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January 28, 2008

Dirty Old Odors

Q: Hello, Ed. We bought an older home that was neglected and filthy. We had the entire house professionally exterminated, disinfected and scrubbed clean. This has made a world of difference, but the bathroom still has a urine odor that will not go away. This is one stinky problem. Any ideas on what we can try next? Jane (New England)

A: Well, Jane, I hope you got a good deal on your home, considering all the effort you have put into it to make it a nice, clean environment. Urine odors in a bathroom are many times caused by the obvious culprit, the old unclean toilet. It doesn't matter how many time you clean it; there are gaps and spaces in toilets that odors can hide and never go away, most notably the space between the bowl and tank and under the toilet base itself.

I recommend removing the old toilet, then cleaning and disinfecting the area under and around the toilet, including the water line, back wall, any heating radiators and the floor flange. Once a brand new toilet and seat is installed and the hard-to-reach areas cleaned, your nose may notice a new change in your bathroom: the smell of success!

Posted by Ed Del Grande at 11:29 AM | Comments (15)

Shower to Tub: Harder than You'd Think

Q: Good day, Ed, I'm a new fan of yours! I discovered your column while researching "Frogs in toilets" (happened to me recently), and I thought you might be able to help me with another question.

Our main bathroom has a large tiled shower stall that we would love to tear out and replace with a tub for our kids to use. The drain is located in the middle of the shower and the mixing valve and shower head are located on an inside wall with access through a closet in the adjoining room. Since we have access to the plumbing, will this be a big job? We are unsure of spending a lot of money on this. Kristy (California)

A: Hi, Kristy. I did a series of columns not long ago about critters we may find in our toilets. As you found out, it's not that uncommon for creatures like tree frogs to jump down your roof plumbing vents and end up swimming in your toilet! Anyway, lets hop back to your question.

I get a lot of questions from homeowners with bathtubs and they want to install a shower stall. I also get questions from homeowners with shower stalls who want a bathtub. As with many things in life, it seems that we all want what we don't have! Nowadays, it's a moderate to easy job to switch out a bathtub for a shower stall, since many manufactures make a 5-foot shower base that should line up with an existing tub's water and drain lines. Many baby-boomer home owners are removing the tub for a low profile shower base to avoid climbing over a tub wall every time they want to get in and out of the shower.

However, in your case you want to remove the shower stall for a bathtub, and this usually does turn into a major project. The main reason that shower stalls are around 3 feet long and standard tubs (as I mentioned) are 5 feet long. Even if you have access to the old plumbing and the extra room to install a bathtub, this is still a very big job. The old shower stall walls and floor will have to be removed, the plumbing drain and water lines will have to be re-piped to fit the tub, and the new tub will have to be framed in and the five foot enclosure built around it.

In my opinion, you would be better off gutting out and remodeling the entire bathroom. As you said, you would like the bathtub for your children, so remodeling will allow you to make other updates and kid-friendly changes to the bathroom. This will give you a better return for your money. Bottom line, if you're going to go for it, I recommend spending a little extra money and going all the way, or don't go at all.

Just like the frog that jumped down your roof plumbing vent, sometimes you just have to close your eyes and take that "leap of faith!"

Posted by Ed Del Grande at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2008

Toilet Bowl Blues

Q: Dear Ed, I hope you can help me. I have a brand new toilet, and since I was going away for a few months, I put a cleaner in the tank to keep the toilet fresh. Well, when I returned there was a blue line around the inside of the bowl at the water line. I could not clean it off with anything. So I used a pumice stone that did clean it after a lot of scraping. Well, now it's worse because the pumice stone left a rough circle in the bowl that the blue cleaner has now adhered to permanently. I'm embarrassed, it just looks awful. What can I do to fix this? Rose (Florida)

A: I'm sorry, Rose, but as soon as I read that you used a pumice stone to clean your toilet, I screamed out loud. Please don't beat yourself up over this; I can tell you are a nice, neat person who just wanted to make her new toilet look clean and pretty. But it sounds like your new toilet is trashed.

Believe it or not, most toilets are made out of china, just like a fine set of dinner plates. Now, picture washing your fine china cups and plates with a pumice stone.,What do you think would happen? Chances are the entire dinner set would have to be thrown out because of scratches and rough appearance. Also, once the protective glaze is removed, the clay-based materials can be stained permanently and you'll need to look for new china.

That is what has happened to the inside of your toilet bowl. I know of no way to repair your toilet, and I recommend replacing it. But chances are you have a two-piece toilet that consists of a tank and a bowl. The good news is that your plumber should be able to reuse the existing tank and accessories, and locate a new china bowl that matches your toilet. This will save you some money, so all is not lost.

It is said that everything in life is a lesson, and everyone should learn from Rose's experience: Never leave cleaners in an unused toilet for a long period of time, and washing a toilet with a stone can send you down a rocky road searching for china!

Posted by Ed Del Grande at 12:58 AM | Comments (22)

Toilet Bowl Blues, Part II

Q: Hi, Ed. We have a spare bathroom in the basement that we recently gutted out. Our problem is that we found the center of the toilet drain only 10-1/2 inches from the wall. The toilet that we purchased from the home center is the standard 12-inch from wall to toilet drain center. It appears that a standard toilet is not going to fit; is there a nonstandard toilet available? We already threw out the old toilet, so we cannot compare it to the new one. We don't want to jack hammer the concrete floor to move the drain, so any other suggestion will be a big help to us. Thanks! Karen (Pennsylvania)

A: Well, Karen, I have good news for your toilet dilemma. Yes, special order toilets are usually available for odd toilet drains like yours. You are correct that the standard rough-in measurements for a toilet drain is 12 inches from the center of the drain to the back wall. However, because of obstructions or mistakes, sometimes the toilet drain rough-in measurements can be off by a couple inches. Because of that, many manufactures offer 10-inch- and 14-inch-rough toilets along with the standard 12-inch-rough toilets.

You may or may not be able to return your new 12-inch toilet, since some dealers will not take any returns on toilets. (Nobody I know will take back a used toilet, but some people still try!) But the good news is that you should be able to order a new 10-inch toilet that can fit your 10-1/2-inch drain, giving you a little room to spare in your spare bathroom.

Posted by Ed Del Grande at 12:19 AM | Comments (3)

January 14, 2008

Fuel for thought

Here we are right in the middle of another winter, and as expected, most of the questions I have been receiving lately have been about home heating. Since I grew up in a family heating and plumbing business, it seems like I've been fixing heating problems and answering questions about heating systems my entire life. In doing so, I modestly have to say I've become somewhat of an expert on the subject of heating, complete with a Master Pipefitter license to back me up.

But a strange thing happens to a person who becomes an expert in their field: You tend to assume that everyone you deal with knows the basics of your business. What a teacher may consider basic information that may not be worth mentioning can be valuable information to someone who wants to learn. If you lose that perspective and overlook the simple stuff, you have done a disservice to all.

With that in mind, when I wrote my book Ed Del Grande's House Call, I included a lot of very basic information that all homeowners should know. But you may notice that many of my topics are seldom discussed by home improvement experts. For instance, here's an excerpt from my book on heating fuels and the difference between "Natural" and "Propane" gas. See if you're up to speed on the type of gas that you may have in your own home.

Natural gas: As the name says, it's a gas extracted from the earth and refined for residential or commercial applications. It's used in the form of a light gas, but massive amounts can be transported to storage facilities in the form of a liquid called LNG (liquefied natural gas). It's a very clean-burning, efficient fuel that is basically oderless and colorless, but a strong oderant is added to natural gas so leaks can be identified. Most people don't even realize that the "rotten-egg" smell isn't natural gas's natural smell at all; it's put there by the gas company.

In populated areas natural gas can be connected to individual homes by means of an underground gas-pipeline system. Each home on the pipeline has its own gas meter to record the amount of natural gas used. Because of the direct hook-up to a utility gas pipeline system, no scheduled fuel deliveries are ever needed. Natural gas is always there for you!

Propane gas: Called LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) for short, this can be thought of as natural gas's country cousin. Propane gas is produced in part from natural-gas processing along with crude-oil refining. A lot of the same characteristics of natural gas are also found in propane gas. The added odor, clean burnin, and ease of distribution are just a few of the shared advantages of both fuels.

However, propane is used mainly in rural areas that natural gas underground pipelines do not service. Since propane is not supplied to a home through a natural-gas utility pipeline system, a large propane-storage tank is usually set up on location and connected to the home with an individual pipeline. The propane gas or LPG is then delivered by truck. and the tank filled regularly by a propane-gas company.

Ed's Tip: Remember, natural and propane gasses require heating equipment and appliances made for their exact fuel. Gas regulators and burners marked either for LPG propane or natural gas must be used with that gas only. Always consult a licensed pipefitter with questions so you can pass gas safely at your home!

Posted by Ed Del Grande at 12:29 AM | Comments (2)

January 7, 2008

Something Smells in the Bathroom

Often we have questions that strike a nerve with people across the country, producing a lot of passionate responses from our readers. A little while back my articles on "critters we find in our toilets" produced hundreds of responses from our readers who wanted to share their experiences of unwanted bathroom guests with us. This was a very funny subject, and we all got some good laughs from the stories we selected for the articles.

Another column has generated a similar response from our readers, but this time the subject is not as funny. It also underlines the potential shortage of fresh clean water we may face if we all don't start conserving this precious resource. The question that started all this was about smelly shower water. I explained to the reader that before you can address this problem, you need to figure out if the odors are coming from the drain lines or the water lines.

Overwhelmingly the responses came in to tell me that they had similar problems and it turned out to be the house water system, not the drains, that created the foul odors. They wanted to share what they found in their own house and hopefully it could help others. Before I get into some of the great information that came in, please note that it's a good idea to have your water tested on a regular basis and if you smell, see or suspect anything wrong with your water, have it tested right away before you continue to use it for drinking and bathing. Also, keep in mind that the following information is from our readers. Every home is different and problems need to be addressed by a licensed plumber in your area.

Okay, now that we have that clear, let's get back to the cloudy, smelly shower water. Overwhelmingly, the readers agree that the main cause for their smelly water has been from water systems that contain high amounts of sulfur. Testing confirmed that, and to top it off they said that their plumbers also found that in many cases the sulfur in the water was reacting with galvanized water lines and/or magnesium anode rods in the water heater. This reaction seemed to intensify the sulfur odor, which sometimes can create a "rotten egg" smell.

Professional water treating companies can install water-softening systems and carbon filters that can greatly help the quality of your water. Plumbers can change the old water lines, anode rod or water heater. Well companies can also address and treat wells for better water quality.

Ether way this is a job for the pros, but because of all the letters and information you all sent, a smelly water problem may now be a lot easier to pinpoint and fix. That good news will be a breath of fresh air for many homeowners!

Ed Del Grande was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at
eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.