Thank you for the kind respones. "Per code there should be a line stop valve inside the house before the line drops into the vented crawl space. In winter the line stop is closed and the hose bibb is left open so that if any water should happen to leak past the line stop it could still drain out through the hose bibb. Care should be taken to insure that the horizontal line in the crawl space is properly supported by pipe hangers to insure it will maintain a downward pitch and not sag." Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Lazypup, your very knowledgable. I am young and inexperienced but trying to do the best i can. This is my Mom's home and she is a parapalegic, so I try to fix what I can for her and if I can't do it I make sure she don't get ripped off by repairmen since she can't even acess the areas the work is in. I don't even think the plumbing meets code. It's over a hundred year old house with many additions and jerry-rigged workmanship. Had to insulate the pipes to stop them from freezing a few winters ago, but the last 2 winters where very mild. Majority of the plumbing is under the house in the crawl space. The copper pipes, pvc, and ducting are all barely hanging to the floor joists with rusty wire and nails. I spent countless days with a full repirator breathing mask clean this crawl space out. It was filled with trash, car parts, old waste building materials, and a bunch of mold rotted fiberglass insulation. It was a real pain, especially consider I had to crawl through holes at points only 2' x 2' wide! I think the previous occupants used the crawl space as a free landfill. The only 2 ways to shut off the water is either at the street or in the crawl space where the main water line comes out of the ground vertically rising to the plumbing in the floor joists. There is a very old gate valve in this main line and I have to crawl through 2 different holes in the labryinth that is my crawl space to the deepest part to shut off the water which is a big hassel. Whereas the pipe to the faucet is more easily acessible with minimal crawling so it would be nice to have a shut off valve prior to the outside bib. I like the idea of ball valves, thanks Kisu. I should probably have the gate valve at the main water line replaced with a ball valve as well. I want to have an encapsulated crawl space eventually, but I got huge water issues with runoff, yard grade, gutters, downspouts, leaky faucet, ect. Until i take care of exterior water issues there is really no point to addressing water and moisture problems in the crawl space. So that is why the crawl space is vented for now, but I digress off topic. "First off, there is no such thing as a "Freeze Proof hose bibb". They do make "Frost proof hose bibbs" which are a type of hydrant valve where the actual valving action takes place inside the house in the heated space but even that would not work in this situation." Thanks for setting me straight Lazypup. The frost proof faucet wouldn't work in this situation because the faucet's valve could be comprimsed being at relativly the same temp as outside in winter. So i should just have a traditional sillock bib on the exterior and have a ball valve in the interior prior to the bib. When winter comes close the ball valve and open the hose bibe to let the water drain out inbetween the stop valve and hose bib. Insulate the water lines in the crawl space and hope for no subzero temps this winter. Maybe I could have all this work done by winter and have the crawl space enclosed, but it doesn't seem likely. Sorry about being longwinded but the added explaination may help you guys help me understand the best potential solution.

James, It is so annoying that it needs to be replaced, yes. It isn't enormously loud, but it is loud enough to disturb one's peace of mind. I'd like to avoid replacing the whole hose bib, but that could be what I end up doing. It may be that drilling out the set screws could damage the threads on the hose bib. But I'd like to find another solution. If I need to replace the hose bib then I'll need a couple of wrenches and some time. Thanks. -Roger

I'm interested in what's a better material for a steel deck infill - cement, diamondplate, metal slats, etc.? Here's the feedback I've gotten so far (I'd love feedback from professionals and people who have real-world experience with different options): Cement is more expensive (about $3,000 more for our deck) but lower maintenance and doesn't get as hot for bare feet in the summer (but it's uglier), metal slats (what I'll call the Lopopolo deck) are pretty, let water and some light through, and will get hot probably; diamondplate gets fairly hot in summer but is less costly. One possible contractor said to get through permitting and building and then put an overlay of wood on whatever material we choose for the deck (but of course that means we pay for the steel or cement and then again for the wood). Thoughts? I'm in New York City and our particular deck has to be steel, nothing combustible, at least through the permitting process, if we're doing it legally (which most people don't do, but which we already decided we would do for whatever reason)

Sometimes you can find old patterns on EBay.