Plumbing question

chris snell

chris snell

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2005
3,020
152
kk88rrc said:
If you go that route & pull it.... http://www.habitat.org/restores Great place to donate building supplies.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea. I'll have to do that. This is one of the annoying problems with buying a half-complete spec home. On one hand, you're shaving months off the standard custom home build time...but on the other, you're contractually obligated to build the home using the contractor's usual vendors. The home has to pass inspection before you close escrow so you can't just tell them to leave out faucets.
 
D Chapman

D Chapman

1
Jan 3, 2005
11,746
73
On Kennith's private island
I buy stuff from Habitat often. Great stores.

Those Delta faucets are not all bad, actually. Maybe you're just going for a certain look or style, but they're not bad. I had them in my last home. What's good is they take standard replacement parts from just about any hardware store. So when your faucet starts leaking on Friday at 5pm the day before Christmas eve you can run down to your local hardware store and for $3.99 have the parts you need for the repair.

Be a little bitch about your HVAC, though. Don't settle for some cheapshit system as it will only lead to problems and frustrations.
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Most of that shit is a bunch of plastic nonsense, regardless of price. It's all standardized.

Get something cheap, or go balls the fuck out and make it rain all over some Italian kitchen designer chick. There's no sense swimming in the popular and "premium" price ranges.

My kitchen faucet is a Peerless. It cost eighty bucks, and was built better than the $450 crap on the shelf. Doesn't pull out or anything, though. Find the exotic brands if you want something nice.

Everyone I know with the off the shelf, fancy pull-out crap has either broken it or suffered a part failure not caused by abuse. At the very least, the stuff just feels cheap.

There are some sweet products out there, and given how often people use the things, it's worth springing some serious coin on something that's all metal.

I just found something conventional that was built properly. I'll get something fancy when I get a deeper sink, but I won't be shopping at the hardware store; nor will I be taking the advice of any damned plumber.

I'll buy something with a brand name I can't pronounce, or just have someone make one from scratch. The common selection of faucets and their quality nowadays makes me sick.

Cheers,

Kennith
 
K

kk88rrc

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2007
1,187
3
Portland Maine
www.kevinkeithphoto.com
V

Va_Disco

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2014
106
6
Hampton Roads, Va.
Something you might consider. If the product you want is available without a long lead time, Talk to the builder and ask if you supply the upgraded product if he would install it and donate the standard spec item to habitat. This way it doesn't slow him down from moving forward and you get what you want. I have done this in the past. For a builder it is all about getting finished and when someone starts talking about changing and upgrading during the build it can stop work and mean more work finding the product you want.
Offer to take the work of finding and supplying the parts you want and see what he has to say.
 
Mike_Rupp

Mike_Rupp

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
3,604
0
Mercer Island, WA
kennith said:
Most of that shit is a bunch of plastic nonsense, regardless of price. It's all standardized.

Get something cheap, or go balls the fuck out and make it rain all over some Italian kitchen designer chick. There's no sense swimming in the popular and "premium" price ranges.

My kitchen faucet is a Peerless. It cost eighty bucks, and was built better than the $450 crap on the shelf. Doesn't pull out or anything, though. Find the exotic brands if you want something nice.

Everyone I know with the off the shelf, fancy pull-out crap has either broken it or suffered a part failure not caused by abuse. At the very least, the stuff just feels cheap.

There are some sweet products out there, and given how often people use the things, it's worth springing some serious coin on something that's all metal.

I just found something conventional that was built properly. I'll get something fancy when I get a deeper sink, but I won't be shopping at the hardware store; nor will I be taking the advice of any damned plumber.

I'll buy something with a brand name I can't pronounce, or just have someone make one from scratch. The common selection of faucets and their quality nowadays makes me sick.

Cheers,

Kennith
Click to expand...

The kitchen faucet is the most abused thing in the home. Our house had some goofy faucet that would swivel as well as pull out. It's such a wonderful idea to design complexity into a product that sees that kind of abuse. When our house was about 6 years old, the faucet broke and it flopped over.



I ended up buying this one:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LGMC2S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Hopefully this one will last longer. Most faucets now have a flow reducer. When I first installed the Grohe, it trickled out like a 80yr old taking a leak. I was able to remove the reducer and now it has great pressure.
 
jhk07

jhk07

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2006
619
0
Seymour Indiana
Chapman is right. Delta not a bad faucet at all, and parts just about anywhere. Sounds like he ran PEX to your fixtures (hopefully 1/2"), and at each fixture you should have a stop (valve) for hot and cold. So if you replace the fixtures, you would do that from the stop on up. That's 3/8 standard..... but connection to faucet not so much "standard".
 
chris snell

chris snell

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2005
3,020
152
jhk07 said:
Chapman is right. Delta not a bad faucet at all, and parts just about anywhere. Sounds like he ran PEX to your fixtures (hopefully 1/2"), and at each fixture you should have a stop (valve) for hot and cold. So if you replace the fixtures, you would do that from the stop on up. That's 3/8 standard..... but connection to faucet not so much "standard".
Click to expand...

OK, so I just googled it. Yes, 1/2" PEX looks like the stuff.

Some of the Delta stuff is ok. They actually have a decent kitchen faucet that's close to my style:

http://www.deltafaucet.com/kitchen/details/9159t-dst.html

The bathroom sink faucets, however, are another story. They look like they're designed to match the tastes of retired people who spend their days traveling to dog shows in their RVs.
 
chris snell

chris snell

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2005
3,020
152
A lot of the choices we've been making are with resale in mind. We'll have to move again in another three years and we have to build something that will sell in this market. Looking forward to 2022 when we are finally done with the military moves and can settle down and build a true custom home out west somewhere.
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
chris snell said:
Not a huge fan of the spring-suspended restaurant dishwasher style. We had that in our last place. Here's what I'm thinking:

http://www.us.kohler.com/us/Evoke-s...aucets/426039.htm?skuId=398467&brandId=432437
Click to expand...

That's looks all kinds of tough, but I'd be surprised if the pull out part wasn't cheap feeling and fragile. That's what I see most of the time, and I'm always checking products like that just for kicks. There's no fucking reason they couldn't just cast the piece out of aluminum or brass.

If it's not that, you look underneath to get a view inside and it's just plain junk. There's not enough metal in there for something you're supposed to use that frequently. The same goes for door handles and latches. A really good one makes an impression every time you use it.

A cheaply made one will take the luxury right out of a $30,000 entryway as soon as you touch it.

Whatever you get, just find it somewhere and play around with it beforehand. Get just a bit rough, as well. If it starts to loosen up, really consider whether or not the style is worth the sacrifice, and whether or not it's worth spending a bit more.

Kohler does make some good stuff. I haven't seen that one in person yet.

This sort of thing does make a difference in resale. Solid faucets, door handles, and anything else you frequently touch can really sell an impression of a home. So many people focus on all manner of trendy decorations, landscaping, or appliances; but it's the things we touch many times every day that are universally appreciated.

And that's not all about resale. Just like the buyer, you'll appreciate it too.

Of course, if something seems fine to you, that's great. I just don't like the compromises most people are willing to make for style, when the damned style didn't require compromise in the first place...

Cheers,

Kennith
 
p m

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
15,651
869
58
La Jolla, CA
www.3rj.org
chris snell said:
The bathroom sink faucets, however, are another story. They look like they're designed to match the tastes of retired people who spend their days traveling to dog shows in their RVs.
Click to expand...
ROFL, very true.
But selling the house after shelling money for good bathroom furniture is painful.
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
Mike_Rupp said:
I ended up buying this one:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LGMC2S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you'll be fine. There are many copies of that precise model, though, so you have to watch what you're buying.

Last time my brother visited we were going to buy someone a faucet, and we happened upon one of them. It was good enough for the price, but I just can't look at the things the same again. Every time I let it go, he was laughing.

In his opinion, it looked like a giant dick flopping around. There are some things you just can't un-see. :rofl:

Cheers,

Kennith
 
kennith

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
p m said:
ROFL, very true.
But selling the house after shelling money for good bathroom furniture is painful.
Click to expand...

Ever notice many restaurants seem to go out of their way to use faucets that are aligned perfectly to spray water on your pants?

Cheers,

Kennith
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom