Codes and Laws – What’s the Difference?

Filed under Bathrooms, General Information, Kitchens by on June 8, 2011 at 1:49 pm {no comments}

In the plumbing industry there is a dizzying amount of information to be considered when selecting and installing plumbing fixtures. For the showroom this means that our sales staff must know about issues of quality and style but also must be familiar with codes, laws and regulations (national and local) as well as the fundamentals of installation.

 Something that is consistently confusing to both our staff and customers is the difference between a law and a code. When referring to codes we are typically speaking of requirements outlined in the “Uniform Plumbing Code” (UPC), developed by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO). IAPMO is a member based organization that is focused on increasing public health and safety through developing comprehensive plumbing and mechanical systems throughout the world.

The Plumber Protects the Health of the Nation

The UPC is written for international use but no one is obliged to follow it unless it has been adopted by the local government. Typically a state will adopt the UPC (or one or two others) and local governments (especially large cities) may then amend the adopted code to meet local requirements. For example San Francisco and Los Angeles code requires certain things based on earthquake safety.

It would be too complicated for me to outline which code is applicable in which area and that isn’t really the purpose of this post. The point is that plumbing codes exist to promote public safety and are not legally binding in the sense that you probably aren’t going to get arrested if you install something that is not “code approved”. This is not to say that codes can be ignored. Building owners who have non-compliant work done on their building may be subject to fines or something more serious if some injury were caused. Code enforcement is generally accomplished through the permit process during which building inspectors will review work and judge that it meets the requirements of the prevailing code.

Something that many homeowners do not understand is that the code is open to a certain amount of interpretation; it is up to the inspector to determine if the requirements of the code are being met and this is not always clear. An example from many years ago happened in San Francisco, where it was required that there be a vacuum breaker used if a hand shower was to be placed on a tub deck (to prevent dirty water being sucked up into the clean water supply). This usually meant a separate vacuum breaker installed on the wall but one plumber we worked with realized that a lift diverter integrated into a tub spout would accomplish the same thing. The inspector did not initially agree but after long explanation and demonstration finally realized the plumber was correct and “passed” the installation (this is one of many reasons why working with experienced building professionals is so important).

California Green Building Standards

2011 has brought us the implementation of “CalGreen” the biggest change to the California code in years. CalGreen involves many different areas of building and is aimed at reducing waste of energy and water. This will affect the plumbing industry by increasing conservation requirements for water, specifically by requiring reduced flow rates in faucets and limiting water output in showers. This will mean no more multi-outlet (carwash) showers in homes affected by CalGreen codes.

The challenge we are facing is that it is not 100% clear yet where (and how) CalGreen will be enforced. We know that it will apply to commercial building and new construction but are not clear how remodeling projects will be affected. Different municipalities and inspectors may interpret CalGreen in various ways and these interpretations may change over time.

Another and lesser known function of IAMPO is product certification. An inspector may require a contractor to provide the “IAMPO listing” for products installed on a job. In order to receive IAPMO approval a product must go through a rigorous process of testing for compliance with IAMPO standards and codes. Having a product that

IAMPO R&T logo

 is “IAMPO Listed” or “UPC Approved” is an indication that it is fit to do the job it is intended for. In this age of Internet sales and importation, IAMPO approval offers consumers one good way to judge product suitability.

Plumbing codes are designed to protect the health and safety of the public by developing comprehensive plumbing systems throughout the world. Codes are important but are not the only regulations that affect the plumbing industry. In my next post I will discuss some local and national laws that influence our industry.

Warranties, Lifetime and Other – What do They Mean?

Filed under General Information, Thoughts on Buying by on April 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm {no comments}

Warranties can be confusing things. In the plumbing industry “Lifetime” warranties have become fairly common and products may boost of such warranties as a way of establishing value. As with so many things it’s the details that make the difference.

A lifetime warranty may read something like this “A Limited Lifetime Warranty is provided on all mechanical parts to be free from manufacturing defects in material and workmanship under normal use for as long as the original purchaser owns their home” (from Grohe America). That is fine but what does it mean?

BainUltra 20 Year Warranty

First let’s look at the part that says “…manufacturing defects in material and workmanship under normal use…”  Sounds clear right? But what does the word “defect” mean? How is it different from damage or mis-use? Typically a defect happens in the manufacturing process rather than something that happens in the field. So, for example, a faucet that comes out of the factory with a dent in the spout is defective. A sink with a deformed drain opening is defective. A pull-out spray hose that collapses and cuts off the flow of water is defective. In all these cases it was either something that happened in production (a dent or poor machining) or a material failure (collapsed hose) that caused the problem.

Now let’s say you purchase a toilet, take it home and open the box to find the bowl cracked. Is that a defect? I would say no, that is damage; could have happened in the truck from the factory or in the warehouse or in the consumer’s car. Even so, I feel confident in saying that most stores would replace it at no charge. But what if you waited two months before you discovered the problem; will the store still replace it? Maybe, but after two months a store may say that it has been out of their hands for too long, that it is damage and you must purchase a new one (after all they don’t know how many times it has been moved around or how it was stored).***

On the other hand what if you got a stainless sink and discovered that the mounting hardware had been poorly packed and had been loose and scratched up the sink in transit? I would say that was a defect because the workmanship of the packaging was not sufficient to protect the product. In other words a defect usually traces back to either a problem with the materials or the workmanship during production and not with the way the product was handled after leaving the factory.

Notice the warranty language also refers to “for as long as the original purchaser owns their home”. Manufactures have gotten stricter about this in the last few years by requiring one to have an original receipt to obtain warranty service. Something to keep in mid when filing receipts.

So now you know a little bit about “defects” but there is a lot more you need to know about warranties. When someone says there is a lifetime warranty, and even if they show you language like what I have quoted here you should still ask a couple of questions. Specifically, is that the complete warranty, who do I contact if I have a problem and what does the manufacturer do to correct a defect? In the next couple of posts I will talk about warranty terms and conditions, how to get warranty service and how defective product is handled by various manufacturers.

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***In addition, if this item was shipped from a remote vendor it may be deemed freight damage for which you will need to make a claim with the shipping company.

Why Buy from a Plumbing Showroom?

Filed under General Information, Thoughts on Buying by on October 11, 2010 at 2:16 pm {no comments}

It seems that every few years I find myself shopping for a new computer and it is something I face with a mixture of dread and anticipation. Except for the admitted drudgery of downloading to the new machine having a new computer is neat. More features, more speed, better visual, just lots of new stuff to enjoy. But I don’t get to that part until I actually buy the new machine and it is the buying process that I dread.

 You see I don’t really understand computers all that well. I understand the very basic stuff and there are some functions I know I need but when it comes to comparing features I don’t feel well equipped to evaluate and compare. I don’t know enough to predict how features may interact and so I don’t always have the confidence I’d like when making the decision to buy an expensive piece of equipment.

 In today’s economy I think many of us are feeling very cautious about make big spending decisions. Money is not to be wasted. Today we consumers have more options about where to buy AND are much more educated, thanks to the Internet.  There is a huge amount of information online and search engines like Google have made finding it relatively easy. When I searched I got some good basic information about selecting a computer but I was still uncertain about what was best. I read reviews and comparisons which helped but were limited because these comparisons couldn’t tell me why one feature might be useful for me or another not so useful. What I really wanted was someone who knew the products and had experience and so could advise me what would work best for MY needs.

In the end I bought a computer over the phone from a company that had an employee discount program with my employer at the time. I didn’t buy so much for the discount but because I hadn’t found anyone better to help me. It turned out OK but there are a couple of things that don’t perform well for the work I do. Not the end of the world, just annoying. Everything was done over the phone or online but I don’t think that was the problem.  I think it was that the salesperson helping me basically said “look at the list of features and tell me what you want” instead of “ tell me how you use your computer and what you need to do and I will help you decide which features are best for you”. It’s an important difference.

 I imagine that people shopping for home improvement products are in a situation similar to what I faced buying a computer. They know where they want to end up but not exactly how to get there. It’s not just that buying the wrong thing can be an expensive mistake. It’s the frustration of  having to live with the wrong thing annoying us instead of enjoying what we wanted.

The purpose of a showroom like ours is to help you to not pick the wrong thing. We work with the “tell me what you want to have or need to do and I will help you find the best way to do it” method. If this sounds like what you’re looking for please visit us soon. We’d love to meet you!

Professional Installation is SO Important

Filed under Bathrooms, General Information, Thoughts on Buying by on July 29, 2010 at 11:27 am {no comments}

This last weekend I went down to LA to help some friends of mine move into their newly remodeled home. I had worked with them to select the new plumbing products so this was a chance to see products installed and working in someone’s home.

 This was a very extensive remodel; actually all that remains of the original house is one bathroom and the living room. The original house was old with arched doorways, coved ceilings and period lighting. The kitchen was pretty small and included an antique gas stove with four burners so close together that pan handles crossed each other when all burners were in use. The bathrooms had antique fixtures including old, old toilets and faucets that just couldn’t be repaired again. The tile was beautifully done but had been damaged and cracked over the years.

 A new Master bath and a second children’s bath were built upstairs.  They selected

Kensington Lav Faucet

 Grohe products for both bathrooms.  For the Master bath they selected Grohe Kensington in Brushed Nickel with twin lavatory sinks, deck tub set with hand shower and a custom shower with body sprays, hand shower and rain head from the ceiling. Their daughters bath used Grohe Europlus in chrome and included a ceiling mount rain head and hand shower on a bar.

 I started in the children’s bath. I turned on the water and set the diverter to hand shower. At first it worked fine then quickly the flow decreased until it was just a weak spray. Not good, but after a moment I realized what the problem might be. I removed the hand

Grohe Euphoria Hand Shower

shower from the hose and found a thick layer of debris lodged in the filter screen on the hand shower. I cleaned it off and ran the water for a minute with just the hose to clear the line of remaining construction debris before replacing the hand shower, which then worked fine.  This is a common problem in a remodel or new construction project. All sorts of fine debris gets  into the new water lines and if the plumber does not run the lines open to clear this stuff it will clog or damage the new faucets.  The result is that a home owner, not realizing what has happened, now thinks that they have defective product!

 I moved on to the Master Bath shower. Something struck me as odd but I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. This shower had both a ceiling mount shower head and a hand shower.

Grohe Ceiling Mount Rain Shower

 Code typically requires a vacuum breaker be installed with a hand shower to prevent grey water from getting into the water supply. These vacuum breakers are small with male/female threads on opposite ends. The problem here is that the plumber had installed the vacuum breaker on the ceiling shower arm instead of the hand shower! I turned the water on and water came spraying out of the top of the shower head at the connection between it and this mis-installed vacuum breaker. I was astonished.  How could he leave this as a finished installation when water was spraying everywhere?

 This shower is set-up with a thermostatic valve and volume controls. This allows the bather to use any combination of outlets they wish. Because thermostatic valves respond to water temperature rather than incoming volume of the hot and cold lines it is necessary to calibrate the valve before it is used. If the calibration is not done the thermostat is unable to control temperature. It is specified in the directions but inexperienced installers often miss this step. So it was not surprising to find that the calibration had been missed and this valve was producing only lukewarm water.

 Fortunately, none of these problems are difficult to fix and the vast majority of work done in this remodel is beautiful. It is a good example of the importance of working with experienced professionals who are right for your job. The plumbers on this job were experienced at installing rough plumbing and basic finish work. But they had very little experience with high quality product and didn’t understand many of the details involved. They made errors that finish plumbers would not make and now have to fix things that should never have been wrong in the first place.

 It also helps to work with a professional when you purchase material. It can save a lot of time and money to have someone knowledgeable to call when an unexpected problem pops up. A plumber who does not know that a thermostatic valve must be calibrated won’t have any idea why it isn’t working right. But a showroom associate will.

 Even with these few mistakes the installation was beautiful. The overhead shower was luxurious (although I was glad there was an additional hand shower to use when I didn’t

Ladylux Pro Main

 want to get my hair wet). The arched spout on the Grohe Kensington lavatory faucets are a perfect reach for the under mount sinks.  In the kitchen they installed Grohe Ladylux Pro faucets paired with under mount stainless sinks by Oliveri. The Ladylux Pro is a new style dual spray with a smaller spray head. I was curious to see if this smaller spray was functional and I found it performed very well. All in all a very successful remodel.

Is value priced stainless for real? (Part Two)

Filed under Kitchens by on May 7, 2010 at 4:29 pm {no comments}

As I discussed in my previous post, we have discovered that some of the stainless sinks being sold today may not be all they are advertised to be. We tested one and found that it didn’t really measure up to the typical standards that we use to judge quality stainless: sound quality, finish, bowl dimensions, gauge and steel type.

 These characteristics are useful as shorthand to describe quality but really don’t tell the whole story. They say a little about materials and less about fabrication, the most important part of making a sink.

 For example, steel type and gauge describe the sheet of steel prior to fabrication. Most sinks are described as being type 304 steel meaning it must have a minimum of 18% chromium and 8% nickel and no more than .08% carbon. But that alone does not tell you what other components are used or how the steel was mixed. If contaminants (called inclusions) are allowed to get into the steel they can cause defects after the sink is in use.

Better manufacturers use steel that is ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) or CSA certified.  Such certification indicates that the steel maker is complying with specific standards for the manufacturing process.

 Gauge is another measurement that can be deceptive because again it refers to the sheet of steel before fabrication. When steel is drawn into a sink the sheet is stretched and if not done properly the result can be walls that are thin and uneven. (I think this was the case in the sink we tested). Weak spots will be prone to dents or other damage.

 Sound quality, finish and bowl dimensions should be easier to judge but unless you know what to look for you can miss important details. Finish can be especially difficult; all brushed finishes are not created equal. To be effective the finish must be worked into the sink, a surface brushing will do little more than look nice when new but will scratch easily and may be difficult to clean. When looking at bowl dimension you want to consider wall to wall but also corner radius and slope of the sides and floor. Sloping the sides and bottom allow for cheaper manufacturing but reduces interior bowl space. Effective sound proofing requires more than a coat of paint.

 There are a number of things to look at when selecting a stainless sink. Top quality stainless is expensive so don’t be fooled into thinking you are getting something “just as good for half the price”. Look for certifications from ASME, CSA, IAPMO and UPC which are good indicators that manufacturers are meeting certain standards. The less information a vendor provides about a product the more likely it is that you are getting less than you deserve. There are variables that can make a big difference in price; a knowledgeable showroom associate can explain these differences clearly so you can make the best decision.

Is value priced stainless for real? (Part One)

Filed under Kitchens by on May 5, 2010 at 9:17 am {2 comments}

A few years ago a number of new stainless steel sink lines began appearing on the market claiming to be of the same quality as the major brands but for half the price. It was an amazing claim and I wondered if it could really be true. I recently ordered one of these low priced sinks so we could have a first hand look at it.

The sink I ordered was described as being 18 gauge, premium type 304 stainless with scratch resistant finish and sound baffling. It was an under mount 1-3/4 style bowl configuration, 9” deep.

The sink arrived and when I opened the box the first thing I noticed was a strong chemical smell. The smell remained for several days so I contacted the local rep and arranged to have a second sink sent. When that arrived a few days later I opened it and found the exact same smell wafting from the contents. I contacted the company again and a third sink was sent, this time a 16g model. It had the same smell. I decided perhaps the smell would go away in time so I placed the sink into our kitchen display to air out.

My idea in getting this sink was to evaluate it based on sound quality, finish, interior bowl dimensions, gauge (or thickness) of construction and steel type to see how it stacked up against the other stainless sinks. Here is what we found:

  • To test sound quality we simply knocked on the side of the sink with our knuckles. This test elicited a hollow tinny sound from the new sink instead of the solid thump that our other sinks had.
  • The finish was brushed but it was a light abrasion of the surface and not the deep working of the steel that produces a really corrosion resistant finish.
  • The interior revealed 3” radius corners. This means the corners are open curves (rather than tight corners) resulting in a smaller interior bowl space.
  • To test the gauge we tried pushing on the walls of the sink and found that we could flex the sides, especially at the divider. We could not do this with major brand name sinks.
  • I wasn’t sure how we could test to see if the sink was type 304 until someone suggested we try using a magnet. We did and it stuck solidly to the side of the sink. Type 304 steel is not magnetic.

What’s going on here? Is this sink being advertised to be something that it is not? Or is it a careful use of marketing? In fact I believe the description used for this sink is mostly true but missing some important facts which I will detail in part two of this post.

Buying Plumbing Fixtures

Filed under Thoughts on Buying by on April 2, 2010 at 1:16 pm {2 comments}

There are a few common ways that consumers shop for new plumbing fixtures: a local “big box” store, a plumbing showroom, online vendors or through their plumber. Which way is best?

Let’s start with the “big box” stores (Home Depot, Lowes and such). These stores typically offer low prices and the opportunity to find the material in stock the day you want it. By limiting the number of brands and models they are able to keep prices low; in some cases they offer a competitive “house” brand. Many manufacturers create somewhat lower quality product for distribution only through these home centers, which allows them to offer product at a lower price with a recognized brand name. For example, I know of a hardware manufacturer which produces forged brass product for their main line and a forged product for their home center line that is made of a zinc alloy instead of brass. It looks good new but does not have the strength or durability of their main line.

If you are remodeling or building new, your contractor (or plumber) may include a list of fixtures as part of his quote. If you are primarily concerned with getting something functional and are less concerned with appearance this may be the best way to go. The fixtures are likely to be fairly basic and from a major brand like Moen or Delta. One plus is that, in many cases, the plumber may offer an additional warranty if he is supplying the products. The downside is that you may have little say in what you get.

The showroom is the place for people who want more choice and good information on which to make their selections. You will have the opportunity to see a lot of product “in the flesh” and may even be able to test faucets or showerheads before you buy. The showroom’s greatest assets are expert sales people who can guide you to the best options for your project; drawing on their experience good sales people help you identify what products best meet your needs and help you avoid pitfalls (like selecting a faucet with a spout too short to reach into the sink). They can also help you match you design ideals to your budget because they know where money can be saved without a big sacrifice of style or quality. Most showrooms will also help with parts and warranties when needed.

There is a little more to think about when buying plumbing on the Internet. Certainly there are huge numbers of product choices and one can usually find very competitive prices. Many online stores provide a lot of information in the form of pictures, written descriptions, technical drawings and online reviews; so if you have the time you can learn a lot. The Internet is great at providing information but requires that you work through a lot to find what you need. Successful online purchasing requires an investment of time, both in researching what to buy and, potentially, taking care of any issues of installation or warranty after purchase. If you have the time and inclination then the Internet may be for you.

In summary I would say this. Home centers generally offer low price and moderate quality. Using contractor provided product is generally moderate quality and good service with little design. A showroom will offer you a wide choice of product, price and quality along with in-person service. The Internet has lots of choice and good pricing but requires more work by the consumer. Which is best for you?

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