Mt Vernon, Wa Apartment Complex

Sometimes, being a plumber entails hard work, long hours, and nerve wracking complications. These pics are from a job at an old customer who removed some big trees between his big apartment buildings. Evidently, the stump removal shook loose all sorts of nasty handyman repairs that we were able to fix. Until.....

the final leak. We had a backhoe gently digging back to the next leak (4 all told) when yours truly ripped a tee out of the ground. The kicker was that this section was 2" copper pipe in the middle of 2" pvc. The copper tee broke off in the worst possible spot in an already bizarre angle. We had to use the end of a shower curtain rod to temporarily plug the leak.

I came back the next day and used propress technology to install a 2" shut-off (yea!) and tee and hook everything back up. The pvc was coming out at a weird angle so we right-angled it together. There will be a vault there, so if the pvc gives, it won't be an issue.

Tough job for everyone, but it got did.

Broken 2" copper pipe Mt. Vernon, Wa

Fixed 2" copper pipe with shut-off

Difference in toilet flushes

Here's a few quick vids of what a bad flush is compared to a cheap good flush.

The bad flush is a new Kohler toilet that we replaced with a much cheaper toilet that actually works. In fact, the Kohler toilet cost as much as our entire installation including parts, labor and tax!

Bad Flush

Good Flush

Water leak in wall in Mt. Vernon, WA

This is one of those foreclosure homes that the tenants (not the owners) are living rent free until the bank figures it out. The leak got bad, though, and the tenants had to get it repaired.

We had to remove the water heater to get to it and then we replaced both hot and cold risers, while it was out.

Sewage under house in Mt. Vernon, WA

This was a hard one due to the conditions. The tenant complained about bugs in the hallway bathroom, so I crawled under the house to check for problems. There were lots of both. The crawl is extreme because the crawl opening is at the furthest point away from the problem, the raw sewage, and low heating ducts.

We replaced as much as we could and will do the rest when it dries out a bit.

DIY water leak in Mt. Vernon, Wa

This was in a commercial building--a vacant apartment--in a large complex in Mt. Vernon, Wa. The owner and his Maintenance Minions (just kidding) tried to take a short cut as shown in picture. Their repair leaked over a few days and destroyed the wall.

I repaired the pipe and replaced the angle stop within 45 minutes. I didn't get an after picture as the owner wanted me to go to his house to do some work.

water leak, Mt. Vernon, Wa

It's been said that plastic pipe is easier to work with. I think this has been said by someone who hasn't had to repair it.

This leak was showing up a few feet away from the pipe through a crack in the driveway. Some-other-plumbing-company wanted to replace the whole line for a lot of money, but the building owner (commercial place) called us for a second opinion. It took him a second to hire us and we completed the repair in less time it took that-other-company to write their estimate.

Water pressure regulators or PRV

Many homes have pressure regulators, sometimes known as PRV (pressure regulator valves), because the incoming water pressure is over 80 psi. Federal regs mandate that any pressure over 80 has to be regulated to save water. Beyond being law, anyone who pays by the drip will testify that the lower the pressure, the less water is used.

Where these PRVs are located is a challenge on the scale of NPR's Sunday Puzzle. See that brown splotch in the center of the picture? That's the PRV under a house in Mt. Vernon, Wa.

My camera had a great flash on it and I had a drop light. It was totally dark down there.