Gas Line and Plumbing Basics

in

I redid a portion of the gas line today. For those of you unfamiliar with plumbing, originally houses were plumbed with threaded galvanized steel pipe for supply lines, cast iron for drain lines (with hubs), and black threaded steel pipe which is basically the same as the water pipes without the galvanized surface which is a crude rust inhibitor. 

Unfortunately, galvanized steel water pipes get rust buildup and eventually become blocked, especially where they are connected to brass, which is what valves are made of. Valves include the shutoff at the meter, the cold water shutoff at the house, the cold shutoff at the water heater, the angle stops under sinks and toilets, and the hot and cold valves of showers, tubs, and faucets. Meaning after 90 years or so (the original house was built 1927-8), the plumbing is useless, due to an electrolytic reaction between the steel pipes and brass valves. Some particles in water have a charge, and brass and steel have different electrochemical reactions with these particles. Rust, or iron oxidization (iron being the vast majority component of steel) is greatly enhanced at the connection of brass and steel. If you have a house before the '50s, you probably have had to replace all or some of your pipes with copper, which never rusts, can be soldered instead of threaded, and gets along well with brass.

Back to gas lines... 

I have already replaced most of the (supply) plumbing with copper, at great effort and expense (more on this later). I now have a pile of galvanized pipes previously used for water that I have taken out. If the rust is cleaned off, I can use these galvanized threaded pipes in the gas line. I can also reuse pieces of the original gas plumbing which is mostly black steel pipe. Remember: you can use any threaded pipe for gas - black steel, galvanized steel or brass. The gas line is at 1/4 PSI so it doesn't have to hold much pressure - the heavy pipe is so that it doesn't get nailed/screwed/sawed through by accident. If you hit a copper water pipe, it's under much more pressure so you would notice nearly immediately the water spraying everywhere but if you had a copper gas line, you could drill through it and not notice until you had a dangerous amount of gas in the house.

The gas line in the house is as follows: 

+the gas comes up from the ground and goes into the gas meter, which is near the water heater in an unfinished lower level of the house, AKA a "California basement". Most CA craftsman homes have a 6-7' "unfinished lower story" which are often converted into crappy illegal lower units. The legal height for a living space is minimum 7.5'. 

+the gas line goes into/under the house from the meter to the water heater, furnace, and then a very long continuous 1" bent pipe goes up to the upper level additions where the have used wall heaters for the new spaces since central heating ducts traveling that far (50'+) is difficult and impractical unless the furnace is moved to a new, more central location and the gas line and ducting is rerouted.

+the gas pipe coming from the meter is 3/4" which is typical for a SFH (one unit). The pipe going to the WH is 1/2" (typical). The pipe going to the furnace is 3/4" because it is old and inefficient. Newer furnaces use 1/2" gas line and are 95-99% efficient. The one in my house looks to be from the '40s and is likely very inefficient (plus asbestos ducting to boot). The furnace is going to need to be replaced. 

+the 1" gas line going up to the two wall heaters is above spec - 3/4" would be fine. Unlike water pipes, gas expands and contracts readily and a 3/4" gas main doesn't mean 3/4"-pipe-worth-of-flow like it would mean for water. Copper pipes have the flow of the smallest restriction. Gas meters are usually 3/4" and then shortly after can bump up to 1" or more (for industrial applications).

+a high output gas range or medium size gas tankless water heater need 3/4" gas lines. If you have much more than a modern-ish efficient furnace, a standard 40 or 50gal water heater, and a (residential-style) gas range and dryer, you probably should jump up to 1" within a foot of the meter.

 

I'm redoing the gas line because

-the house originally had an electric range, which is highly unusual for '27 and a classic Maybeck feature. I want a gas range that fits in the 38-39" spot in the kitchen so I can keep it mostly original, so I got an old Wedgewood from the 40s which is around the time of the last permitted additions.

-most old houses have floppy old gas lines that leak and zig zag all over the place and they need to be redone in a tidy, logical way. Also commercial style gas ranges (Wolf, BlueStar, Thermador, Viking etc.) and tankless hot water heaters, both very much in vogue, necessitate a 1" gas line upgrade over 3/4". Be aware of this cost when choosing these appliances as the cost to redo a gas line can be substantial.

 Above is the gas going left to the old furnace 3/4", below right going upstairs 1", above right going to water heater and meter

 

Above is the gas going left to the old furnace 3/4", below right going upstairs 1", above right going to water heater and meter

Above is the same basic setup but redone with an added gas line for the Wedgewood range. 

Above is the same basic setup but redone with an added gas line for the Wedgewood range. 

Hard to see but I added a 3/4" line for the range at the upper right corner by the cold shutoff, right next to where it goes out to the meter. 

Hard to see but I added a 3/4" line for the range at the upper right corner by the cold shutoff, right next to where it goes out to the meter. 

Old furnac, circa 1940

Old furnac, circa 1940

I capped the gas line headed to the old furnace (top right). The old gas feed is at the top left. I will do the gas line for the furnace when the new one comes. They are substantially smaller and I could move it to the right to make more room to acc…

I capped the gas line headed to the old furnace (top right). The old gas feed is at the top left. I will do the gas line for the furnace when the new one comes. They are substantially smaller and I could move it to the right to make more room to access the "crawl-way" to where the water main comes up under the front deck off the living room.

Note the white ducting - asbestos was used as a great, although poisonous insulator. A natural mineral, it was an additive for duct wrap and used as fireproof asbestos cement ducting and siding (as well as asbestos linoleum floor tiles often in 9" square tiles but you have to test to be sure.)  

3/4" gas line going up

3/4" gas line going up

Popping out behind the range  

Popping out behind the range  

Every appliance and heater - gas range, oven, dryer, wall furnace, central heat - needs a shutoff valve. 

Every appliance and heater - gas range, oven, dryer, wall furnace, central heat - needs a shutoff valve. 

 

For the range, you're supposed to have a long hose so you can pull it out from the cabinets, get behind it to shutoff the gas and disconnect the range if you want to change it out. Code says that it would be lame to shutoff the gas at the main just to change an appliance. Imagine no heat or hot water in the winter while your stove is being repaired. It would be sucky.

Appliances!

in

This past week/weekend Evan did an amazing job finding appliances for the house. On Friday he drove to Concord and picked up a stackable washer & dryer. We will be putting those in the closet below the master closet and hopefully adding a laundry "chute" (more like a trap door in this case)! I am very excited for that bit. Evan carried these past the first entry stairs all by himself on Friday and then on Sunday I helped him move them into the house. Here they are waiting to be taken in. 

laundryappliances

On Saturday we drove to Redwood City to pick up a 32" wide refrigerator that fits perfectly into the original space for a refrigerator. Evan had been thinking about widening that area into the laundry room to allow for a bigger one, but decided this would be best. So instead of widening it sideways, he will be making the space deeper. The original design calls for a counter depth appliance, but this way, there will be more room for storage within the refrigerator. The closet he is taking space away from behind it will still be useable. But as perfect as it is, moving it in was a bit of a pain...

Fairytale

I remember going to the open house at Mountain house fairly clearly; I parked my car, saw too many people also parking and walking towards the house, took one look up at the house and fell in love. A smile instantly formed on my face and stayed put the rest of the day. And then again every time I think about it. And now every time I step foot on the property. Anyways, walking through the house was a mixed bag of feelings. I was bewildered by the beauty of it all, confused by its complicated plan (I have a very good sense of direction and this house did fool me), critical of the structural flaws and irritated by the amount of people also looking at the house. I wanted it to be Evan’s and only Evan’s. As we walked through it, we started our hypothetical plans for what we were going to do with each space. We would obviously redo the linoleum flooring in the kitchen, level out the very crooked dining room, add a clawfoot tub to the master bath, raise the shower heads to an adequate height (I’m 5’-11” and Evan is 6’-3”...), create a kickass music room, disco ball included, and so on. As I left the open house I was thankful to have seen such a space and saddened that I would not see it again… So I thought!


That house had obviously generated a lot of interest and I did not think that Evan would be able to snag it. Not because I did not believe he was capable of doing so, but because of the insane housing market in Oakland these days. It would be the luck of the draw and I do not do too well with disappointment. Nonetheless, the Redfin listing was continuously open on my work computer for the next few weeks; I would look though the pictures about six times a day, maybe more.* Then came the offer day, where the owners were going to look at all the bids at once and make a decision. I was a nervous wreck at work. While eating lunch with coworkers I had my phone on my leg waiting for a message from Evan. As soon as I got one I called him, he did not answer, I started sweating and then he finally called back and told me he had just written a “love letter.” He emailed it to me and I got teary eyed and knew he would get it. This was probably the first time I really felt that. And he did. And then came the longest two weeks of waiting for him to get his keys.

*The pictures may or may not be available anymore, but here's the original listing: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Oakland/1526-Mountain-Blvd-94611/home/1975748

 

Research Unloaded (post is in progress)

Below is the garage that was built before May, 1 1941 as a permit lists it as “Pres. Garage” or something like that. It’s hard to read. The last Rowland and Rowland permit was 1939 but does not include a garage. I believe the 1939 permit was built by Rowland based on a sketch by Maybeck as it has distinct Maybeck features but does not have the depth of design of the original house. The plugged redwood hinges match the front door and the door arch is gothic in shape. The stone facade is similar to a faux stone foundation detail in the music room (from the 1939 addition). The fenced balcony over the garage is very similar to the same type of structure featured in his Wallen house #1, 1933.

image.jpg

The entryway is perpendicular to the street as a way of giving a sense of privacy, I believe. Other Maybecks share this feature. On the left is the music room addition (‘39), with the aforementioned faux stone foundation detail and decorative metal grate.

Something interesting to note is the little birdhouse type feature. The yellow glass can be seen in the steel double casement windows and above and to the left. The yellow pane glass, imported from Belgium for $1.50 a piece, is only featured on the original 1927 house. The additions have steel windows with clear glass. The bathrooms have obscured glass. The black slate you can see in the walkway appears the same as several other Maybecks from the ‘20s. The building permit says the original house had a slate roof. I’m assuming it was this same black slate. I believe the Wallen #1 house has a black slate tile roof.

image.jpg

Though the above picture represents a Mediterranean house and not the Swiss Chalet style, there are some important connections. The steel windows, mini balcony, black slate walkway, side entrance, fireproof materials and Venturi chimney. The stucco above is raw like my Kingsley house and other Maybecks. After the Sep 1923 fire, he became focused on using fireproof materials after many of his creations in the La Loma area burned up, including his own home. He experimented with fireproof materials, most notably he built his own home with burlap sacks dipped in concrete for a type of easy fireproof construction. The house is still considered quite odd by many today and the thin concrete on the sacks would crack and expose the sacks to moisture so they began to decay. To Annie’s ire, he would rip off little samples of the material from the house to give to visitors interested in his experiment. A few years after the sack house experiment, he was building most if not all of his projects out of traditional fireproof materials. He liked to use raw stucco which was unusual as you can see in the above house and the Kingsley house. He had a predilection for materials that were exposed as a way to let nature shine through the house. For roofing, he eschewed the standard cedar shingles (very flammable) or tar and gravel of the time in favor of clay or stone roof tiles. He used clay mediterranean style like above, or black slate, or red terra cotta. The Kingsley house says it was originally a slate roof, then heavy split shakes (rustic cedar shingles) for the next two additions, and finally tar for the last addition. I think this hints at the diminishing guidance he was giving over time. In 1926 he would have been 64, at the peak of his design ardor. He would have designed this house with detailed drawings - he had given up drafting in 1924 in favor of design and getting paid a flat rate for “art work” as he called it. But the design shows all the wonderful attention to detail he was known for. He probably drew every element, down to the hand carved wooden handles to the custom made “electric sconce” light fixtures. For the next two additions, also with V. Rowland, and likely done sequentially because they are very much the same style, he would have been in his seventies and the designs were probably based on loose sketches. I don’t think he designed the light fixtures or fireplace - I would guess he sketched these out and left it up to his friend Rowland to interpret the design as they had worked together for a few years in the late ‘20s.

The orange glass is featured in the front door and back doors. The decorative grill has an Art Deco fish scale design that is repeated in a vent between the stairs going up to the master bedroom and the baseboard area of the master bedroom.

image.jpg

Below you can see the mini “Swiss Chalet” balcony. Maybeck was interested in the Swiss chalet style. A painting of Swiss chalets from ‘26 shows his interest around the time this house would have begun to be designed.

The small board railing with cutout designs can be seen other Maybeck works.

This small garden area has what looks like an old well. It shows Maybeck’s whimsical, old world style.

This is a classic Maybeck living room. Lots of light, tall ceiling, balcony (like the Reid house),  built in corner cabinets, and a board formed concrete chimney with Venturi vent. The chimney was dressed up by 1951, when Rowland came back to the house to visit, he mentioned he liked the way the fireplace had been improved. One of Maybeck’s odd design choices was to always make a board formed concrete fireplace. Some were quite decorative, using an odd “bubble concrete” with air bubbles in it to make the often large concrete hood less heavy. On this average work of his, it could be as simple as a cube hole with a slanted concrete hood. Many people find this off-putting to this day as it seems to clash with the warm, detailed wood trim that it accompanies.

The galley kitchenette features more yellow glass and a small balcony accessed by a door in the window that goes to the floor. The corner cabinet, arched entry, and the position slightly elevated over the living room were classic Maybeck touches featured in another rumored Maybeck, the Reid house. Not show is to the left, originally would’ve sat a large, 40 or so inch electric range, which was a very unusual feature for the time. In 1927, it would’ve been more likely that people would be switching out their old wood stoves for gas rather than electric.

It’s unusual to see an almost untouched Maybeck kitchen (save the vinyl countertop, linoleum floors, and florescent light fixture, and ‘70s electric range), as the kitchens are considered by most too small for modern tastes.

Here is something funny to see…

The breakfast nook, built sometime in the ‘30s has one window, and you can see it was “pushed out” from the area where you enter the nook. Recall the original windows were yellow glass while the additions, done with less care likely by a Maybeck sketch, are plain glass. The wood is pecky redwood. “A poor man’s carvings” he said somewhere (citation?). The roofs for the pecky additions are heavy cedar split shingles. After the fire of ‘23, Maybeck only specified fireproof materials so it’s unlikely he specified this roofing. It was probably done by Rowland as it was the most common roofing shingle of the time, especially for cottage, arts and crafts, or tudor houses. The light fixtures in the additions look off the shelf. Maybeck designed the light fixtures in his best works, as you can see in his neat drawings for the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The light fixtures for the original house were custom made by “Otar - The Lamp Maker” of Santa Cruz.

Here again you can see the pecky redwood, from the other ‘30s addition besides the breakfast nook. Again the glass is clear now. The grand piano seems to be featured in every project Maybeck did in the mid to late 30s. I think it’s more likely it was one of his touches rather than he exclusively worked for piano players during this time. I believe the music room was done in 1939. Maybeck had switched to only drawings, no drafting in 1924. By 1939 he was 77 or 78 and about to retire in ‘40. At this time he has been documenting sketching out little free design sketches for people.

Another grand piano in the Wallen Maybeck house #2

Here you can see an odd feature I assumed was added by someone in the ‘60s - a modern looking clerestory. On the permit it says to be made of “wire glass,” what most would call security glass. More on this later.

The red shelf below is on hinges and a wheel and it rolls open to show a closet!!! So very cool.

The fireplace may have been specified in the sketch by Maybeck but it’s not a Maybeck fireplace. It looks to be made of river rock.

After thinking the clerestory was home-made by some “amateur modernist”, I was shocked to see something like it in the 1940 Aikin house.

Much is in common between the Aikin house and the Kingsley house. Check out the living room too - very similar to the Kingsley house but with copious use of pecky cypress as he seemed to be using a lot of it from 1926-1940, and especially in the late 30s to 40 it appears… those are the original furnishings as well!! See the huge bubble stone board formed concrete hood to the left.

The master bedroom is absolutely delightful. That’s pretty much all you need to say about that. The walk in closet had been altered poorly at some point with another clerestory. It currently has a tarp over it. To the left, a sloped form apparently used to be for a tree branch that traveled through the house.

The master bathroom has what looks to be an original white dal-tile 4&¼” square tile shower. I’m hoping that under the linoleum is red square terra cotta spanish style tiles with Tunisian tile accents like the other two baths. A large, rustic redwood desk sits next to the window. I may have to put an era-correct clawfoot here. Don’t tell BAHA, OK?

Regarding the materials:

Windows of tinted Belgian glass

Walls in studio and dining room made of wood from General Grant Park - Sequoia National Forest

Wrought-iron electrical fixtures by the late “Otar - The Lamp Maker” of Santa Cruz. Figured tile in bath-room from Tunisia

“Original owner Mary Kingsley, Widow of President of Union Trust of NYC” from a letter included in the disclosure documents.

Regarding the small bedroom, it was built by Albert A. Haskell & Sons. John E. Dinvuddie (?) in 1941 and bears no resemblance to the rest of the house. The walls are covered in 4” clap board. I highly doubt Rowland or Maybeck had anything to do with this bedroom. The third bedroom has a lot of wood paneling. It was likely built around the same time as the little bedroom as the roof is shaped to include both. The green slab doors and ceiling look ‘50s to me, as does the master bedroom closet cabinets, which are a similar color and also done without permits. The wood room has a door that matches the other back doors, being 3” thick with orange glass in it, and was probably moved from the area where to bedrooms start, where it would make sense to have a back door, to the wood room opening to a concrete patio that is unlikely original. I haven’t seen any Maybecks with concrete patios.

 

​​

image.jpg