Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[nickwm21]

PEX all day long. Super impressive material. I had a temp water riser on a job - uninsulated 2” PEX A running up a 7 story tower - survived several hard freezes over 2 years. One of those freezes ballooned a 3” brass water meter…

PEX B cinch tool is like $40 on AMZN. I do all my diy indoor plumbing in PEX B.

PEX A is hardier - the material is a higher spec and the plastic fittings are said to expand and contract with the temperature. The tool is expensive. I am starting to see PEX A spec’d on government and healthcare jobs.


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[Mustonen]

Pex is a DIY dream. Easy, fast, durable. I re-plumbed an entire house with pex a couple years ago. Copper to the hot water heater/manifolds, pex end runs to everything else. I don’t think I had a single leaky fitting on the first try.

[jm2e]

Anyone have motorized roller shades?
I’ve got a huge glassblock window in my master bath that both lets in too much ligh in the morning and makes it the coldest room in the house.


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[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Anyone have motorized roller shades?
I’ve got a huge glassblock window in my master bath that both lets in too much ligh in the morning and makes it the coldest room in the house.


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Installed a bunch, you need to get some low voltage over there, the controls are remote so that's the hardest thing in most cases.

[Iowagriz]

We have some in our large, main living room windows. Battery powered, maybe 12 AAs. This last me a year with daily use. No problems in 4yrs. They do make some with a tiny solar panel to charge batteries. We didn't go that route due to these windows being a focal point from outside (unsure how it would look).

I believe they are Levelor brand.

[spanky]

I’m into home automation and just this week installed smart roller shade motors on my existing shades…

https://www.aqara.com/en/product/rol...ade-driver-e1/

East facing windows. I have them open shortly before sunrise then close at 9:30. Once the sun goes overhead, the shades open back up till sunset. Friggin awesome!

The issue is, these aren’t sold in the States. I had to buy them from Amazon UK.

[tgapp]

How difficult is to move a drain in a concrete slab? I only need to move it 2-3", in the direction that the drain runs, inside of an unfinished basement room.

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[Mustonen]

Once you reconcile yourself to the fact that you’re gonna be tearing up concrete in your house it isn’t so bad. Use a saw (or maybe an angle grinder) with diamond blade to cut out the outline of where you need to work. Leave yourself enough room to dig out the sand underneath to get to the pipe and to work on it. Hammer or jack out the concrete inside your cuts. Find the drain that runs below the slab and make your modifications. Pack it all back done. Pour new concrete.

Not sure if there’s some trick for rebar so your spot doesn’t settle or sink over time?

[Foggy_Goggles]

How difficult is to move a drain in a concrete slab? I only need to move it 2-3", in the direction that the drain runs, inside of an unfinished basement room.

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Difficult? Not really. Pain the dick? Almost always.

More information and picture probably will help. What type of drain (shower, floor, shitter etc.)? The biggest thing to consider relative to how much your dick will hurt is how you you gonna connect the new drain? There are considerations for slope, wye or tee and so on. Plus you have to be able to expose and clean enough of the existing pipe to glue to which can be tough. The pipe should be under the slab but not always.

[tgapp]

Difficult? Not really. Pain the dick? Almost always.

More information and picture probably will help. What type of drain (shower, floor, shitter etc.)? The biggest thing to consider relative to how much your dick will hurt is how you you gonna connect the new drain? There are considerations for slope, wye or tee and so on. Plus you have to be able to expose and clean enough of the existing pipe to glue to which can be tough. The pipe should be under the slab but not always.

Thanks. I'm installing a kit sauna in our laundry room, and, while not necessary, a drain would be a nice to have. The current drain (which serves the water heater and boiler) is just 2-3 feet from where the sauna will go, and all we need is a floor drain for dealing with extra moisture. That said - if it's major pain in the ass, I'm not worried about it.

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[Name Redacted]

Could you just “T” into it and leave the existing drain in place? Might be simpler?

[Foggy_Goggles]

Sauna, steam shower etc. can be really problematic with waterproofing. I'm assuming you are going with a self contained unit marketed as waterproof, but fair warning, heads the fuck up.

[Core Shot]

Saunas don’t have drains. Problem solved.

[tgapp]

Sauna, steam shower etc. can be really problematic with waterproofing. I'm assuming you are going with a self contained unit marketed as waterproof, but fair warning, heads the fuck up.

Yeah copy that - we are adding additional venting and also hydrometers to measure humidity inside and outside that space, and while not necessary, the floor drain would be an additional step to ensure moisture management is well thought-out.

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[skaredshtles]

Yeah copy that - we are adding additional venting and also hydrometers to measure humidity inside and outside that space, and while not necessary, the floor drain would be an additional step to ensure moisture management is well thought-out.

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Around here, we'd just put a vent into the main part of the house from the sauna to get the humidity level *up* in the house...

[tgapp]

Around here, we'd just put a vent into the main part of the house from the sauna to get the humidity level *up* in the house...

Right, we are actually doing that. Humidity isn't bad here. But water pooling on the floor is annoying.

We're using a floor like this one on top of the concrete:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Yaheetec...0001/322208825

Maybe we don't need to fuck with moving the drain? That floor should handle some moisture okay

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[Foggy_Goggles]

Its not the drips, its the water condensing on the permeable surfaces. Think moisture on paint. I'm not the expert on how to mitigate in, I've just seen the results.

[Core Shot]

Right, we are actually doing that. Humidity isn't bad here. But water pooling on the floor is annoying.

We're using a floor like this one on top of the concrete:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Yaheetec...0001/322208825

Maybe we don't need to fuck with moving the drain? That floor should handle some moisture okay

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Unless you’re planning some major water sports or want to hose any spooge down a floor drain a sauna doesn’t need a drain. That fir floor is perfect. Sauna fir is bone dry. Even if you splash water on the rocks for a wet sauna. Fugedaboutit
My sauna has nasty outdoor carpet glued onto cement. Gets wet when you go from the pool to the sauna. Always dried up. Never funky. I should lay down some of those fir floor tiles.

[californiagrown]

Maybe we don't need to fuck with moving the drain? That floor should handle some moisture okay

Always the cheapest and time-efficient solution.


Another cheap solution would be to simply drill a hole down through the concrete floor into the PVC drain pipe where you want your new drain. Then tap a 1/2" length of PVC pipe down into it so it sticks into the underfloor drainpipe and is flush with the sauna floor. Caulk around the flush part at the sauna floor and bobsyeruncle. Add a mesh screen or something in if you think you will drop important shit down there. You dont need a full on floor drain for what will be at most a cup full of water.

[nickwm21]

Another cheap solution would be to simply drill a hole down through the concrete floor into the PVC drain pipe where you want your new drain. Then tap a 1/2" length of PVC pipe down into it so it sticks into the underfloor drainpipe and is flush with the sauna floor. Caulk around the flush part at the sauna floor and bobsyeruncle. Add a mesh screen or something in if you think you will drop important shit down there. You dont need a full on floor drain for what will be at most a cup full of water.

How lucky are we feeling?


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[tgapp]

Always the cheapest and time-efficient solution.


Another cheap solution would be to simply drill a hole down through the concrete floor into the PVC drain pipe where you want your new drain. Then tap a 1/2" length of PVC pipe down into it so it sticks into the underfloor drainpipe and is flush with the sauna floor. Caulk around the flush part at the sauna floor and bobsyeruncle. Add a mesh screen or something in if you think you will drop important shit down there. You dont need a full on floor drain for what will be at most a cup full of water.

this is the type of content i come on tgr for

honestly, I'm pretty tempted

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[carlh]

No p trap sounds like a recipe for smelling the sewer.

this is the type of content i come on tgr for

honestly, I'm pretty tempted

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[californiagrown]

How lucky are we feeling?

If you can mount a ski, you can install this drain without fucking it up. IMO.

No p trap sounds like a recipe for smelling the sewer.

If you were really worried it would be easy to toss a swing check valve on your small stick of PVC and get 99% of the smell reduction compared to a ptrap. Adjust the valve spring to hold an inch of water before opening and boom- jerryrigged ptrap.

Also, how infiltrative are your soils out there in the wasatch? Its desert so id imagine very? Fuck connecting into a drain line, you could probably just plumb that fucker straight down into the dirt and be fine with the amount of drain water we are talkiing about. When a utility vault is holding waterf rom surface runoff, a lot of the time we dont install a sump pump, i just tell them to drill a 1" hole in the bottom and check back a day later and the water is magically gone. YMMV.

[Timberridge]

While we're on plumbing...

We're redoing kitchen cabinets, etc. and I got a new DW. Unfortunately DW can't be placed directly next to the sink and the corrugated line that comes stock won't reach thru two cabinets. I know they sell extensions but I'd rather have no connection on the route. So I was thinking of removing the existing corrugated plastic line, attaching a 1"-1/2" 90 deg reducing hose fitting to the rear where the corrugated boot now attaches, and running 1/2" automotive heater hose to the tailpiece and putting the high loop under the sink. Any problems with that?

[Foggy_Goggles]

That sound like you are looking to make a problem. Plumbers use a Fernco to join two sections of DW waste line all the time.

And CaliGrown...congrats. That is the most hackish plumbing advice I've read here.