04/18/2026
Another whole house re-plumb done for a wonderful local lady. I wouldn't trade working with the people of our community for anything...
With this one, we moved the main service valve up from the far end of the spider infested dirty icky crawlspace up into the house and we also moved the shut offs for hose bibs up so there will never be a need to go back into the dungeon ever again.
Note that the two smaller pipes for the hose bibs come off the main line after the main shut off but before the pressure reducing valve, this is done for very specific reasons. The first is, this lady will have the best hose pressure on the block and be able to wash a car three doors down because she's working with FULL District pressure before it's reduced down in the house to protect the fixtures. The second reason is truly a unique Kitimat thing... By doing this, it means that when flushing is done, she will be able to clear all that yucky brown water out of the line by simply opening up her hose and letting it run out in the yard until it runs clear before it ever gets into the interior plumbing. No more toilet, tub, sinks and tank filling up with swamp water!!!
The tank (pre existing tank) is done the Day-Job way, neat and clean as you have all come to expect from us...
As nice as this is though, the real treasure for this lovely woman is the new tub... She had an old metal tub that some genius decided to paint. Well let's just say it, DON'T DO THIS!!! I don't care what the paint store tells you, it's gonna peel off and look like hell. So with a saws-all in hand and some brute force and ignorance, we yanked it out to discover that another genius used a tight turn rubber p-trap to connect it. Yes you read that right... Now as someone who does the drain snaking, I can tell you, this will be a dead stop for a snake and prevent me from clearing that yucky drain rat out that's causing the tub to not drain. Ya, we totally changed that...
We aren't fancy folks and like simple yet functional and repairable, so we chose a simple Maxx tub and surround with a Moen diverter and trim. You will often hear us promote Moen, it's not because it's the creme de la creme, it's not but it's a nice mid grade with the best warranty ever. Parts are always available and out here at the end of the road, that's important. Also I get given the cartridges for free by the handful so if a Moen tap or diverter ever needs one, the part costs nothing under their warranty. But if you bought that tap or diverter from us, you don't even pay the service call for us to come out and put it in because we stand firm on our recommendations...
So again, another happy project that we just gotta pick up the waste from next week and put some spray foam into a couple holes to keep the draft and furry friends out. Oh and pick up all the removed copper up for our friends at the humane society (speaking of furry friends). Also for those curious about the drywall cuts, we always make sure to connect our clients up with local professionals that can come in and do what I totally suck at doing (you should see my attempt to do drywall at my place 😂).
Have a great weekend folks and stay dry! 🩷
