Part Eight
Old Pipes, New Work
Every house is a record of the people who worked on it, and most of that record is out of sight. This last part is about reading that record and adding to it with care. We start with the pipes themselves: what the common kinds look like, how a magnet and a flashlight can tell them apart, and what to expect from an old house. Then we come to remodels, when walls stand open and decisions come cheapest, and to permits, which differ from one town to the next. The part closes with the plumber, because a good many of the jobs in this book end with a call to one. There is a right way to choose and to work with that person.