The rules of plumbing
Emily’s granddad gave me his words of wisdom on plumbing. He said, “Always remember, hot is on the left and %#@* runs down hill.” This weekend, we came a little closer to testing each of those rules. Thus far, we have…uh…been becoming closer to mother-nature in a special way.
So, that gets old pretty quickly as you might guess and we are so ready for real plumbing. The distance from the cabin to the septic tank is around 90 feet. I dug about 60 or so feet by hand but I just didn’t have the heart to finish it and really, I wanted it to be 3 feet deep rather than 2. A friend of mine took pity on me. You see, said friend owns an excavator and generously volunteered to come out and help me dig a proper trench for the waste line. We started around 7:30 and had it dug pretty quickly. In fact, we had all of the pipe glued together and buried in place before lunch. That’s even including the obligatory trip to the plumbing store to get missing parts. PVC pipe is really great but not flexible so when you need a 22.5 degree elbow, a 45 degree elbow just won’t work.
Emily brought us some Taco Bell and my friend and I ate too many bean burritos and tacos. After a quick lunch, we dug a second trench to install the clean water line from the cistern to the house. The water pipe I bought is rated to 200 psi which is capable of being directly buried and all that, but I decided to bury it within a PVC conduit just to give another protective layer to the water pipe from which we will hopefully be drinking. We kept digging (close to the house which was a little scary) and had another 3 foot trench dug and water line reburied by supper time.
There is still plenty of work to do, but we are much closer to testing whether we suitably followed both rules of plumbing. I especially hope we got the second rule right!
This entry was posted in Cabin and tagged Cabin by warren
“That’s even including the obligatory trip to the plumbing store to get missing parts.”
Isn’t THAT the truth! Butch usually has to go multiple times!
Glad you can go potty in your deluxe shed now! Especially glad for Emily and Abigail!!!
So glad that is coming closer to being usable. I might even visit more often. Oops maybe that will keep you from finishing. Sorry I’ll only come once in awhile.
I love working with PVC, something I am familiar with and know what options are available. Now I’ve gone to copper and I’m having to learn it all over again, well at least except for the second rule you mentioned. Once learned, you never forget that one!
Just reading that you hand dug a ditch 60 x 2 makes every nerve fiber in my body, ache.
Glad you got some help to finish it the way you really wanted!
I think it’s so cool that your kids are learning that houses don’t just get put up all by themselves AND their mom and dad know how to do it. I can barely put up a tent!
So impressed with the plumbing! Keep it up!
Next time get the cantina bowl from Taco Bell. It’s my favorite fast food item – ever!
Our builder never was taught that @#$% runs downhill!!! this is why we had all our trouble wich of course cost us alot of $$$$$$$$ !!
The dog leg at the cleanout, and the need for the 22.5, caused by Warren’s vertigo and the lack of string & marking paint. And just because I can’t help myself, two feet by hand might be stretching it just a bit. If any of your friends are in need of a good hand with a shovel, I want them to know that Emily is excellent help! I guess I’m famous now.
Butch – I (luckily) do not feel your pain but I know you went through it! My slope is massive so I should have no problems!
The Friend – I’m not sure you are famous but def every bit as ugly as ever! And marking paint? Who needs that? Not me! Emily is good help though…I can confirm that!
Got to love those friends with the right equipment. Got to love those friends with the right equipment that will show up and bring their toys along to play.