I had a draft coming in from the cabinet above my microwave where the exhaust fan vented through the wall to outside. The vent pipe going through the wall had gaps all around it and I used expanding foam for that without a problem...fixed it right up. I also had a draft coming from the bottom of my gas fireplace (where the millivolt valve and blower are located), there were a couple of small holes cut out of the sides for what looks like wires to be run if needed. I used some high temp great stuff foam for that, so if you're really worried you can use that type of foam. I don't think there is much danger using foam under the sink, if you're like me you probably have cleaning supplies that are way more flammable than the foam.

Check out: www.dryerbox.com for info. Plumbers I've known here in New England (where cold temps matter) would show little interest in doing the remodeling to install the dryerbox. Once it was in place they would be happy to run ducts and a gas line to the dryerbox if your dryer is gas. They would obviously also move water lines as well for the washer. Don't know what your So. Calif plumbers are like. Here it would be a mini-project requiring some minimal GC type skills. Around here there are people who I'd call handymen who do small projects and they typically know plumbers and electricians who could be called in.

This is a project my dad I did the latter part of last winter. I had already gutted the kichen, it wasn't salvagable, and discovered pipes not really in the wall, but between the old plaster and drywall that a PO did (plumber said definately a diy project and done incorrectly). Before any plumbing was rerouted to not be in the wall, is when my dad and I blew in insulation. You could tell the 1 corner in the kitchen had insulation, but that was it. We were fairly confident there was no other insulation except some in the attic. We blew in cellulose. We did it from the inside by measuring over from a corner about 8". He then used a 1" hole bit. This is where my dad got creative :) He had me find an old wire hanger and he first straightened it out and then made a bend in it. He put it in the hole he had drilled out and went over to where he found the stud. Then he measured how far over to get more accurate for the next hole, measuring to try to be 16" apart. He made holes all around in each room on the outside walls and below windows. At Menard's, when you buy cellulose, you're given a days free rent of the blower. We spent one day drilling holes and the next day filling them. We started on the first floor...only to discover that we have a balloon structure and some of the cellulose came out underneath the baseboards upstairs (the quarter round had been removed long before us). We could have just made the holes upstairs, but live and learn. We did the upstairs the next week, using a blower the carpenter I'd hired had. The kitchen and 1/2 bath were different since I'd gutted them. In those 2 rooms, I used the roll insulation. Both were sooo easy to do and who knows how much it saved us by not hiring the job done. I can also say that the heating bill was virtually cut in half after blowing in the insulation. The holes were easy to fill with plaster when we were done, either the carpenter or myself did those. Tony's way was easier than mine. He already had plaster made up for another room he was working on and took a bag, filled it, cut a small hole in the bottom and squeezed out the plaster into the hole. Then it was up to me to sand them down (they tended to expand out). I was just using a putty knife and trying to get it in the hole. If you're not sure where the water pipe is, (is it between the interior and exterior towards the back, or more towards the inside) I'm not sure this would work for your pipe because of the reasons stated above. But it sure would work for the rest of the house!

I was born in 1947 and I can remember when water heaters had no insulation. They were simply an upright galvanized iron tank with a gas burner on the bottom in the same manner as the internal vessel in the modern water heater and water heaters were typically operated at 180degF. (My cousin Robert still has permanent burn scars on his face and shoulder from running into a water heater when horseplaying as a small child.) In those days water heaters had no T&P valve. Instead they had a "Blowout Plug" that would literally blow out of the tank wall when the internal pressure exceeded 150psi. (They worked in the same manner as the freeze plugs installed in automobile engines.) Water heaters had a thermostat on the gas control but there was no thermocouple or flame sensor so if the pilot flame went out and the thermostat called for heat it would blow raw gas into the house. I can remember many occassions when we would come home after being gone for the day and the moment the front door was opened someone hollered "GAS". That meant that the entire house was filled with the smell of Natural Gas, so Dad would open the front and back door and we would all sit in the car across the street for an hour or so till the house vented out praying all the while that the gas in the house would not be ignited by the fire in the old coal furnace, which would then produce an explosion and probably level the house. (These type of accidents were quite common in the early 50's). I can remember when water heater manufacturers were advertising they were on the cutting edge of Space Age Technology with insulated vessels and thermocouple protected pilot burners, of course the insulation blanket was a mere 1/2" of fiberglass with a sheet metal shell over it. Tank walls were still plenty hot but at least you wouldn't receive 3rd degree burns from touching one. Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention that most water heaters had no flue pipes in those days either? They simply vented into the room but that was no problem because in those days fuel was cheap and state of the art construction techniques in those days left so many cracks and crevices that on a cold winters nite you could sit in the living room and watch the drapes moving from the cold drafts around the windows. I find it very interesting to note that during the Viet Nam conflict we were supplying millions and millions of gallons of Jet fuel, Diesel Fuel and gasoline daily to the war effort and yet gasoline was only $.30/gal on the pump and Natural Gas was so cheap that it was commonly thought of as an industrial surplus yet within a year after we pulled out of Viet Nam we had a "Fuel Crisis" where the price of gas jumped to $.75/gal and we had to wait in line to get a meager 8 gal. One would think that when the war ended there would be plenty of fuel for civillian life. Is it possible that the oil companies had lost their Million gallon a day military customer so they now decided to raise the price to keep there profit margins the same? Oh, and don't forget, for every price increase the oil companies got the state and Federal Govt padded in their little tax increases as well, Ah, but thats another topic altogether. Suddenly "Fuel Cost" was a household word and everyone began to tighten up. Houses were being insulated and caulked, speed limits reduced and we began to be concerned with "Standby losses" from water heaters. As the houses were tightened up it became necessary to make water heater flue piping a code mandate and people were encouraged to add "insulation blankets" to their water heaters. The problem with insulation blankets is that if they are improperly installed or if they slipped out of position it restricted combustion air to the burners and we began to see a severe increase in carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. As a result the Codes were again revised mandating that all water heaters MUST HAVE a minimum R-12 insulation. To meet the new standards the water heater manufacturers discontinued the use of fiberglass blanket insulation and began using cast in foams some of which are now providing as much as R-35. The Codes now state that insulation blankets are no longer required and it actually discourages the use of blankets. In fact, many local codes now prohibit the use of insulation blankets on water heaters.