Amusing WTF for you construction guys.

[Superduper]

I decided to remodel the bathroom in the rental I purchased last year. It was nasty and leaky so everything was gonna get ripped out and redone.

After removing the shower walls, here's what I saw. What's wrong with this picture? You construction guys will know.

 

[blu_fuz]

Shut off valves are burried in the wall AND he used toilet water supply flexible twist on hoses! Lololol.

 

[Superduper]

Both impermissible by code since they do leak and it's not possible to access them after covering the walls. The puzzling thing is that the shower head supply riser appears sweated in. Surely it costed a ton more money to rig up all that setup as opposed to a few sweat fittings? The things people do to avoid learning how to solder, haha. Another case if knowing just enough to get into trouble.

 

[floyd]

there should have been an access panel behind the diverter valve usually they are in a bedroom or hallway. so you can work on it if you ever had too. you basically had to demo the wall in an emergency if it ever leaked, or shut off the house main supply valve. also the hot water supply valve should have a red knob to indicate that it supplies hot water. needless to say the braided hoses are useless .

 

[Superduper]

Behind that wall is a second bathroom, therefore, no access panel or it would be ugly as heck. And demoing a BR or hallway wall is one thing, demo'ing a finished bathroom wall is another. Needless to say, all that will need to be replaced. BTW, that isn't a diverter valve. It's the actual shower valve.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Looks fine to me.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

And you know the guy that built all that stood back and thought "Hell Yeah, Nice Work!"

 

[Superduper]

And you know the guy that built all that stood back and thought "Hell Yeah, Nice Work!"

I was thinking the exact same thing Chris. It wasn't easy piecing together all those pricey brass adapters to get this to work since those flexible hoses don't usually connect to pipe thread. Ignorance is sooo bliss.

 

[floyd]

Behind that wall is a second bathroom, therefore, no access panel or it would be ugly as heck. And demoing a BR or hallway wall is one thing, demo'ing a finished bathroom wall is another. Needless to say, all that will need to be replaced. BTW, that isn't a diverter valve. It's the actual shower valve.

its called a shower diverter assembly, it consist of the manifold which is the brass housing inside the wall that the diverter valve bolts too, usually its 3 shafts and a spigot , but you have one that has a single handle to mix the hot cold ratio as opposed to two knobs, and once the plungers and the o-rings go out its almost impossible to not drip.

 

[Superduper]

Never heard that valve expressed that way before. I do have several diverter valves in my homes over the years and they function simply to divert water from one route to another (such as from overhead shower head to a handheld shower) or from faucet spout to shower head; these diverters look like regular faucets but do not meter the water. When I plumbed my "higher" end shower 10 years ago, I used a Kohler 3-way diverter valve after the shower valve. It allowed me to select from fixed overhead shower head, handheld shower head, or body spray (horizontal spray heads). The valve that turns the water on/off or meters it has always been known to me as a bath faucet when the port at the bottom of the manifold is unplugged and connected to a spout, or a shower valve when that port is plugged. Maybe it's technically known as a diverter? Learn something new every day I guess. Kohler themselves call that valve a shower valve on their website. The diverter that I know of is called a diverter or transfer valve. Anyhow, doesn't matter I guess. I know what to buy when I go to home depot regardless of what it's called, lol.

Well, that wall is rotted out and the entire wall including studs are coming out because the bottom plate as well as subfloor needs replacing. So all are going to be replaced.

 

[Reli]

I've had experience with slumlords, cheapskates who take a former car repair shop or farmer's market and convert it to apartments. They hire some illegal immigrants to do everything, not just cleaning, but putting up new walls, electrical, plumbing etc. Putting cheap 2-prong outlets everywhere instead of 3, and crooked, not straight up and down. A cheapass gas radiator in the living room instead of forced air in each room. Sewer overflows blowing all the time, so they just try to seal it with tape, lol. Bad tub or toilet seals on the second floor, causing mold in the apartment below it.

 

[superlew]

Something tells me the previous owner didn't apply for a permit for his bathroom reno.
There's a reason the Code gets a little thicker every year. Here's a MA 6th Edition from '07 that I dug out of the hall closet.
We're now on the 8th edition, with the 9th soon to come. When it goes into effect I'm probably going to need a bigger desk and sturdier shelves at the office.



Not a day goes by that I'm not amazed/confused at the things people do to their properties. These are the same people that ask for my expert opinion and advice, then argue with me when they don't like the response I give.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I've done reno's on kitchens and bathrooms and it's allot of work, but the reasons those thick code books are there is for common sense. Short cutting these rules can be downright dangerous. Those rules are there for everyone's safety. I have seen things that are downright frightening. I have been in rental homes where the tenets reconfigured the house from a single family home into 4, running rubber garden hose 4 ways to supply 4 separate natural gas stoves! With garden hoses feeding water all over the home into tubs that are set up in closets with the drain simply dumping under the house and draining down the side of the driveway and into the street. Toilets that are in bedrooms with no roof vents. I could go on and on. The crappy thing is, there is so much of this going on in Southern California that it has overwhelmed the department's that oversees these things and nothing is being done unless a natural gas explosion or fire takes out a neighborhood.

 

[superlew]

...Toilets that are in bedrooms with no roof vents. I could go on and on. The crappy thing is, there is so much of this going on in Southern California that it has overwhelmed the department's that oversees these things and nothing is being done unless a natural gas explosion or fire takes out a neighborhood.

(Couldn't help myself.)

You'll see plenty of dangerous "home-hacks" anywhere there's a high population density, mostly in rentals and owner-occupieds.
A couple of years back, our company did a pair of kitchen reno's in a stacked two-family (common home style in the Northeast). The shut-offs for the 2nd floor kitchen were all ball valves buried in the ceiling of the 1st floor kitchen, all supplied by copper tubing with compression fittings. We also found a junction box buried in that ceiling, directly under the 2nd floor sink. Apparently, the previous owner was more concerned with installing his recessed lights than burning his home down.
I see crap like this every day. Sometimes I think it's a wonder we survive as a species.
I'm going to keep this thread in mind and take some pics the next time I see horrid hack. That shouldn't be long.
Thanks for the thread, Norm. This stuff's right up my alley.