Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner

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Looking over the new home plans in order to provide the builder with pricing, I noticed there was no chimney included.

My apprentice years were filled with a wide exposure to all manner of plumbing and heating jobs. At that time, F. W. Behler had just four seasoned employees who had been with the company for many years.

Way back in 1972, I was working high steel, and we were laying out new Butler steel roof panels. 

Troubleshooting tank-style two-element electric water heaters is relatively simple once the operation is understood. 

I knew my day was going sideways when it was going to be necessary to change into a bathing suit and get wet in the customer’s master bath in order to find out what was causing a leak into the basement. 

As Texas settled into a deadly-serious Polar Vortex, you could predict the pattern emerging based on your own past experiences with bitter-cold sustained weather conditions: No-heat calls inundating your emergency calls; heating systems not able to keep up with demand; heating systems stressed to the breaking-point; followed by frozen water lines, water services and water mains; and then biblical flooding and damage once thawing temperatures arrived. 

If you have never been face-to-face with a run away boiler, I can assure you it makes your sphincter pucker!

I always hated the business side of being in business. After a hard day’s work, we would retire to our home office to do billing, write checks and fill in the books.