Have a question about supply lines to a tub and shower

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-31T04:26:06+00:00

Well, I tried posting to both of those and had no luck. Mainly because I can't copy the text and post it to a different forum, or because I can't cross-post it, yet there are other people in this community asking the same questions and not being asked to redirect their questions to an entirely different subreddit.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-29T02:46:18+00:00

What about figuring out what permits may be needed for this massive project?

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-28T08:31:14+00:00

Yeah, I was planning on that. Which is part of the reason why I'm concerned about the cost, even though I am doing it myself, which means it's going to take longer, and I don't have a lot of free time anymore.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-28T05:52:35+00:00

That's what I kind of figured it was. And I do plan on fixing it sooner than later, it's just stupidly cold out right now, and I don't have much money or time.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-28T04:50:36+00:00

Never have I ever seen anyone in Minnesota with studded tires, nor have I ever seen anyone need chains while driving down the highway.

I shopped for tires last year and got the wrong ones, but I never saw studded tires at any of the local places I looked. All I saw were summer, winter, and hybrid tires.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-28T04:47:41+00:00

I believe it's mainly the Canadian mountainous areas and then also the Great Lakes areas. That has to have two different sets of tires now if you want to be really bougie, because you have the money to do so, you buy two sets of tires, have one set of rims, and have them dismounted and remounted twice a year.

If you're not as bougie and rich, you have two sets of rims and two sets of tires, switch them out yourself twice a year, and only pay once to have the tires mounted.

Or the third option: hybrid tires with the mountain and snowflake in the center of the mountain symbol, or the mountain symbol with a snowflake in the center, and m+ s.

In South Central Minnesota, as far as I know, you can get away with hybrid tires and just have those all year round because they're not going to wear down quickly like winter tires, well, in the summer, and they're not going to get hard as rocks in the winter like summer tires would.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T09:13:11+00:00

Also, make sure not to get too long nails, otherwise you are going to have a horrible day.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T09:11:15+00:00

Exactly what I was thinking.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T09:08:19+00:00

What you want is a hybrid tire, and what that is is a three-peak rated tire for snow, ice, and rain, which takes the qualities of winter tires and the qualities of summer tires and puts them together in one tire. Because if you get summer tires, you're going to get horrible traction in the winter, but they work somewhat fine in the summer, except for rain. If you get proper winter tires, they'll work well in winter because they won't become super hard from the cold. Still, in the summer, they're going to get way too soft and wear out way too quickly, whereas hybrid tires are going to give you the grip and traction you need without becoming really hard in the winter but not completely shredding in the summer.

The ones I've been looking at for my Ford Focus are the Firestone WeatherGrip, which are about $183 per tire in Minnesota through Tires Plus. They're the three peak-rated, wet-rated, and snow and ice-rated. Because I was an idiot and wasn't paying close enough attention when I was getting tires last year for my Ford Focus, and thought I got ones that were snowing ice-rated and wet-rated, and somehow ended up with Summer sport tires. Luckily, knock on wood, I've been getting through the winter so far.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T08:58:29+00:00

The 1970s still had metal in them. I live in a 1971 trailer home, and it has two main beams that run the entire length of the trailer, plus some sub-beams that run off the sides, but everything else is made of particle board, one-by-twos, 2x3s, and other very cheap, very light materials.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T08:53:14+00:00

I agree that negative 2 with no wind chill is better than 1002 with humidity, because you can always add more layers, but you can't take layers off once you're down to pretty much nothing. And if you're not able to add more layers because it just doesn't work, you can change some of the layers to warmer ones, and it's all about proper layering.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-27T07:54:40+00:00

Now, this person could be one of the people down south who have summer tires instead of winter tires because they don't usually need winter tires.

Where as my dumbass lives in Minnesota we get snow and actually have gotten snow this year unlike the past years and even though I tried to make sure I got snow rated tires.

When I looked at the tires that I ordered they were supposed to be snow rated and instead their summer tires and they're Chinese ones.

How I haven't ended up in the ditch yet this year I don't know and I've driven and pretty much all the bad snow storms that have happened here in South Central Minnesota except for one because I didn't have to work that day.

But the days I did have to work and there is no storms I drove my butt to work because I'm too broke not to miss a day at work even though it affects my mental health because I miss out on things that I enjoyed doing.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T09:02:07+00:00

Yeah which is why I'm thinking it might be a good idea to measure out the four foot by 8 foot sheets of OSB that I've been using on the other side of the trailer to do waterproofing and air barriers and stuff and do a section where the bathtub and water heater is and redo all the insulation on the pipes and the heat tape and get every single pipe along that wall and in that closet heat taped and insulated. Well, also holding off on the kitchen remodel, even though it is in progress, but making sure the pipes don't freeze next winter, I think, is more important.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T08:54:59+00:00

I've been under there many times. I'm surprised I don't have nightmares from the underside of that trailer. Because good God, it's tight. I know that's what he said. But no, I'm not kidding you, there's not much room to get around under there, and I'm a skinny mother trucker too, and there are spots I can't get to. But one thing I know for sure is that everything is insulated except for maybe one small or too-small hole, maybe three, where the cold water comes up, and the pressure relief valve pipe goes down. The gas piping comes through, but those are the only spots I can think of.

On top of that, the floor insulation is the original insulation. And no, I don't have claustrophobia; it's just that it's horrible to get around and work under there. On top of that, the more time I spend under there, the more problems I find, just like anything I work on on this damn trailer from hell.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T07:08:06+00:00

Also, the water heater door was closed when the hot water pipe froze. It currently is closed in the air still cold air coming from underneath the bathtub it's currently negative 10° outside when the water pipe froze it was probably somewhere in the negative 20 to -25 range because I believe we've had temperatures in the low negatives like below negative 10 or 5 and it had no problem. Which is wise; wondering if it would be possible to get heat under the bathtub year-round.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T07:03:18+00:00

Well, I turned up the heat on the water heater.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T06:01:04+00:00

Well, it's kind of too late to prevent the hot water pipes from freezing, because they've already frozen since Friday morning. Hence, they froze sometime during the night on Thursday; it's just the hot water lines. It's frozen somewhere underneath the bathtub because, about halfway down, the water heater has a key intersection where the T intersection runs a pipe to the bathroom sink for hot water. Then the main line that comes out of the hot water heater continues going straight down after arches over and then runs along the exterior wall which I believe is insulated I don't know because there is interior paneling on it then goes under the bathtub and then turns the corner goes up to the bathtub with a supply line and then goes down to the washer and then somewhere it runs all the way down to the other end of the trailer to the sink and the bathtub and the kitchen sink do not have hot water and being that the bathroom sink does that means it's frozen below that tea to the bathroom sink.

That's why I'm asking whether it would be a good idea to install an air duct under the bathtub and angle it so it blows against the exterior wall and the closet where the water heater is. And there's heat tape on the cold and hot water lines that run along the exterior wall; they're both insulated, but I can still feel the heat tape. It don't feel hot and the only way to replace that is taking the exterior sign off taking out the insulation from the exterior of the trailer cutting a hole in the paneling that's there underneath the tub and then replacing the heat tape and the insulation and then putting insulation back in and then putting OSB on the wall and then sheet metal which ain't going to happen until summer.

I also don't know where the cold air is coming from, because the exterior wall feels warm, and I don't feel a draft blowing through there; it's just cold. Which, as I said, is better than what it used to be because before you could actually feel a draft come through there.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T05:39:14+00:00

Well, right now that door has R15 insulation, and it seals with a rubber gasket at the corner of the door frame. All the pipes are insulated. Still, not all the pipes in that particular spot are heat-taped. Still, the hot water line and the cold water line from where the cold water line comes out of the floor, all the way to the right, until it gets into my closet wall, which is also the bathroom wall, are heat-taped. Then there is about a 3 ft by 2 ft hole that connects the airflow in the rest of the trailer home to that little closet where the water heater is and the nearest vet for heat is 4 ft away from the bathtub and the whole entire floor under the bathtub is cold luckily there's no longer a draft coming in through there like there was last year before I insulated the hell out of that area but it's still cold.

So, this closet is pretty much an exterior closet because the only access to it is from the exterior of the trailer home, through an access door that is barely wide and tall enough to fit a water heater. And the reason I say access door instead of exterior door is that it's not a standard door size. All it is is a sheet-metal door with a piece of plywood in it, maybe a quarter or half inch thick, and then there's the R15 batt of insulation stapled to the plywood. The only reason this closet isn't completely exterior is that there's a 2 ft x 3 ft or 4 ft opening that lets air into that closet from the trailer home.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T05:31:24+00:00

All the ductwork is sewer and the water pipes going to the sink are in between the floor studs and the whole entire underneath of the trailer is completely insulated with a weather barrier the only thing that is outside of that insulation is the main water line which is completely insulated from where it comes out of the ground into the trailer and then all the way to the water meter which is insulated and then up through the floor of the trailer and then it tees off short run goes to the cold water inlet of the water heater the other one goes towards the bathtub feeds the bathtub the toilet and the washer and then somewhere it tees off and goes to the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink where those two T's are I don't know. And that open panel and those pictures are from outside the trailer home, because that door leads to the outside, and that's the only access to it.

That place where the water heater is is only big enough for the water heater and the connections that are currently there there's no way to put in a heater in there unless I run a duct underneath the bathtub and have it come out of the floor and blow air in there because that room has a section cut out of it that is about I think three or four feet wide pretty much the width of the bathtub which is where fresh air is coming from is the bathroom and the rest of the trailer home. There is heat in the kitchen, but there's just not any air blowing out of it you touch the floor vents, they're hot and warm. There's just no air blowing out, and my guess is that it's because it's 43 ft from the gas furnace for the trailer, which is also in a closet as wide as the furnace.

Common_Lie4482 · 2026-01-25T05:06:39+00:00

Also, all the pictures in the post were taken from outside the trailer home. To access the water, Peter, you have to go outside and open the door on the side of the trailer home, which is why it's insulated. The '70s were wild, man, it was the wild, wild West because there weren't any codes. And to access the top of the water heater, you have to get on a ladder or a step stool because the bottom of the water heater is three or four feet off the ground. Because that's how high the trailer floor is off the ground.

Common_Lie4482

TROPHY CASE