Home Improvement Questions For Plumbers And Painters.

Okay. Question 1:

For the Plumbers. My house is very old. 1895 old. The plumbing is a patchwork of every material that can be used to hold water. Lead, galvanized steel, iron (I think), brass, and copper. As plumbing emergencies arise, I hire a local reputable plumbing company to come out and fix it. I stress that I am not looking for an additional patch, but instead, I’m looking for a permanent fix. This usually means that they tear out and replace the old stuff with brand new shiny copper. They do excellent work, for a very fair price. So, right now, I have more copper than any other material, but there is still a lot of the other metals left, especially the lead which carries the water into the house from the street.

The plumbers always comment on how bad this is, and have given me estimates for the easiest way to replace all of the remaining bad pipes with copper. To me, the need is evident. Some of the joints have corrosion on the outside of the pipes, and that redish/greenish chemical reaction dripping down them.

My wife says otherwise. She says that they are just trying to drum up business, and as long as water isn’t spraying everywhere, we’re fine.

Is my wife correct?

Where can I go to learn how to solder copper pipes myself?

Question 2:

For the Painters. I have a painted porch on the front of my house. The last people to paint it did a lousy job. There are areas where it is bubbling and peeling. I have had them come out and fix it once before, but they won’t do it a second time. I have the leftover paint, and can easily get more of the exact same color and brand at a local store.

To fix this paint job, I’m going to have to sand down to the bare wood, and start over again with primer. But the bad spots are pretty much isolated and far between. Most of the painting job is solid.

Instead of sanding, priming, and repainting the entire porch, can I do it in sections, as they become bad?

No, your wife is not correct. If the plumbers want to make money, they would wait until the pipes burst and then charge whatever they felt like. It is amazing what people will pay as the house fills with water.

My rather flipant comment aside, no, they are probably telling the truth, and attempting to save you a little money. In an area with 100 year old houses, plumbers don’t typically need to drum up business.

Sweating pipe is easy. You can probably learn it from an e.g. Time/Life book, or any similiar book available in the home repair section of a library. If you want to see a demo (which does make life easier for you), the Home Depot in my area has been doing demonstrations of it on Sunday mornings. Your local HD might be as well.

Before you get too gung-ho on the idea of doing your own plumbing, find out what your community requires in the way of permits. Some cities/counties require you to “pull” a permit for anything more intensive than changing an old washer in a faucet. Others don’t much care what you do and simply ask that you follow code. For replacing your main from the street, you are all but guaranteed to need a permit and inspections. About all you’d be able to do on your own would be to dig a trench for the new pipe, and your plumber may already have a trencher, so you could wind up paying more to rent one than to just have the plumber use the one they already have.

As for the paint, have you identified the cause of the bubbling? If the painters scraped or sanded to bare wood, you’ve probably got wet wood. If the wood is saturated, it may be better replace the wet parts. (You didn’t say if this was flooring, siding or posts) You can spot-patch this. I’d wait for hot sunny weather to scrape/sand the affected areas to bare wood and leave them to dry for a few days, then prime and paint.

Competent tradespersons don’t need to drum up work. Period.

My first question is: What is the result of your most recent water test? Aggressive water will eat up most metallic based plumbing systems in a short space of time, which is why PEX or cross-linked-polyethylene has become popular.
PEX isn’t approved everywhere, so check local codes.

Sweating pipe is easy when you’re dealing with ½" product. The key is when all things go well. What the TV shows and books and Depot don’t address is what to do when the whole job suddenly goes to hell.

It’s not that I’m smarter than you. I’ve just experienced (almost) every possible sphincter-clench moment over the years…until tomorrow.

Doing business the old-fashioned-way. Earning it.

Regarding the porch-is it the deck which is peeling? Please provide more information about construction. Unless more is known, you may revisit the same problem sooner than you’d like.

Have your water tested for lead and other chemicals. You can probably buy a do-it-yourself kit. If the result is positive for lead, then you should probably replace the existing plumbing, especially if there are any young children in the household.

Sweating pipe is one of the simpler jobs in the do-it-yourself pantheon – basically watch someone do it once and practice a bit and you’re good to go. Just make sure that the pipes are clean and that the system that you’re working on is drained (water in the pipes will prevent the torch from heating up the pipes enough, leading to a cold solder joint and leaks.) Be real careful where you aim the torch – pipes are usually pretty close to combustible joists and/or walls. You can buy fire resistant pads for protecting flammable areas.

Like the previous posters have said, sweating pipe is not that hard. Just practice on some scrap pieces before doing the real thing.

Tell me more about the paint problem. Since your house is so old the painters may have used some kind of wood filler to smooth out the weathered areas. My own experience in restoring an old house (shameless plug here) is that none of then work, even the epoxy types.

By the way, don’t sand but get a carbide scraper (Home Depot $19.95 IIRC).

With the painted front porch. The areas that are peeling are areas where the crumby painters painted over old paint. And guess what? When they came back to fix it, all they did was put down a layer of primer, and then paint it again. That’s why I want to sand it down and do it proper.

The problem is not a matter of the wood being wet. The areas that are peeling are in all areas of the porch: bannister, columns, etc.

Well, indeed, if you paint over loose paint, it won’t last long.

I again recommend scraping rather than sanding, and wear a mask since you will almost certainly have some lead based paint there.

Hard to say, but given the age of the house, I’d say the wood isn’t green. :smiley:

However, they could have painted after a heavy dew, which would have trapped moisture under the coat. Once the sun hits it, it would start to bubble.

Barring that, not all paints are compatible. They may have used an oil base over a latex or some other combination that doesn’t work.

I would go with your first instinct. Sand and scrape, let dry thoroughly, then apply a coat of “Kilz II” or other anti-bleed primer, then paint.

Ah. Insufficient prep work: The dead giveaway to a really bad paint job. Prep work is 90% of a good paint job and it sounds like you know this CF.

Unless you want a new lifetime hobby I’d say strip and repaint the whole porch. If some areas have already gone bad others are going to follow as you imply in the OP. Of course, you can do the stripping and repainting in sections working top to bottom as time allows.

With regard to stripping: If you don’t have one already I’d recommend getting a random orbital sander for paint removal. I have a 5" Porter-Cable that takes paint off in a hurry. You pay more for those Velcro backed sandpaper discs but you don’t waste any time cutting and fitting sandpaper to fit. Start with 80 grit (or 60 if you can find it) and have fun.

Forgive me if I’ve mentioned things you already know. The upshot of my advice is to do it all. Otherwise you’ll be hanging pearls on a pig.

Good advice from all.

If I may I’ll add that you may want to pick up some chemical stripper for cleaning paint out of hard to sand places. (grooves, corners what not) If you want to do it in stages it is best to stop at a corner or any place the wall changes direction. That way any fading that occured will be un noticable. The eye is really good at picking out very subtle color differences, if they are sided by side.

As to the plumbing. No it isn’t rocket science but it isnt exactly a breeze either. Id suggest you start somewhere like an upstairs bathroom. Cap off the system then rip out and re-plumb the whole thing. If thats a piece of cake for you, you can probably handle the who tamale.

As far as permits go, yep probably required, but since it is your own home you will be working indoors, who’s gonna know?

Completely removing the old paint is going to be a difficult and unpleasant task, and perhaps an unnecessary one. You definitely should remove any paint that is coming loose or otherwise failing, but there are probably areas where it is perfectly fine. You have an historic house, and the old paint actually has some historic value even after being painted over. This is one reason why I prefer scrapers over sanding or chemicals – it gives you much more control.

You say that the problem areas are where the painters painted over old paint. Is the new paint not adhering to the old, or is the new paint coming off along with the old exposing bare wood? If the former then the painters probably used to wrong type of primer or didn’t prime the first time at all; if the latter then the old paint was not removed properly.

As far as matching the paint that the painters used, if it is a light color, the color matching that they do at any home center will be dead on. As the colors get darker, it becomes more iffy. Even so it only becomes noticeable if you change paint in the middle of a flat surface. I once accidentally painted one wall of a room in one of my duplexes an off-white that was completely different from the off-white used in the rest of the room, and no one noticed until I tried to paint over a blemish a year later. Only then was it abundantly obvious that it was different.

If you feel you must prep down to bare wood, be advised that there are no good solutions for doing this. None; and I’ve tried them all. Scraping, sanding (belt, rotary, orbital) acid strippers, alkaline strippers, heat guns – they all are work.

bnorton have you ever tried bondo Extra Strength Wood Repair Epoxy? I’ve tried practically every wood filler known to man and none of them worked except this stuff. It’s been two years now and the windows I repaired with it are still better than new.

Yes, and while it is superior to the other stuff, it has failed eventually, especially for exterior horizontal sufaces like window sills. I’ve just learned to accept the weathered contours as part of an old house’s charm.