest of the way. He was probably glad to get home early, and I was glad to have him out of the house.

[nickwm21]

Sorry if this offends anyone but my bias from working on the commercial side for 10 years is that plumbers are not the brightest tradesmen out there. Anything that makes their life easier (pex, propress copper, etc) is a good idea, cause they will fuck something up.

There is a certain type of person that decides they want to join the trades.... but not to be a carpenter, iron worker, electrician, fitter... but to work in the trade that deals with raw sewage ...


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[Timberridge]

^I found a huge difference in the quality level between the guys that do primarily residential vs those doing commercial/industrial. I think it's because most homeowners don't know or care what's behind the drywall. And resi inspectors only care about stuff like the proper AWG being used, even if it looked like a squirrel pulled it.

I used to work in oil refining project mgmt and occasionally hired some of those plumbers and electricians to do freelance work on my house. Huge difference in quality between them and guys doing residential.

[liv2ski]

So what'd you do with the mattress?

Twice a year is big trash big up day, so you save the urine soaked mattress for that date to be picked up of course. Sheees, you guys live in 3rd world countries or what?

[bigdude2468]

Twice a year is big trash big up day, so you save the urine soaked mattress for that date to be picked up of course. Sheees, you guys live in 3rd world countries or what?

What's up with that? Once a month we can put out just about anything and city picks it up. Only exception is anything with freon you have to get a sticker for $25 but they take it.

Its WI, we handle trash well, covid not so much.

[old goat]

Sorry if this offends anyone but my bias from working on the commercial side for 10 years is that plumbers are not the brightest tradesmen out there. Anything that makes their life easier (pex, propress copper, etc) is a good idea, cause they will fuck something up.

There is a certain type of person that decides they want to join the trades.... but not to be a carpenter, iron worker, electrician, fitter... but to work in the trade that deals with raw sewage ...


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The plumber we used when we added a second story 30+ years ago was a guy who worked summers with a plumber to put himself through dental school. He liked it so much he quit dental school and started his own plumbing contacting business.

[schindlerpiste]

Did you get the Jacuzzi? If not what did you buy?

We had steam showers in the past 2 houses, a total of 25+ years, with no major issues. Both steam generators were "Steamist"" brand and worked fine. On the one occasioon we had a problem Steamist sent a guy and we never got a bill. While that was probably a fuckup on their part, hey no bill.

The first one was a purchased unit we put in during a remodel, made of formed fiberglass or whatever it was, so it was one big piece with no cracks or crevices for grime to build up in except along the sliding-door track. It was kind of cramped but fine.

The second one we had purpose-built in new construction. It was also our shower in the master bath. It was tiled, with a glass swinging door that sealed arund the edges. It was harder to keep clean, for sure. You had to make a point of leaving the door ajar or it would never dry out and get funky quick. But asides from that it was fine. It was a pretty big volume of space in there, It was like 6 x 7 by I think 8 high, so it took a while to get hot in there, we should have put something more powerful on it I guess but it worked fine.

We never had any probems with leaks but I know that can happen so make sure there's a floor drain handy. If you insulate the tubing you can have the steam generator quite a distance from the unit, it was probably 40' at least in our application.

With that said, we didn't put one in the new place and I'm buying an infrared sauna. We just stopped using the steam as much after a while, no real reason.

[ötzi]

I haven't bought it yet I was waiting for the house sale to close but it's been over a month so I just need to do it. I needed to get an outlet installed where it's gonna live but that's been done a few weeks now too. Plan to buy the Jacuzzi one on your recco, I assume you still like it?