I have a few years on many of you, & have done almost all my own work in fixing up a long list of fixer-upper houses, the only kind I’ve ever known.
My current house is over 300 years old, & for various reasons, I’ve had more of the work done by pros, including a great family of plumbers.
I was taking a nice, hot shower this morning, & thinking of my plumbers. Who comes when the drains are blocked, the toilets are backing up, and life is rotten? My plumber!
Who managed to tie 3 old steam systems into one nicely functioning new boiler? My plumber! Who is responsible for lovely hot radiators warming up my socks, without my having to split & carry wood, shovel coal, or empty the ashes? My plumber!
Who made sure that my water supply has great pressure & tastes great, so I don’t have to buy and schlep home water?
Thanks, guys!
Replies
Hi Kate
Having a lazy day with the family and read your post. Why don't you fill out your profile, I'm intrigued by the 300 year old house. Tells us more, maybe some pictures? Perhaps you've already posted some, I'll have to do a search.
Kevin
My 300-year-old house is a gambrel-roofed saltbox in New London, CT. Unfortunately, I'm not able to post photos.
It's the second-oldest house in town still here, the oldest still a residence - the older one is the Hempsted House, a museum.
Mine has had a checkered history - used as a rental from the 1860's to 1895, when it was moved about 1/4 mile down the hill & placed on a high foundation, which makes it look very strange, if you know what 17th & 18th century houses usually like.
When it was moved, it was gutted & made into a duplex, with 2 front doors, 2 sets of stairs, etc. It lost its center chimney, all its woodwork (I found bits of feather-edged panelling made into subfloor), & whatever was left of its original plaster. During the height of the Cold War, it was further divided into 4 apartmants.
I suppose, to be literal, what I have is a 300-year-old frame, but what a frame it is - hewn chestnut 17x12 summer beams, 12x12 posts, 5x5 ceiling joists on more-or-less 4 foot centers, etc.
My goal is to make it liveable for the 21st century while keeping as much original fabric & flavor as possible, ready for the next 300 years.
Edited 11/25/2006 1:54 pm ET by kate
Kate,
Hope this works, click on the message and than click on the pictures. Oldest house in Surf City, NJ and one of the oldest on LBI. You probably know of LBI having lived in Hoboken.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=69253.9
Kevin
I just checked it and it works, you have to scroll to the right on the picture of the front of the house. I dug out all that bamboo you see, tough stuff.
Edited 11/25/2006 9:26 pm ET by dockelly
That's a great house - did you do all the work? I've met bamboo...
haven't done much yet, other than remove bamboo and paint and clean the inside. it's a block from the ocean and we try to enjoy it in the summer. look for my posts in the future, hopefully, if the building department doesn't give me any more things to do, it will be lifted 32 inches and than i'll paint the outside, new floor inside, insulation under house, etc. I'm guessing by your posts you know the drill. I'll be hiring most of the work out as it's about an hour to hour and fifteen from me. Your posts about plumbers caught my attention as I just called 6 and only had one returned my call only to say he wasn't interested. that is actually appreciated now that i'm more savy, doesn't waste his time, doesn't waste mine.
kevin
Good luck with your project - do keep us posted.
will do
WOW! a positive pertaining to a plumber! I've been in the trade close to 44 years and you are less negative than I am; glad that it has worked out. "May the force be with you"
"If all else fails, read the directions"
I have an extra appreciation because until recently (read 'until I got so old & arthritic') I was the one who unclogged the toilet, smashed my knuckles on the pipe wrench, crawled in the dirt, etc.
The plumber who does whatever I need is super. When I was hunting for someone 7 years ago, the only other one who would even deign to come to look covered his eyes & said' "Oh, my god..."
But Murray said, "I've always liked this house. I would have bid on it myself, but my wife wouldn't let me."
Of course, the reason he liked the house was because of the dollar signs flashing by his mind's eye...
Lots of luck, I hope that the plumbers that you deal with keeps you happy.
Kate, you must be talking about Murray Reshaw, and Yes he is a great guy.. Used to do alot of work in New London with him before I over the river to Groton.
Bingo - Murray - & son Jim - they the man! Of course, I fight with Murray all the time about politics, but that's half the fun.
They did a super job hooking up my boiler. My house used to be 4 separate apartments, with separate heat & hot water -our deal with the city was to have just 2 units.
We combined the 2 on the ground floor & one upstairs for ourselves, & left one separate apt. on the second floor.
Dan Holihan, the steam guy, said it couldn't be done, but Murray & Jim combined 3 systems into one boiler, & it works great. Every time the heat comes on, I think good thoughts about them.
I grew up in a 14-room house heated by 3 woodstoves, & have burned wood later in life, & I love gas, & steam radiators!
I first learned about plumbing when i bought a mere 100-year-old house and began wondering why i couldn't get hot water to the second-floor bathtub cum reading room. What started as replacing 8 feet of 1/2" galv. line with 3/4" copper led to shutting off the water at the street and just starting over from scratch. A few waters heaters, boilers, wells, cisterns, and pressure tanks justified a fair amount of tool collecting. <G>
That said, i am in love with "Steve", the guy who comes with his pump installer's rig and figures out why i can't get water from 150' down. He blew most of his right hand off with a .45 when he was a kid, but works more efficiently than any ten-fingered person i know. Gloves are a hard fit, though...
That's the way it started for me, too. 1906 brick rowhouse in Hoboken, NJ, 1977 - The first week we owned the house, one of my husband's kids (no blood relation to me could possible do such a dumb thing) flushed a rag down the toilet, by accident, of course.
Time-Life plumbing book in one hand, credit card clenched in my teeth, I've never looked back!
I got a set of the rubber-handled pipe wrenches when my hands started getting old, and replaced the biggest steel one i'd been using with an aluminum wrench that i could pick up without tipping over. I also bought a set of nylon, soft-jawed, jar lid-opening "wrenches" that have been very useful for slip joints i really don't want to crank on by hand anymore.So was your husband like mine, a guy who knew the best way to help was to make meals and provide coffee?
My husband, like yours, was a really good guy - he was 20 years older than I, & had known how to do everything , but as time went on, he became quite arthritic, & unfortunately blind.
He helped as much as he could - was really mad I wouldn't let him paint...bought me tools, cooked good meals, & was unfailingly supportive. In retrospect, I'm amazed that he had enough confidence in my vision & skills to buy this old dump!
It really was a dump - had been standing empty since its last owner defaulted on his mortgage, possibly because of his crack habit. Nobody bought it from the bank, or at the tax sale - New London real estate was in the pits in the 90's.
We bought it from the city in 1999 - real cheap, but all our money & all our time for the rest of our lives. A deal I couldn't resist...
Sounds like our men were soul brothers except for the "unfailingly supportive" part - nope! Ian was a very generous man, with criticism as well as everything. Like you, i did most of the actual carpentry, but he was the solid rock i used to push off against, though my ADD approach to remodeling drove him to commentary frequently. When we first moved in, in winter, we didn't have that indoor toilet yet, so he assumed the schlepping and burying of the 5-gallon bucket contents until i got the plumbing installed. Talk about true <3!
The supportive part might have been from experience - I was his 3rd wife, & liked to say that it took practice...
Wow, I think all my latest plumber knows is:
1) Payday is Friday
2) Sh*t flows downhill
3) not to smell his fingers
4) every swear word in the book
If you work long enough in the biz you will find that a highly skilled & competant mechanic of any one of the trades is worth their weight in gold.
My highest regards goes along with yours with my top two being a good plumber, and a good framer.
Thanks for the compliments.
What sweet sentiments. I know of what you speak, my home is also the oldest in this county, and log. never had indoor water till someone had the notion to try it.
I attacked the situ. with gusto and replaced ALL the CPVC with copper, relocated the water heater into a heated space, and have dealt with frozen and broke pipes...I have a well, a spring and city supplied water. All need some sort of upkeep.
I am not a paid plumber, but over the yrs. I certainly have gained a deep respect for the trade.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.
Wow a thread I don't have to defend my co-tradesmen.
Well thanks for the kind words.
“It so happens that everything that is stupid is not unconstitutional.” —Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
So, you say your a plumber?
I'm a plumber? Noooo way - just have done enough myself to know a little of what it's about, & to be grateful that someone else will do it!
Here's a tag line especially for you:
If it weren't for plumbers, we'd have no place to go
Ha! Thanks, Boss!
Some have claimed that plumbers are more responsible for the increase in average lifespan over the past 150 years or so than are doctors.
A city slicker reporter asked an old farm woman what the most important improvement in farm life was - she said,"Indoor Toilet!"
The quote I remember -- but not from who -- is "Plumbers have already saved more lives than doctors ever will".
-- J.S.
I hate doing plumbing, so I'm really grateful for plumbers. I can do just about everything else on my own home. Just no plumbing.
The guy I use and recommend is very good. I've known him for nearly 20 years.
If i need him for my own house, I leave the key under the back mat, he comes and does the work, and sends me a bill. Works perfectly for all.