Plumbing has changed a lot since I started in 1971. We put packed oakum ( rope) in cast iron pipe, poured lead in the joint. It then went to rubber gaskets, then to no hub clamps. This is commercial work. They don’t use PVC, because it kills when it burns. We use PVC outside and underground, but cast iron above slab. Water pipe was all copper or threaded galvanize pipe. We don’t see much threaded steel now. It’s victaulic now, both steel and copper. Copper is also propressed. They have invented all of that to save labor. Years ago there would be thirty hands on a job, now fifteen. We laid our work out with a transit, tape measure, and string.
Now they use GPS on big jobs. You figured out dimensions by adding and subtracting from columns. Now you a computer will do that for you. Plumbing was once a better trade in my opinion.
Some jobs probably haven’t changed much. How has yours changed or is it the same?
Last edited by hanco; 12/23/19.
