Home Improvement/Repair Questions

[mudpuppy]

Jeb, what kind of soil would you be digging in?  I replaced about 30 feet of PVC at a depth of about 2-4' at my wife's old house, but I didn't have to deal with any concrete.  It was all in Georgia clay, though, and the digging was brutal.  I wouldn't want to do it again, though I might for $5500.

 

[Road Guy]

& for compaction just find a place where you can get some #57 stone - would think a yard or two would work and it would be way cheaper than flow fill and faster than compacting actual dirt.. but I would only worry about it under the concrete sections

 

[MA_PE]

& for compaction just find a place where you can get some #57 stone - would think a yard or two would work and it would be way cheaper than flow fill and faster than compacting actual dirt.. but I would only worry about it under the concrete sections

Depends what material you're putting the stone in.  If the exiting material has a lot of fines the without a geotextile wrap you risk migration of fines into the stone and subsequent loss of "compaction"/support.

 

[jeb6294]

The portion under the patio is the only part that would have me worried.  Wouldn't even have to go under the sidewalk, hence the "staying within the confines of the driveway/sidewalk".  SW Ohio is pretty much all clay also, but as someone who spent over a year building an entire sanitary sewer system from building connections down to the treatment plant, a 3' x 3' trench for a 4" line is laughable.

The guy who came out and cleaned out the line a couple years ago is going to try and come out today to get his camera in there and take a look for himself.  It's he and his dad's plumbing company, not some big company, so he was a lot cheaper last time.

 

[jeb6294]

New wrinkle.  The boys' elementary school has a skating party once a month.  Got home from said skating party last night, open the garage door and see a large puddle (the laundry room is in a room in the back of the garage).  Get in the house and see the utility tub full of water and towels all over the floor.  Boys are a sweaty mess from skating so I tell them to take showers, but to make them quick, while I keep an eye on the water level in the utility tub.  That's odd, between their showers and mine, not only did the water not go up, it seemed to be going down.  Before I left for work this morning, I turned on the water in the now empty utility tub for a bit.  Only took a minute or two before water was backing up.  So, even though our main is not good, it was working good enough.  Apparently the problem is actually in the utility tub somewhere.  I checked the trap, but I guess some more disassembly is in order.

 

[matt267 PE]

Apparently the problem is actually in the utility tub somewhere.  I checked the trap, but I guess some more disassembly is in order.

Could be a partial blockage in the connection between the utility tub and main. "Y" connections love to get clogged. I know you had the main snaked, but did you snake from the utility tub to the main?

 

[jeb6294]

We did not.  In the drawing I did, he ran the camera in through the cleanout just inside the basement and ran it outside the house.  The utility tub does indeed come in to the main via a "Y" at the back of the house.  I think the wife was going to get some Drano or something to try first and if that doesn't do anything, I may be taking out the utility tub and trying to snake the line.  At least it would be inside the house and no digging required.

 

[jeb6294]

Picked one of these up at HD Saturday morning.

It's a Ryobi drain auger that's $70 as opposed to $30 for the manual version, but it was worth every penny (FYI, it's the auger only but I already have the Ryobi batteries/charger).  Turning the snake is powered, but it also has power feed which was the really nice thing since I ended up running it through a few times.  Doing that by hand would have been a PITA.  In the end I did end up pulling out a wire tie (like you get on a loaf of bread) with some typical washing machine junk wrapped around it.

 

[Dleg]

^I need one of those. Hand snakes are just too much work.

 

[matt267 PE]

In the end I did end up pulling out a wire tie (like you get on a loaf of bread) with some typical washing machine junk wrapped around it.

Nice. Does the utility sink drain better now? 

 

[MA_PE]

that's pretty cool and less than the $300 roto-rooter charges

 

[jeb6294]

I'll have to let you know once I get it installed.  The original plumbing under the old sink was a mish-mash of 2" and 1-1/2" PVC with two P-traps and more 2" wrapping around and up the wall for the drain hose for the washing machine.  In all that mess was a bit of 2" PVC that was deadheaded with a threaded plug.  I was able to get in through the plug with the auger and it seemed to drain better.  The old sink was pretty gross and that really thin plastic so I went ahead and got a new utility tub and the stuff to replace all the PVC with one plain ol' P-trap so I need to finish getting it installed.

 

[matt267 PE]

If it doesn't work, at least you got a new utility sink out of the deal. Hopefully you won't have to replace you whole lateral. 

 

[jeb6294]

Got home after work yesterday, ran the auger through one last time and then hooked up the new drain.  No faucet yet...the only one they have at the big box stores are crap plastic ones so not sure if I'll install the one I got or order one...so I dumped a 5 gal. bucket of water in and it drained just fine.  Wife did a couple loads of laundry and everything was still good.  Utility sink is thicker gauge, but still plastic so a little more wobbly than I would like so I'm going to add a wood support to the wall so the back of the sink has a solid place to hang from rather than sitting on nothing but 4 thin metal legs.

 

[knight1fox3]

Picked up a new washer/dryer combo. Didn't have a whole lot of time to research but ended up going with Maytag as they had pretty standard features and a nice 10-yr warranty.

https://www.maytag.com/washers-and-dryers/washers/top-load-washers/p.top-load-washer-with-the-deep-fill-option-and-powerwash-cycle-5.2-cu.-ft.mvwb865gw.html

 

[Supe]

It's no Speed Queen, but hooray for top loaders!

 

[Road Guy]

weve always gotten a decade plus out of all our maytags, I know there has been some ownership changes but I don't think I would buy another brand.

 

[knight1fox3]

It's no Speed Queen, but hooray for top loaders!

Indeed. Couldn't find that particular brand at our local retailer (non-chain type).

weve always gotten a decade plus out of all our maytags, I know there has been some ownership changes but I don't think I would buy another brand.

That's good feedback, thanks!

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Maytag literally rolls off the same assembly line as Whirlpool these days.  Neither of them are bad, but they are the same.

 

[MA_PE]

Kenmore washer we got from a friends parents when they moved out of their apartment at least 10-15 years ago....going strong.

maytag dryer again at least 10-15 years old.  Also going strong.