Recipe for unsavory, but necessary, restaurant repair
Q. I am presently selling my restaurant and am puzzled by a demand that was made by the buyer. In the kitchen, there are three sinks used for food preparation. Under two of these sinks, the drainpipes flow into open floor drains. At the third sink, the drainpipe is directly connected to the sewer system. The buyer insists that all sinks must have open floor drains. These open drains are actually small sinks that are set into the concrete floor. The drainpipes from the food sinks flow into the floor sinks. Unfortunately, the cost to install another floor sink is $950, but this seems to be an unnecessary repair. As long as all three sinks are draining properly, what difference does it make how they are connected?
A. For those who are unfamiliar with restaurant plumbing, floor sinks may seem a bit unusual, but they are required by code for purposes of health safety. The primary reason is to prevent potential contamination of food by contact with raw sewage. Here's how that works.
Let's say your cook is washing some vegetables in one of the food sinks and leaves them for ten minutes while attending to other duties. Suppose that during this brief absence there is a sewage backup into the sink: not especially dirty sewage, but clear yet contaminated sewer water, leaving an unhealthy yet invisible residue on the salad fixings. And suppose this unexpected gray-water drains away before the return of your unsuspecting cook. No doubt, you wouldn't want to serve that sort of salad dressing to your patrons.
To avoid the possibility of such an incident, floor sinks are required in restaurant kitchens. If a sewage backup should occur, the overflow would simply run onto the floor. Not an enjoyable prospect to be sure, but better to get the stuff on your shoes than on someone's dinner.
The fact is, you have no choice in this matter. Direct connection of a commercial food sink to a sewer drain is illegal and should be corrected immediately.
Q. The home I'm buying has unusual cracks at some of the wall corners. These cracks are vertical, as straight as a ruler, and about an inch or more from the wall edges. Does this sound to you like a structural problem?
A. Cracks at the edges of drywall corners are common and are unlikely to indicate a structural problem. Most likely, they are loose metal edges, commonly caused by insufficient nailing when the metal corners were installed on the drywall.
Marginally adequate nailing of metal corners has become a common practice among some drywall installers. The rationalization for this shortcut in workmanship is that the taping and finishing process will cover up the poorly nailed edges. As you have now discovered, this kind of cover-up can have unattractive results and may give the false impression of structural settlement.
To eliminate cosmetic cracks of this kind, the metal edges will need to be renailed. This, of course, will require retexturing and refinishing the repaired areas. If you have reason to believe the cracks are not merely cosmetic, further evaluation by a licensed structural engineer is advised.
• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.
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