Replacing plumbing?
I am the proud new owner of a 1964 Eichler in Thousand Oaks and facing my first serious battle with the old plumbing.
Here's the problem:
The old glavanized pipe that brings the water up to my house is rusting through. Previous owners had a piece of PVC patched onto a cut section of the galvanized pipe with what looks like a home-made clamp. Interesting.
What are my options for a proper solution?
I've read a little about running water lines up over your roof, but am not sure that mine is the problem this is meant to address.
Also, I fear that the drain lines will also turn out to be galvanized and therefore are probably rotting through as well.
As an aside:
I find myself fantasizing about tearing the house down and replacing with the identical floor plan but all up to code and with modern building materials. Is this a common fantasy? :wink:
Any words of wisdom and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.....
In a slab-on-grade house only long term solution to a corroded water line in the slab is running new lines over the roof.
I think that it is indeed a common fantasy to rebuild an Eichler in the same style but to modern specs. One problem could be that modern codes that emphasize energy efficiency would not let you have as much floor-to-ceiling glass as your Eichler has now!
good luck,
Barry Brisco
Congratulations on your new home! And condolences on your first run-in with aging house systems... Ah, but the comraderie of sharing woes and wins with tmembers on this board will go a long way towards keeping your sanity (and wallet) intact.
I certainly understand the dream to build a new "Eichler"--a chance to customize a bit but also to have it built in modern materials to modern code.
Two comments:
- I'm guessing you would be surprised by the cost to build even what you have, let alone improve. The redwood ceilings alone are worth 10's of thousands... You could substitute but is that what you would want? Also, I think a lot of Eichlers (like ours in Willow Glen) were built on minimum lots. If that is the case for yours, if you were going to the expense of building you may want a larger or better located lot. But then you would lose the Eichler neighborhood...
- Equally important, in my mind, wanting to build a new "Eichler" to code isn't a good reason to demolish a current Eichler that someone else could love and appreciate as-is. If someone wanted to build new, I'd say find yourself an empty lot, or unsalvageable home (of another type) elsewhere. I could be wrong, but I think most people would agree that new construction in existing tracts is seldom welcome and is likely not financially astute for the owner (being the most expensive house in a neighborhood seldom is, especially one of almost identical homes).
But then, you said it was just a fantasy so dream on... Just don't be tempted to make that particular fantasy a reality ;-)
jake
Welcome to Eichler Charm, or as I call it, Eichler construction design defects.
I think you're referring to the main water service pipe coming from the water meter - - my is also, I believe, galvanized steel. Just using intuition, it looks to run straight from the side of the house (where all the utilities enter - gas, main panel box, telephone, cable), under my driveway, right to the City water meter under a cover in the sidewalk. Is your water meter in the sidewalk?? - - If yes, then assume the pipe makes a bee-line to it, and you can imagine the cost of digging it out and putting in a new one (in my case, it looks to run under the driveway where the main drain also runs).
Someone in Palo Alto successfully protected her domestic plumbing with some sort of electrolysis process, but I don't know if this is a proper application in your case.
As for tearing down and re-building, oh yes, but I would need insurance money and it would be a crime to arrange for a casualty.
Having done an addition, I discovered you cannot replicate an Eichler's glass area - - my 1972 Eichler had less glass than the previous models. For example, Willow Glen Eichlers (early 60's), I believe, have full glass walls (glass & slider) in Master BR; our MBR has 2/3; our LR/DR also has a 6-ft long wall -- basically, modern construction requirements were catching up to Eichler style.
Also, Title XIII? (can't recall the exact name citation) will impose a severe penalty on glass area beyond construction requirements - - the formulatic approach taken by firms that certify compliance will chop off a significant amount of glass area, even with double pane, energy efficient & insulated new construction. We gave up glass area and had to wrap the additional foundation in foam.
Even with less glass, the post & beam specs will also 2-3" THICKER -- my original posts are 4x4; new ones are something like 6x4 with a 2x4 attached to the post - - the long run beams will also be thicker. This construction will withstand 85 mph winds and keep you safe when the Big One hits. Mainly, I dream of new infrastructure just so I don't have to spend loads of time & money on routine fix-ups.
Actually there is another way to replace plumbing that I have seen. A neighbor of mine totally re-did their home. They decided to abandon the radiant heat during their big remodel. Because of this, they had the plumbers jackhammer routes in their floor for new pipes. Basically the main pipe went up throught their hallway and split off to the bath, laundry, kitchen. They filled it in with concrete when finished.
After all that, they laid a thin layer of radiant heat piping and poured cement over that. That raised their floor about an inch and they had the make the necessary accomodations throughout the house (don't know details of windows, door jambs, etc).
I am the one who protected my copper domestic water pipes with cathodic protection to prevent further corrosion. My radiant heat still works and in very good condtion. When I remodeled and put in a new, expensive floor, I couldn't stand the though of pulling up my new floor to fix any leaks in the domestic water. I knew it would eventually leak again because it's constantly corroding. I decided to cathodically protect (CP) my pipes to prevent any further corrosion. This was 2 1/2 years ago. If you do a search on "cathodic" on this forum, you will find my posts. It was about $6K to do it but when you are putting in a $25K plus floor, it's worth the cost and piece of mind.
Lynn
hI,
I posted some information in 2003 regarding epoxy coating inside of the copper pipes to prevent leaking. I had it done, and time will tell if it works. So far, so good. I've had three leaks since moving in my Eichler in 1977. When the plumbing company said they might not be able to repair the third (too far down in concrete (overpouring on edge of floor in entry), I realized I had to do something. I did not want to dig up my house and face the cost of that, plus repairing walls and floors, especially since I had extensive ceramic tile.
I did not have any corrosion in my copper pipes other than pinholes emanating from the outside of the pipes, so corrosion was not an issue. The epoxy was shot in from the inside through the faucet valves in the house (hot and cold water pipes). the cost at that time was $4700. The company was even featured on the ABC consumer reports in Los Angeles. There is a clip of it on the company's website. If you would like to know the name of the company, please email me [email protected].
