EzDIYRemodel's Story
Our Story
It all began in the Summer of 2018, I had saved enough money to remodel my master bathroom and the kids bathroom for a house I had purchased about a year before. I reached out to people I knew for recommendations, and I met with a contractor who seemed to know what he was doing and seemed knowledgeable. After buying many fixtures (tubs, shower base, flooring...) and supplies, I had to let go of the contractor because he was rushing and making mistakes positioning both of the bathroom doors in the wrong location, the light switches, the outlets... The vision for the bathtub would not work, the toilet was not centered and plumbing was not even close to being done. I was left with both bathrooms without any toilets, bathtubs, lights or vanities in them (see pic on left).
I did what every diyer homeowner would, I started watching videos on YouTube, reading the vanity instructions, and I even bought a home improvement book from HomeDepot. I was able to install the toilet first, the vanity, and install some lights. The home improvement book had helped some and I was lucky that the kid's bathroom had most of the plumbing. I managed to install the tub using videos. But soon realized that YouTube videos are not sufficient. The plumbing underneath the vanity did not look great and it was hard to get it to seal correctly. I also learned, you can't buy all products Home Depot or Lowes sells. One plumber on YouTube said, never use these drain fittings. Although, I got the kids' bathroom to function, when I moved to the master bathroom, I realized that my contractor had missed looking at my two bowl vanity and the fact that it had drawers in the middle. Thus, he only installed one drain and he was hoping to connect both bowl drains together.
After several struggles, I went to my local library and checked out my first Home Plumbing book. This was eye opening and very disappointing as well because I learned more and more that there was a lot of things undone and I had to demolish more things before I could fix anything. I had to learn first and then apply that knowledge. The book is great telling you, you need to glue this and that, you need to dry fit your parts, but it does not tell you how to level things, or how to calculate the load on pipes to support several fixtures. Being a full-time Dad (7 days out of two weeks), having a full time job and dating, the remodeling was not happening fast enough. So I hired someone, but I soon realized he was not doing the plumbing work up to code. Again, I had to let another contractor go.
The biggest lesson I learned about 9 months ago was that as a homeowner, I need to know enough to hire a contractor to do anything around my house. Very few contractors know their stuff and educate you, but those that ask you to change your vision of your remodeling are those who will take shortcuts and that you need to watch out for. Every homeowner can benefit from what I learned, and I plan to make it available through an automated web app. In August of 2020, I started the development of a plumbing mobile app. I went from carving fruits on the weekends to plumbing my bathroom and learning how to truly apply my newly found knowledge on my own projects.
From fruit carving Dad ->
To Plumbing DIY
The green shows good plumbing I did, properly fittings and glued correctly. The red shows primer missing and wrong fitting which can cause gas leaks and clogs for the toilet (done by the second contractor).
Today, I get up really early to meet with my Team in India to discuss requirements for the plumbing app and we have demo's on Saturday mornings. This team is really dedicated and they believe in our mission. SNAV's mission is to enable homeowners to do their own repairs or remodeling projects and/or at least be knowledgeable enough to hire a contractor to do it for them. Why do homeowners need the app? I learned that I need pen and paper to design how the pipes go together and to calculate how many fixtures (toilets, showers...) can be supported on a vertical or horizontal drain. To do this by hand would take a long time. The web app enables homeowners to model their bathroom the way they know it, adding a vanity, a shower and other fixtures and the app will do the water supply, the drain and vent design for them. Note that I had no idea what vent pipes were before I started this journey. The app will show you how to orient vent and drain or waste pipes. It will tell you that you need to vent every fixture and to add a p-trap.
The product roadmap goes beyond plumbing, our goal is to model electrical, HVAC (heating and cooling) and much more. Feel free to sign up for our newsletter and be the first to learn how to use our app to do your repair or remodeling projects. If you feel strongly about our vision, buy a subscription today! Model your entire house starting in May 2021 and add value to your home.
If you have any feedback about our vision and app, please feel free to reach out to us (click here).