Your Home Improvements
Robert,
I live in a four story condo complex that is approximately 25 years old.
We recently has some gas issues and had eight lines redone. They put in some metal hangars that you can see in the photos, with long bolts.
The rest of the Board of Directors has seen these hangars and are of the mindset that we should add these same hangars throughout the rest of the garage, changing the existing hangars out. I sent photos of these areas, also.
I don’t feel the need for this change and the expense that will go with it, but they believe that these new hangars would be more secure especially in the event of an earthquake.
It looks like you’ll be the tiebreaker on this. Can you please let us know which you know to be better if either, and why? If we do go with the newer hangars, do we then have to follow the newer codes? -Tom K.
Tom,
What you currently have on your new pipes is called Unistrut, suspended on what we call All thread which, is nothing but threaded rod.
The way that this is mounted into the podium slab, which is the ceiling of your garage, is that they core the area, epoxy a piece of thread that they’ve put a coupling on, add additional thread and then add the Unistrut.
They then put on a clamp to hold the gas lines to the Unistrut. The All thread will still flex from side to side, so don’t think that this is rigid and can’t flex.
You are grandfathered in, this is not a change that you need to make but if you’d prefer to add a Unistrut every 15-20 feet, this wouldn’t hurt. With regard to the codes, the answer is ‘No’ because all you’d be doing is reinforcing what has already been grandfathered in.
Personally it looks like your spacing is good and I don’t think I’d go to the expense of this. Your podium slab is likely about 16-inches thick and the likelihood of this moving and causing issues with your lines is low.
All in all, my recommendation would be to put your funds into a more useful upgrade or maintenance; something that is sure to make a difference in the property or in cost savings overall.
Robert,
I’ve sent some pictures to you of my home in Canyon Country. I’m a widow, elderly and on a fixed income.
About six years ago I had new windows put on my home and I was never told that these would need maintenance. There’s nothing in the contract and when I called the installer back, he said that he did in fact tell me they’d need maintenance because they are retrofit.
Had I known all of this, I would have never had these put in because I wanted to put new windows in and not have to worry again in my lifetime.
Now two out of the six are leaking and he’s asking for money to come back out and pull the framing, and reseal them.
Do I have any recourse in this instance? I really don’t want to hand this guy more money. Is there anything that I can do or do you have a recommendation of someone else that I can call? -Jeannie S.
Jeannie,
Unfortunately retrofit windows do need maintenance, more so depending on the product used to seal the windows. Standard caulking will fail more prematurely than if a urethane based product is used.
I’m not sure what was used on your home, but if the windows are leaking then now is the time to have all of them resealed, prior to any major potential leaking during the upcoming winter months.
I personally have never installed one of these and I hope that I never need to because they always will need maintenance, and I don’t believe in them. I see failure on these more often than not, and so much of it has to do with either improper install, or lack of maintenance.
Most folks believe, like you, that this is a onetime thing where they can install and forget about it, not realizing that they will need to spend more over the years, on maintenance.
The true savings is in doing the nail-on windows and the stucco or siding repairs, this is where you can do it once, do it right, then forget about it.
Essentially Jeannie, you don’t have much to go on here, and trying could end up costing you more.
I’ll send you a recommendation of someone who can remove and reseal these at the best price, locally.
I recommend you doing all of them prior to the rains, and though it’s an expense now, it’ll be worth saving on any potential water damage with the upcoming rainy season. If it’s anything like last winter - if there are wind-driven rains and any type of void in the seal on these windows, you’re looking at some potentially serious interior damage. Good luck to you, Jeannie.