Mike Lamb Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 I inspected an old Chicago house with a three-quarter inch water main supply. One bathroom on the second floor. Water volume to all the fixtures was fine. I got an e-mail from my clients saying that their HUD inspector told them that if they add another bathroom, which is their intention, they will have to increase the size of the water main from the street. I know inspectors make all kinds of statements that they are not qualified to make. For the sake of argument, what would a plumber do to determine whether this is indeed true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 Mr. HUD has it right, sort of. Be aware that the City of Chicago has a sucker punch code out REQUIRING a minimum 1 1/4" supply to all houses, regardless of age. If not 1 1/4", then you're supposed to install a pressure pump. They're also enforcing minimum sizing of 1 1/2" and sometimes even 2" on some of the mega Lincoln Park manses. It's a bizarre sliding scale of number of fixtures to size of service; if it's not up to snuff, the boys want to see a new larger water service. Yeah, I know. It's gotta go back to Local 130 some way or another in a make work drive. It's only enforced randomly, and not all inspectors enforce it, but me and Hier have it on direct word from the main desk that this is the new reality. It led to my first blatant donation to a plumbing inspector last Spring on a Lincoln Park shakedown. 2K to make it all go away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lamb Posted July 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 Good info and thanks, Kurt. I will hazard $1500 to run new service from the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 Tell them try the pressure pump option. If it's not needed, it can be turned off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 Good info and thanks, Kurt. I will hazard $1500 to run new service from the street. More like $12,000-15,000 retail. Permits alone run around $2800. Curb cut, street close, plumbing, sidewalk, etc., etc., all require a permit. If you're in the biz and can call in favors and work with a small union shop cutting you a break, you might get it in for $10,000. The cheapest service I've ever done was 8 grand a few years back. That's why it's mostly getting enforced in the 'hoods that can afford it. The CCBD and DCAP are a new profit center and revenue stream for our lively city. Start developing report language for water service upgrades and explanations of the possibilities. It's the new wrinkle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjr6550 Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 Mr. HUD has it right, sort of. Be aware that the City of Chicago has a sucker punch code out REQUIRING a minimum 1 1/4" supply to all houses, regardless of age. If not 1 1/4", then you're supposed to install a pressure pump. They're also enforcing minimum sizing of 1 1/2" and sometimes even 2" on some of the mega Lincoln Park manses. It's a bizarre sliding scale of number of fixtures to size of service; if it's not up to snuff, the boys want to see a new larger water service. Yeah, I know. It's gotta go back to Local 130 some way or another in a make work drive. It's only enforced randomly, and not all inspectors enforce it, but me and Hier have it on direct word from the main desk that this is the new reality. It led to my first blatant donation to a plumbing inspector last Spring on a Lincoln Park shakedown. 2K to make it all go away. 1-1/4" minimum water supply and conduit for wiring. What other good ideas have the unions thought of? Must be $$$ to build a shack in Chicago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Simon Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 Must be $$$ to build a shack in Chicago. Well, yeah, all that design money into our roof gutter systems. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 What other good ideas have the unions thought of? No mini splits for central heating or cooling equipment, only approved for auxiliary). (Sheet metal workers and pipe fitters) No NMC. (Local 134). Although, after 30 years of running pipe, steel 1900 boxes, mud rings, and all the accoutrement of hard iron distribution and ability to have redundant grounding and pulling wire instead of threading rope......I'm down with pipe. No PVC until about 1990. No copper water service until 1989 (lead supplier a political powerhouse). There's more, but it gets redundant. Yeah, it's pretty stupid, but if you ever see a basement full of perfectly run EMT, it's kinda pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 What other good ideas have the unions thought of? No mini splits for central heating or cooling equipment, only approved for auxiliary). (Sheet metal workers and pipe fitters) No NMC. (Local 134). Although, after 30 years of running pipe, steel 1900 boxes, mud rings, and all the accoutrement of hard iron distribution and ability to have redundant grounding and pulling wire instead of threading rope......I'm down with pipe. No PVC until about 1990. No copper water service until 1989 (lead supplier a political powerhouse). There's more, but it gets redundant. Yeah, it's pretty stupid, but if you ever see a basement full of perfectly run EMT, it's kinda pretty. Call me nuts buts I'd wire my own house with EMT for fire safety reasons. I bent pipe for a couple years as oilfield/commercial electrician, EMT, rigid and PVC. I don't agree with the rest. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lamb Posted July 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 No pex. Only cast iron DWV beneath the floor under the house. Only clay drains out in the yard to the sewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 Yeah. I sometimes forget those. Clay tile. Nothing like a 2000 year old technology to guarantee work. I know a few plumbers that put in tile, get the inspection, then pull out the clay and put in plastic. On their own houses, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjr6550 Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Only clay drains out in the yard to the sewer. I suppose that is to support the drain cleaning contractors. Lead mains. Maybe the politicians having been drinking too much of the water. Most municipalities started to ban them by the 1920s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 They were banned in industrialized Euro countries in the late 19th century. Took Chicago another hundred years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosier inspector Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Kurt, All the exit and emergency lighting that I've seen in Chicago (all metal const.) is manufactured by one company. Do you know any specifics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Geez, you got me. I look at them all the time, I must have a pic here somewhere...... I think you're right, though; one company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lamb Posted August 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Kurt, All the exit and emergency lighting that I've seen in Chicago (all metal const.) is manufactured by one company. Do you know any specifics? They do all look the same. I press the test button when doing multi-units. Sometimes they work. Most of the time not. Click to Enlarge 17.54 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Kurt, All the exit and emergency lighting that I've seen in Chicago (all metal const.) is manufactured by one company. Do you know any specifics? They do all look the same. I press the test button when doing multi-units. Sometimes they work. Most of the time not. Click to Enlarge 17.54 KB When they don't work, it's usually because the battery is toast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosier inspector Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 I've heard a rumor that it's the only brand "approved" and all other company applications get "misplaced". I was just trying to get some more info. On an unrelated topic, I was in the basement of the Hilliard Towers (in China Town) and came across, what I was told, a conduit of the main electrical grid. It apparently could not be moved so they built the building on top of it. It literaly cuts through the middle of the basement. The maintenance staff built a bridge to get from one side to the other. I noted two observations; 1. It disappeared into the middle of a support column, and 2. the concrete was not dyed red. I think someone was pulling my leg. Could this be a hastily improvised design feature? Click to Enlarge 20.73 KB Click to Enlarge 34.39 KB Click to Enlarge 26.82 KB Usually you need to duck your head going under a bridge instead of over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 That could easily be real. Any older City urban infrastructure is a mish mash of craziness. They discovered some old copper bus in Evanston; about 6" in diameter solid copper housed in an old cedar log/box buried in an alley. When it blew, it was spectacular....intense greenish whitish bluish light just pulsing away...lotta damage, no one was hurt TG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plummen Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 Good info and thanks, Kurt. I will hazard $1500 to run new service from the street. More like $12,000-15,000 retail. Permits alone run around $2800. Curb cut, street close, plumbing, sidewalk, etc., etc., all require a permit. If you're in the biz and can call in favors and work with a small union shop cutting you a break, you might get it in for $10,000. The cheapest service I've ever done was 8 grand a few years back. That's why it's mostly getting enforced in the 'hoods that can afford it. The CCBD and DCAP are a new profit center and revenue stream for our lively city. Start developing report language for water service upgrades and explanations of the possibilities. It's the new wrinkle. We get around $3000.00 for a typical water service change out here in the Omaha/Bellevue area with a new tap and a 1" service,The city will still let us do a 3/4" tap if its an existing house though. Are they making you guys install sprinkler systems in the houses ,Why in the world do they require an 1 1/4" water supply for a house? Or is your water pressure just that bad in Chicago?[:-crazy] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lamb Posted August 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Kurt, All the exit and emergency lighting that I've seen in Chicago (all metal const.) is manufactured by one company. Do you know any specifics? I saw this one yesterday. Plastic. And the test button was broken. Click to Enlarge 34.36 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosier inspector Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Kurt, All the exit and emergency lighting that I've seen in Chicago (all metal const.) is manufactured by one company. Do you know any specifics? I saw this one yesterday. Plastic. And the test button was broken. Click to Enlarge 34.36 KB I'll bet a dollar to your doughnut it doesn't have an approval sticker on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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