• Replace Polybutylene with PEX (whole house)
• Standing Water in Crawlspace **NEW**

(October 2009) I started the search for a plumber this week. We figure that considering how long everything takes in the world of remodeling/contracting... we better find the best company for our needs and get them booked for the spring. I see from my review of past entries that I didn't tell you the reason we want to update the plumbing. It is because the pipes in this house are polybutylene (which is a form of plastic resin that was used extensively between 1978 and 1995). This is not good piping! There were even class action lawsuits brought in the 1980s because of it.

We knew we would be updating the plumbing early in the renovation and have decided that it will be the next "big" thing. And, since we'll be needing a plumber, we're finding out which ones can also do the job of turning the cistern into a rainwater catchment/storage system that will feed the water into the house for showers and toilets. It will mean making sure the water doesn't "back-up" into the rural water system and also the ability to switch to rural water if the water in the cistern gets low.

UPDATE - Oops, we've got a leak.

During the winter, I came home from running errands to find water on the floor in the bathroom next to the kitchen. I had only been gone a couple of hours and there was quite a puddle there. Looking up I saw the ceiling drywall was wet through and dripping. OH, OH!

I called Grain Valley plumbers and left a message (it was, of course, just after 5:30 pm). Emergency!!! Then I went to the basement and turn the water off to that side of the house.

Luckily, Cody was on-call and got my message as he was driving home. He stopped at my house and investigated. As we went through turning the water on, off, etc. He found the problem! It was a Shark Bite connection between the new PEX and the old pipe to the shower in the 2nd floor bathroom directly above the 1st floor bathroom. AND, it burst completely as he was inspecting the leak. That was lucky! Off the water went again. He didn't have a replacement with him, but returned first thing in the morning with the part and fixed the problem in under an hour.

No charge at all. Thank You!

Of course, we ended up with ruined ceiling drywall and that had to come out and has to be replaced.

I suppose we could have put in a claim with the insurance company... but we opted not to since the cost to fix it is not much more than our deductible.

The joys of home ownership.

Once again, water informs us of a problem. We discovered the water during Eric Kjelshus' visit (about updating the HVAC); it was where the PRV (pressure reducing valve) was installed when we fixed the plumbing. Coudn't tell how much, but was hoping it was just condensation due to the hot exterior air and cool basement air coming through the opening to the crawlspace. Alas, no. We had standing water over about half of the crawlspace area (mainly at the north end where the garage had ended and the foundation had been extended.

Called the plumber. He was able to stop by the same evening to figure out what tools he was going to need to fix whatever the problem was. It turned out that all he needed was the correct size wrench because we had a slow leak where the main line attached to the regulator at the house. A few minutes and $100 later, the leak was stopped.

FYI, the pie pan that was used to catch leaks until the plumber could get there was ruined because some kind of plumbing grease got on it and I couldn't get it off. So, I advise you to NOT use your good kitchen pans for this kind of thing.

Why did we have a leak?

Isn't that the million dollar question, LOL. Well, in this instance, we think we have an answer. But it requires a little background info... the water pressure at this house was low when we bought it. I assumed it was because we are so far out in the country and probably have lots of farmers irrigating off the line or simply that we are at the end of the line. After listening to the hubby complain for almost 3 years, I decided to drop off the monthly payment in person and ask if there is anything the water company could do. Which brings us up to May 2011. The water company personnel said there was no reason for us to be getting low water pressure and they would send someone out that same day to determine what the problem was.... which they did. He took a look at the meter where the water line to our house comes off the main line and found that the regulator was rusted and not adjustable (translation: really old and not working correctly). Now, if the problem had not been at their meter (their responsibility), we would have had to pay for a repair. We were lucky this time... their responsibility, they fix it at their own expense. He called in for authorization to do the repair and put in the new regulator (that IS adjustable).

What is a regulator? In plumbing, it is a valve that controls how much water flows through pipes under pressure and is measured in psi (pounds per square inch).

Fortunately, there is a field hydrant on the same line as the water to the house, so he was able to put his water pressure gauge on it to test the psi beyond the meter. I stood at the field hydrant (which was in line site of the meter) and was instructed to signal him when the pressure reached about 65 psi. Generally, the pressure in your home should fall in the 40 to 60 psi range... which is why we have a PRV set to 60 psi where the line comes into the house. The nice man did warn me that we would likely see a higher water bill with the increase of pressure because more water would be coming out of the faucets. And even though there turned out to be a very slow leak, we did not see an increase in our bill because we use aerators and other water conservation products on all our faucets/shower heads/etc.

So, we figure that it was the increase of pressure on the connection to the PRV that caused it to leak; which is why tightening the connection stopped it.

Here's what the crawlspace looked like before it was cleaned up (for after pictures visit the crawlspace section of the Insulation Project page).

This shows the PRV where it connects to the main line. The leak was at the threads going into the PRV.	Most of the water was in the northern half of the crawlspace; however, it did also follow the ductwork further south where it was laying on the concrete. The following photos show: the ductwork as it came in from the basement access (about 1/2 way between the south and north walls) running from east to west and where the 1st "T" divides the run to run north (for 2 registers) and south (for 1 register). FYI, it is placed along side a framed wall in the center of the space that supports the floor joists). the 2nd "T" and the water line coming into the house. the water line where it meets the PRV (behind the vertical board, in front of the concrete hip wall). a close-up of the ductwork resting on the old garage (concrete) floor and where it dips into the area that was added. The lower spot is where most of the standing water was... this is the duct that was filled with water.
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How we cleaned up the water...

Comfort Solutions (Eric Butler) was scheduled to come out the next week to insulate that crawlspace, so clean up had to be done and the area dried out before that.

Thank goodness my hubby is not afraid of small, dark, wet places and is thin enough to fit on an 'auto creeper' in that area. He hooked up the shop vac (15 cu ft) so it was outside the window (we plugged the open window around the hose with lots of towels) and threaded the hose (we got some extra lengths for the job) into the crawlspace. He had to empty it several times. We had to replace the ductwork in the area anyway, so while down there, he also removed the flexible, insulated tube and found one of them to be filled with water.

After getting out as much water as he could, he spread Feline Pine cat litter in the damp areas and left it overnight to "suck it up". [FYI: This is a great product! When used as cat litter, it reduces the dust you normally get with clay litter; even better is that while the pellets crumble a bit, the product smells nice and it cleans up really easily!] The next day he vacuumed out the cat litter and spread another round. We went through 40 lbs. of Feline Pine.

Thankfully, there wasn't mold to deal with... just a dank mustiness. Nevertheless, he used a pump sprayer and 2 gallons of OXYQUAT® to cover all the wood and concrete. OXYQUAT® is "a phosphate free, one step cleaner, disinfectant and deodorizer consisting of four quaternary ammonium compound chains formulated with a compatible biodegradable detergent system" (I got that directly from the website.)... this is not the normal application, but we figured it couldn't hurt.

Gary also discovered a very minor drip under the vent stack to the toilet in the master bathroom. It is waiting to be corrected; in the meantime, there is a pan to catch the drip and we have a compact, portable dehumidifier in the crawlspace to remove any more moisture. It is an Eva-Dry 500 Mini that holds up to 8 oz. of water and doesn't require electricity to work. It sits there and absorbs the moisture through dessicant beads. Then you remove it, take it to a well ventilated place, plug it in to the electric socket and it dries itself out in 8 to 10 hours. We got two so that one can be drying while the other is gathering moisture.

The crawlspace was dry by the time Eric came to put in the insulating foam (click here for more on that).