Eric

It's around the house.

Eric

In today's episode, we are talking with my friend Barbara from Infinity Drain.

Eric

We are diving into drains inside the shower, out by the pool, or even in your driveway for sure.

Barbara

Our product line really started out with what we would call like a sight, sizable linear drain.

Barbara

Over the years, waterproofing techniques have been evolving and improving.

Barbara

Now you're seeing much more prominently methods like the Schluter system, which is a non woven fabric.

Eric

Now let's get this show going.

Eric

Around the house show is brought to you by pyramid heating and cooling serving in Oregon, the Portland metro area and Bend, Oregon.

Eric

They are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality.

Eric

To find out more, head to pyramidheating.com Oregon CCB 59382.

Eric

When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered.

Eric

This is around.

Eric

Welcome to the round the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric

Thanks for joining me today.

Eric

Hey, we are sponsored by Monument Grills.

Eric

If you want to find out more about the next barbecue, you should be looking for, and they're under $900.

Eric

Take a look@monumentgrills.com.

Eric

dot we've got a special guest who I always enjoy having on the show, Barbara from infinity drain.

Eric

The best people out there for controlling that water where you don't know where it's going to go and you need to do something cool with it.

Eric

Welcome back to around the house.

Barbara

Oh, thanks for having me.

Barbara

I'm glad to be a part of it.

Eric

You guys are, you have been the expert in my world for going to on linear drains and just basically controlling water, whether it's in a shower, a dog shower, your pool, your driveway.

Eric

You guys are the kings of that in my book.

Barbara

We are what we consider architectural drainage.

Eric

Yes.

Barbara

Which is a fancy way of saying you need a drain.

Barbara

We got one that looks cool, it's going to last and it's going to function great.

Eric

Absolutely.

Eric

And what I think is cool is this trend now that we were seeing these full access showers with flat floors that are sloping correctly or sloping different directions, and you guys really came out with something that was going to be beautiful and have just built upon that over the decades.

Barbara

For sure.

Barbara

Our product line really started out with what we would call like a sight, sizable linear drain.

Barbara

Over the years, waterproofing techniques have been evolving and improving.

Barbara

Now you're seeing much more prominently methods like the Schluter system, which is a non woven fabric, liquid applied waterproofing within the shower which is a paint on roll on style of waterproofing.

Barbara

So we've even had to adapt our drainage systems to the waterproofing technology and improvements that have come over the past decade or so.

Eric

Yeah.

Eric

Just because of all these different foam board technologies and all the different stuff like that.

Eric

It's not just that.

Eric

That mudset pan that we used to see 15 years ago that was pretty prominent.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

And one of the really cool things about these newer types of waterproofing is this idea of the complete shower system and the warranty that comes with that, with most waterproofing manufacturers.

Barbara

So you get the waterproofing, you get that pre pitched foam floor.

Barbara

They have benches and niches and wallboard, and all these things really come together.

Barbara

And that has made us adapt and pivot, and we make drainage systems that work with those complete shower systems that are compliant with those warranties.

Eric

See, and that's what's, that's the key right there, because you're spending all of this time and money to put this shower system in.

Eric

You want to have something that's going to work well with it, because the last thing you need is to put in something that you maybe grabbed off Amazon thinking it's going to work, and then all of a sudden, you get to tear the thing out, even though you spent all the money to do it right.

Eric

You missed that one thing.

Eric

That is kind of the Achilles heel of the system.

Eric

And that's where that system matches up with the drain.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

Yeah, that can definitely be a point of failure there.

Eric

And the cool thing is, too, is that the functionality of that, there's one thing to go, oh, my gosh, this is beautiful.

Eric

The drain matches the finish on the rest of my, my fixtures in the space, and it's awesome.

Eric

But I love the linear drain system because if you've got dogs or if you've got long hair or whatever, but you've got a little tiny four x four drain in the middle of the floor, and it loves to get clogged up, but if you've got a long drain on there, you still have to maintain it, but you're not going to have that backing of drain so quickly.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

You do have that reservoir, the channel, which can hold water.

Barbara

We, a few years ago, we launched this product called the hair maintenance kit.

Barbara

We decided shower drains.

Barbara

Everyone wants to talk about the hair, but no one wants to talk about the hair at the same time.

Barbara

Everyone has a horror story of cleaning out a drain at some point in their lives, but then everyone's, ew, hair.

Barbara

Guess what?

Barbara

It's on your head.

Barbara

It's there.

Barbara

So let's own it.

Barbara

Let's make the best hair basket catcher that we can.

Barbara

And we did and patented it.

Barbara

And so really we, we want to talk about those things that are going to help with the functionality of the drain and then also make it really easy to maintain.

Eric

Right.

Eric

Because nobody likes dropping down to a knee in the shower, pulling the cap off the little thing, and then sending some plastic piece down there to try to snag out the, the large dogs full of hair that's down there.

Eric

And it feels like you're pulling out a small animal out of that because the drains not working correctly, if you can catch up beforehand, that's like the easy button for maintenance.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

I have one of these haircut.

Barbara

The hair basket that we have is about three inches deep.

Barbara

It's got graduated holes, so the flow rate just keeps going even if it's filling up.

Barbara

And it is very rare that I have to clean it out.

Barbara

I love it.

Eric

See, and then it just eliminates those plumbing problems, like down in the trap and stuff where the stuff that I never have it in my problem with my event, my, my drain cover, but it's all getting down in the system.

Eric

It's not catching it.

Eric

And then now you're in there with the plumber trying to get that unplugged because you wouldn't get it yourself, especially.

Barbara

If you live in an older home with cast iron pipes.

Barbara

Love those rough edges, like that rough surface on the side.

Barbara

Loves to catch hair and anything else that goes down that draindeh.

Eric

Yeah, we just, it's funny, I love cast iron as a, as a product.

Eric

But, for instance, my brother and I were just working on a house that we picked up out at the coast here on the Oregon coast.

Eric

Problem was, it had been abandoned for 20 years.

Eric

And the problem was, is those old cast iron pipes had just a little bit of water sitting them over 20 years.

Eric

And so all the bottom, when we run a camber down, it was like, all tore up and it was like, ah, okay, we're just going to have to cut it all out.

Eric

And we did.

Eric

But it was so amazing to see when I started cutting on that cast iron pipe at the top, how thick it was.

Eric

Then I got down about three quarters of the way, and I'm like, this is cutting like butter.

Eric

There's nothing left of it because water was just rusting away in it.

Eric

So it's almost like the more the house was abandoned, the worse they get.

Eric

Versus, and then again, how many drain cleaners people pour down there, but why not fix it at the drain versus have to fix it later?

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

Catch it early, be more preventative, be proactive.

Eric

Yeah, absolutely.

Eric

And you guys have some new styles come out.

Eric

I cant really talk about this, but I was looking at some new products and well just say it that way.

Eric

And boy, you guys have that new drain out that is so gorgeous with that pattern on the outside.

Eric

Lets talk about that a little bit.

Eric

Yeah.

Barbara

So one of our big product launches for this year is a collaboration that we had with Gensler, which is a worldwide renowned architecture firm.

Barbara

They have multiple offices all over the world, work on incredibly well known high end projects.

Barbara

So they have a product design group who we collaborated with on a new design called adhesion.

Barbara

And the inspiration for this decorative top grate style or pattern was how water adheres to different surfaces.

Barbara

So through surface tension, water droplets will adhere to a surface, glass, metal, whatever that is, in different ways.

Barbara

So they looked at that and then created a pattern out of it that we can laser cut into our stainless steel.

Barbara

It's cool because you can't really see where the repeat is.

Eric

Yeah.

Barbara

And then it also has this kind of techie yet organic feel to it, which I think is really cool.

Barbara

So I've really enjoyed it.

Barbara

I think it's a cool pattern and just something that's different from other drain manufacturers.

Eric

Super fun and different.

Eric

And I love that because that just adds that little bit of just that kind of finishing touch on a beautiful shower system where you're using it.

Eric

And I think it's just a great way to go.

Eric

And I saw that, I was like, oh, somebody finally changed up the patterns a little bit more.

Eric

It's.

Eric

It was definitely.

Eric

It's definitely something different, but cool.

Eric

Different and natural looking.

Barbara

Yeah, absolutely.

Barbara

Our most popular products.

Barbara

People love the tile insert frame.

Barbara

We also have a wedge wire, which is like the long metal wire strips, which is really popular.

Barbara

But it's really fun to introduce these new perforated patterns.

Barbara

So just to have different styles out.

Eric

There around the house.

Eric

We'll be right back after these important messages with more from infinity drain.

Eric

Don't change that tile.

Eric

What's up?

Eric

This is stixitinia and Satchel from Steel Panthere, and you are listening to around the house with Eric G.

Eric

Yeah, we love Eric G.

Eric

And you should, too.

Eric

Welcome back to the around the ash show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric

Thanks for joining us today.

Eric

This episode is brought to you by my friends over at Monument Grill.

Eric

If you want to get some serious value of a barbecue that's gonna last a lot longer than the ones you usually get at the home improvement store.

Eric

Check out monument grill@monumentgrills.com.

Eric

dot now let's get back with my friend Barbara from infinity drain and continue talking.

Eric

Drains.

Barbara

Yeah, absolutely.

Barbara

Our most popular products, people love the tile insert frame.

Barbara

We also have a wedge wire, which is like the long metal wire strips, which is really popular.

Barbara

But it's really fun to introduce these new perforated patterns.

Barbara

So just to have different styles out.

Eric

There for wedge wires, a cool look, you know what I mean?

Eric

That's what, yeah.

Barbara

You know, we use the wedge wire.

Barbara

What's really cool, and I love about the wedge wire is it's 300 1612 gauge stainless, so really heavy duty.

Barbara

So both for indoor and outdoor applications, we love to use that wedge wire.

Eric

Yeah, it's super tough.

Eric

Before we talk about outside stuff, I want to talk about how people process, go through the process of building a shower and working with you guys so they understand that process, because so many people go, hey, I want to do this shower.

Eric

They're calling up their tile person or their contractor, and the tile person's going to do their thing.

Eric

But I want to make sure that our builders and homeowners out there know to use the right products in this and how they work with you guys to make sure they're putting the right drain system in for their indoor project.

Barbara

Yeah, absolutely.

Barbara

I went through a bathroom renovation about a year ago, and I found it incredibly interesting, obviously, being in the business.

Barbara

And I also gained a huge amount of empathy for our homeowners and designers and everyone that we worked with, having gone through it myself.

Barbara

One thing that I found was really interesting in this process was at no one time was our tile setter and our plumber on the job site at the same time to talk to each other.

Barbara

We just always assume, oh, yeah, have the plumber talk to the tile setter.

Barbara

Guess what?

Barbara

They're not there on the same day.

Eric

Never, never talk to each other.

Barbara

Yes.

Barbara

So the first things you want to think about are, what are your design goals with your bathroom and your shower?

Barbara

If you're doing a.

Barbara

You want to do a zero entry, curbless shower, this is something.

Barbara

We got to talk to your contractor, whoever you're working with.

Barbara

We got it.

Barbara

We got to get that on the table really early on.

Eric

That's the first box to check in my mind, because that can change everything from framing to plumbing to everything else.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

And if you're doing a remodel.

Barbara

Oh, okay.

Barbara

Get ready it can be really challenging.

Barbara

If you're doing new construction, then you can plan for it.

Barbara

There's a lot of things that you can do ahead of time in order to make that achievable, but that's number one.

Barbara

Do you want a curbless shower or a shower with a curb?

Barbara

Make that decision.

Barbara

Talk to your tradespeople or your contractor immediately.

Barbara

This is a shower goal.

Barbara

This is our goal.

Barbara

This is what we want.

Barbara

Can we do it?

Barbara

Is it possible?

Barbara

Number two.

Barbara

Okay, so you've decided you want to do either a curbless shower or shower with a curb.

Barbara

Let's figure out the layout of the shower.

Barbara

What's the size going to be?

Barbara

Do you want a bench?

Barbara

Where do you want the fixtures?

Barbara

This is all important things to figure out.

Barbara

What's the layout of the shower going to be and how is it going to relate to the rest of the fixtures like the toilet and the sink in the space.

Barbara

So I would say that's number two.

Barbara

And then you got to start thinking about your material selection.

Barbara

So your contractor or installers, they may have a waterproofing product that they prefer to use.

Barbara

You don't want to be the guinea pig.

Barbara

Go with whatever they love using.

Barbara

That's, it's on them as long as.

Eric

It'S a current system.

Eric

Right.

Eric

That's how I look at it.

Eric

If you've got, that's maybe way off in left field.

Eric

And, and one of my favorite lines that I get from contractors is I've been doing this for 30 years and, and I'm like, awesome.

Eric

And I heard we had, I had an interview with my buddy Andrew Pace, who's the green building expert the other day, and he goes, hey, I've been trying to play golf for 30 years.

Eric

I'm not any better at it.

Eric

But let's talk about the real things about getting this done.

Eric

And I really push people into using the newer systems to get a more reliable shower system in there versus doing the tile board and the muds head pan or in California hot mopping that thing out.

Eric

Let's, let's get out of the 1970s and get into a system that's going to really hold up, especially today's modern uses.

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

Especially if you're looking to do a more luxury shower with a steam unit and some of these other features where the newer methods of waterproofing are also approved as a vapor barrier.

Barbara

So you can have it with those types of systems.

Barbara

But yeah, have those conversations with your tradespeople or contractor.

Barbara

So what type of waterproofing do you all like?

Barbara

To use on your projects that will give you an immediate insight into, is this someone who found a way to do, was trained on something 30 years ago and they're still doing it, or someone that's keeping up with the latest and greatest drywall up and glue the tiles on it.

Eric

They'll be fine.

Eric

It's lasted me forever.

Eric

It'll be great.

Eric

It won't be great when I go, I hired the wrong contract.

Eric

Yeah.

Barbara

Very telling.

Barbara

And especially when we're talking about linear drains versus center drains, someone who, you know, if they are completely against using a linear drain, maybe they just don't know enough about the product.

Barbara

They haven't taken time to learn about it, or they're just not working on projects that are at the level where, okay, we are going to spend a significant amount of money for this piece that's really going to help the other elements of the bathroom bring up the whole level of the space 100%.

Eric

Because there are some tile setters out there that make great money doing commercial and spec homes, where they come in, slap it down, get out the door, and that attention to detail of tile layout of a shower design is not their cup of tea, nor will it be.

Eric

And maybe you hired the builder guy because things are a little slow in the area at the moment.

Eric

You want to have that luxury tile setter that really understands that.

Eric

Well, on my trims, I can either put a metal trim here or I can miter the corner.

Eric

And I don't want to be doing this, but I want to be doing that.

Eric

And here's how I like to set up my drains when I do this.

Eric

Now you've got the right person, right?

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

I know from personal experience, our tile setter that.

Barbara

That our contractor used, I felt like we had the Leonardo da Vinci of tile setters.

Barbara

Everything just, like, down to the millimeter.

Barbara

This guy did double waterproofing with infinity drain.

Barbara

We make specialized drains for that specifically.

Barbara

But this was.

Barbara

I was really impressed.

Barbara

And having seen a lot of showers, a lot of great showers, a lot of shower failures on the.

Barbara

On the other side of that coin, it really.

Barbara

You want to make sure you've got the right person doing the right job, Trey.

Eric

Yeah.

Eric

And that's where that, that really good detail to craftsmanship comes in on that project.

Eric

Like, I wanted to do a linear drain of mine.

Eric

My house was actually one of the only ones in my 30 years of design that I've looked at and went, it's on the second floor.

Eric

When I did my steam shower, I looked down, I went, I'm barely gonna get a drain in this, let alone anything else.

Eric

And sometimes that happens, and it's because I had underneath my five foot shower, I had light fixtures, I had the vent hood for the 1200 cfm vent coming under the shower, going outside.

Eric

And it was just like, there's no room at the end here.

Eric

I can't jam anything else in here.

Eric

It's going to be tough getting the shower drain in.

Barbara

Oh, for sure.

Barbara

I totally feel you on this.

Barbara

We live in a craftsman home in a historic district in Dallas that's over 100 years old.

Barbara

When we did our remodel, I had great ideas about where I wanted the shower niche and all this thing.

Barbara

And then we did the demo and it's like there's actually no studs in the wall.

Barbara

It's like, it's like the hull of a pirate ship in here.

Barbara

It's just around the house.

Eric

Be right back with Barbara crowdis from infinity drain.

Eric

We're talking drains just as soon as around the house returns.

Eric

Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keele, the Ron Keel band and Steeler.

Eric

We are rocking around the house with Eric G.

Eric

Raise your fierce welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric

We've been talking with my friend Barbara from Infinity Drain.

Eric

She is their leading expert on everything about controlling water.

Eric

Architectural drains that really make things look beautiful and function really well.

Eric

Now let's get back to the conversation.

Eric

There's no room at the end here.

Eric

I can't jam anything else in here.

Eric

Here.

Eric

It's going to be tough getting the shower drain in.

Barbara

Oh, for sure.

Barbara

I totally feel you on this.

Barbara

We live in a craftsman home in a historic district in Dallas that's over 100 years old.

Barbara

When we did our remodel, I had great ideas about where I wanted the shower niche and all this thing.

Barbara

And then we did the demo and it's like there's actually no studs in the wall.

Barbara

It's like, it's like the hull of a pirate ship in here.

Barbara

It's just, we've just got.

Barbara

Then you have to, you have to pivot.

Barbara

You have to, on the fly, decide.

Barbara

Okay, now here's what we, how, here's how we're really going to do it.

Barbara

Now that we know what's going on behind the wall, and that happens so frequently.

Barbara

Until you do the demo, then you really know what you're working with.

Barbara

Can you do this type of drain?

Barbara

Can you put these elements of your shower or your bathroom where you thought you were going to put them before you saw what was under the floor in the wall.

Eric

And the cool thing is you guys do offer customization, so you guys are really good at that.

Eric

So when you go, oh, my gosh, I can only do X, Y and Z.

Eric

Get on the phone with you guys and you go, all right, what size do you want?

Eric

X, Y and Z.

Eric

And you can figure it out.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

A few years ago, we launched a next day custom program where if we get an order in by 10:00 a.m.

Barbara

we can turn that around to ship out following day.

Barbara

And it was for that very reason we've opened up the floor.

Barbara

We need to move on with this project.

Barbara

Okay.

Barbara

Now we know the exact dimensions that we need and exactly where the waistline is going to be able to be located.

Barbara

And now we can turn around your drain super fast.

Barbara

So we do all of our manufacturing in Amityville, New York, and that allows us to be super flexible and manufacture very quickly and get it to our homeowners and end users.

Barbara

Fasten.

Eric

Nice.

Eric

That is cool.

Eric

And that's that level of service you need for that, because there's nothing worse than opening up the wall and you're in the middle of the remodel and the contractor's going, oh, no, the drain that I have isn't going to work.

Eric

Now, how do we fix this?

Barbara

Yeah, but we need it.

Barbara

It was feedback from the field, from our customers, from our installers that we work with.

Barbara

We need to be faster on the turnaround with custom drains.

Barbara

And so we were like, how's 24 hours?

Eric

Pretty good.

Eric

Yeah, we'll take it.

Eric

We'll take it.

Eric

I'll get everybody working on other parts of the room for a few days and we'll get it taken care of and dialed in.

Eric

That is awesome.

Eric

I want to talk about an important part of your business, and a project that I just did as well is, you know, controlling water, whether it's out by the pool, the hot tub, or, or rainwater coming down a driveway that's steep.

Eric

You guys have that covered really well.

Eric

And of course, in full disclosure, I just did that project at my house here because I had about 65ft of driveway and entry that just, of course, when they designed this in 1977, slipped it all the way down to my house, which is awesome when they do things like that.

Eric

And we'd have heavy rains.

Eric

All of a sudden I've got water creeping in underneath the, underneath the garage door because no one planned the drainage correctly.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

And we see that a lot.

Barbara

So we do a lot of outdoor applications both for new constructions and new construction, and also for retrofitting either existing drainage where the top grade has disintegrated or doesn't look great anymore, or people who need to add drainage because they have found out over the years that we do have water pooling here when we have a heavy rain or even a light rain.

Barbara

So our technical team gets very deep into those types of solutions for our clients.

Eric

Yeah, and mine was tough only because I have all these protected trees around my house.

Eric

So I've got, like, 13 of them.

Eric

So I had literally had to have.

Eric

Just to cut the drain in the driveway, seven asphalt driveway.

Eric

So it's like this.

Eric

It's all humped and cause the roots pushing up.

Eric

These are big 200 plus 300 year old trees up here that are 150 plus feet tall.

Eric

However, comma, I couldn't cut the roots too much because I could damage the tree.

Eric

So I literally had to have an arborist come out and go, okay, you can do this, this, this, and this just to keep that drainage problem, which good part of keeping trees.

Eric

I want to keep those trees.

Eric

I don't want them falling over by any means.

Eric

But, boy, talk about getting into a drainage project that seems to be a little bit more than what it should be.

Eric

But it happens that way, so that's the challenge of that.

Eric

But it works so well.

Eric

We get downpours now, and.

Eric

And I used to have a little nine by nine grate is what they designed it for, and four leaves would get over the top of that thing, came out of a tree, and it's plugged up, and now I got 100 gallons of water sitting over there.

Eric

And now that's that.

Eric

That whole problem with that is over, which is awesome.

Eric

It gave it a really good place, and it looks killer, too.

Barbara

That's awesome.

Barbara

Yeah, that's when I think that is a huge benefit to using linear drains for outdoor applications.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

Just what you said about the leaves.

Barbara

So on a point drain system outside, those can get covered with debris, leaves, whatever that might be.

Barbara

It could be a plastic bag, you know, it could be anything.

Barbara

And now your drain isn't draining anymore, and no one wants to go outside with a broom or a rake and, you know, get all that off in the middle of a downpour, big storm.

Barbara

So having that linear drain allows you to have so much more surface area with your, what we call grate free area that's going to allow the drain to continue to perform even if a portion of it is covered.

Eric

And what was cool was, too, is that unfortunately, because of the, the roots that were pushing up on the driveway, which is going to cause another issue down the road when I go to pave it.

Eric

That's a whole other issue.

Eric

But the problem that I have is, is that I also had these kind of ripples where the water was draining.

Eric

And so id have these basically little ponds that were in that space that would collect dirt.

Eric

And so if you walked across that to go in the front door, you always got dirt on your shoes, which tracked it inside the house.

Eric

And so it was this whole thing.

Eric

Now it created this nice straight trough that, of course, all that dirt is no longer there.

Eric

So it was just a great solution for a very kind of challenging application with it.

Eric

It wasnt just this perfectly flat driveway that I could cut into that would have been so easy.

Barbara

It never is.

Eric

It never is.

Eric

And what I like is that that's something that can be driven across.

Eric

It's something that can take the abuse of an exterior application.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

And when we do those types of specifications, we always ask, okay, what type of vehicle or what type of mission?

Barbara

What is getting driven over this?

Barbara

Great.

Barbara

Okay, is it just a car that me and you would have?

Barbara

Is it?

Barbara

Another thing that we have learned along the way is to ask during, especially for new construction, during the construction phase, what type of machinery is going to be driven over this?

Barbara

Great, because we've come up to that before where they said, oh, nothing's going over this.

Barbara

It's real easy breezy.

Barbara

And then lo and behold, why is the great all crumpled up?

Barbara

Oh, because they had this piece of heavy machinery rolling over it while they were building the pool or whatever that was.

Barbara

So it's all about the questions you ask and the questions you learn to ask.

Eric

Right.

Eric

It's.

Eric

Yeah, it's.

Eric

It's.

Eric

Nothing's destructible when it's made of metal.

Eric

Indestructible that way.

Eric

So you got to use a little common sense on that.

Eric

Maybe some protection, just like you do everything else on a project that, that still needs to be protected.

Eric

But I hadn't thought of that.

Eric

Yeah, you're good.

Eric

Until the excavation company comes out and starts driving over the top of it with the trackhole or something.

Eric

And now you got a bigger issue.

Barbara

Exactly.

Eric

Yeah.

Barbara

And over the years, these are the questions we learned to ask, being the experts and having a lot of projects under our belt.

Barbara

So it's all about asking the right questions.

Eric

And then literally, you could make that as big and long as you need to with that.

Eric

It's literally an infinity product because it can go as long as it needs to.

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

Either through stock components, custom fabrication kind of joke.

Barbara

If you can sketch it out on a cocktail, cocktail napkin or a piece of scratch paper, we can figure out how to make it.

Eric

Yeah.

Eric

And it's awesome.

Eric

And you can decide where you need to put the outlet.

Eric

Is the drain going down?

Eric

Is going out the end?

Eric

Where are these things going to be hooking into it so you can get the proper water flow as it exits the drain?

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

This year we launched a new component piece for our PVC drainage systems with a PVC channel.

Barbara

And it is.

Barbara

It can be rotated and used either as an end outlet or a side outlet.

Eric

To find out more about infinity drain, go to infinitydrain.com.

Eric

we'll be right back after these important messages.

Eric

Don't change that tile.

Eric

All right, it's the end of the show now.

Eric

Drinking down the people.

Eric

It's time to go.

Eric

It's that time again.

Eric

It's last call.

Eric

Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric

We've been talking with my friend Barbara from Infinity Drain.

Eric

She is their leading expert on everything about controlling water.

Eric

Architectural drains that really make things look beautiful and function really well.

Eric

Now let's get back to the conversation.

Barbara

And it is.

Barbara

It can be rotated and used either as an end outlet or a side outlet out of the bottom of that channel for outdoor applications.

Eric

Okay.

Eric

That's super cool.

Eric

That, that leaves a lot of options in the field.

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

And that was the feedback that we got.

Barbara

We're like, we can't line up these outlets perfectly along this 30, 60 foot run, whatever that is.

Barbara

We need more flexibility there.

Barbara

And so this is a component part that we launched in response to that.

Eric

Yeah.

Eric

That is awesome.

Eric

That is awesome.

Eric

And then colors.

Eric

You guys do a ton of finishes.

Eric

We talked about the style and the.

Eric

In the, in the function of it all, but you guys have a ton of colors, which is nice because that lets you match everything else in the room or the exterior of the house.

Barbara

Absolutely.

Barbara

We've got stocked finishes.

Barbara

Two years ago, we launched a specialty finishes program which added an additional five finishes.

Barbara

We can also do custom finishes.

Barbara

So let's say you order a faucet or a shower system from completely different manufacturer and antique rose gold brushed, whatever.

Barbara

If we have a finished, we've got a chip from that company.

Barbara

We can match that finish.

Barbara

So, and I always tell people things to consider when you're choosing your finish for your drain.

Barbara

And this can be interior or exterior.

Barbara

A lot of people choose to match their fixtures for interior, for showers.

Barbara

And that's a great way to do it.

Barbara

But you could also think about matching your flooring material.

Barbara

So if you did, like, a white marble, why not do a matte white drain?

Barbara

That way it's just going to blend into the floor.

Barbara

Matte black.

Barbara

There's a ton of different ways to make the drain disappear even more versus always matching your shower fixtures.

Barbara

And even on exterior applications using those oil rubbed bronze gunmetal matte black, those can give a really beautiful luxury look to your drain.

Eric

Absolutely.

Eric

And the one thing that I think people forget about in shower design is that the least matchable hardware is always the door hardware on the shower door.

Eric

Right.

Eric

And so, yes, that is the one that the technology has not caught up with yet.

Eric

And so people go, oh, maybe they picked a brizo color that's different than everybody else.

Eric

Those cats are known for that, right?

Eric

That, oh, it's like this, but different.

Eric

And so nothing ever matches.

Eric

So maybe try to think about how you're going to select that.

Eric

The drain's easy.

Eric

Now, how are you going to make that work with the shower door?

Eric

So maybe make the shower stuff match and everything else go over here if you're all matchy matchy like that.

Eric

But that's always that catch 22 of, oh, we can do that.

Eric

But, yeah, the shower door hardware comes in four finishes.

Eric

Which one would you like?

Barbara

That's where you get into the mixed finishes category, where you're like, no, we totally planned it like this.

Eric

Yes, yes.

Eric

I think that's half the reason why I went matte black in my bathroom a few years ago, because I just went, at least it's not going to match.

Eric

Like these seven different oil rub bronzes you can get.

Barbara

Exactly.

Barbara

Yes, I did polished nickel.

Barbara

And I was like, I can find that.

Eric

And they're gonna match.

Eric

They're gonna look good between the brands.

Eric

And that's the thing, is you can make it work, but that's part of the stuff that's interesting.

Eric

So how do people get ahold of you guys, Barbara, and start that process when they're working on starting the design of that shower?

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

So we are located in Amityville, New York, which is about an hour east of New York city on Long island.

Barbara

Call our customer service office.

Barbara

Real person answers the phone.

Barbara

How about that?

Barbara

Email as well, social media website, all the stuff.

Barbara

We also are sold through decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms locally.

Barbara

So you can check our dealer locator to see who those dealers are.

Barbara

Your local plumbing showroom, hardware, all of that.

Barbara

Those folks, those sales associates are a wealth of knowledge.

Barbara

They design and specify products for bathrooms every day.

Barbara

Lean on them, especially if you're not working with a designer or an architect.

Barbara

Lean on those folks.

Barbara

They can really help you find the right products to make your bathroom dreams come true.

Barbara

Highly recommend going through a brick and mortar showroom.

Eric

There we go.

Eric

And for all you guys out there listening on Li news radio in Long island, these guys are local.

Eric

Why not use them?

Eric

Little shout out to one of our newer stations out there so they're not that far away from you.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

On Long Island.

Eric

Long island, yes.

Barbara

Yeah.

Eric

So what have we missed today, my friend?

Eric

Have we not touched on anything you guys are doing?

Eric

You guys have so many little facets in the world of architectural drains.

Barbara

We do.

Barbara

Last but not least for anyone out there who's listening, who works on commercial projects, this year we launched elevator drains.

Barbara

This is turning into a code requirement in some municipalities to have a drain before you get into an elevator bay for fire safety.

Barbara

This is becoming a code New York City.

Barbara

We're finding this on the west coast in places as well.

Barbara

It's going to be spreading.

Barbara

So this is a big project that our engineering team has worked on for the past few years, and we've designed a, a drain to drain 100 gallons of water per minute.

Barbara

And that is the minimum for code for these elevator drains.

Barbara

So.

Eric

Holy smokes.

Barbara

Get ready.

Eric

Yeah, no joke.

Eric

That is a lot of water.

Barbara

Yeah.

Barbara

So it's a really cool product.

Barbara

It's beautiful.

Barbara

But also it's got to have that function, and especially in these cases where really people's lives depend.

Barbara

Depend on it, man.

Eric

No kidding.

Eric

I hadn't thought about that.

Eric

But you're right.

Eric

If you've got a fire and fire sprinklers are going off, last thing you need is water rushing down the common hole in the middle of the building.

Eric

That is getting people out of it.

Barbara

Exactly.

Eric

Makes sense.

Eric

Barbara, thanks for coming on today.

Eric

I just always have a great time chatting with you about this stuff because you guys just keep pushing the envelope on the cool stuff when it comes to moving that drain water.

Barbara

Thanks for having me.

Barbara

It's always a great time.

Eric

Thanks again.

Eric

You know, Barbara is such a great resource.

Eric

I love chatting with her.

Eric

I just did one of their drains across the front of my driveway because as we were talking about earlier, I just had this water that was coming all the way down my driveway, and it would hit kind of this low point right in front of my garage door.

Eric

And because of those roots, I'd get this whole muddy situation right there.

Eric

And the little nine by nine drain just couldn't handle all of that coming in there because if I had four of those maple leaves, it's plugged up, and now I got water coming in the garage.

Eric

And the last thing I need is wet tools.

Eric

So it's really a great thing to sit down, design out what you need, whether it's around the edge of a pool or it's in your shower or anywhere else you're doing this.

Eric

It is really smart to take the time, design it out, and it makes it so easy.

Eric

And it is built super durable.

Eric

And that's one of the things I like about this, you know, and especially when you're working with shower systems and things like that or some of these elevated decks that you're now putting stone or tile on.

Eric

And there's all these different new applications.

Eric

These drains are the way to go because they've built the flanges in that will work with all of these waterproofing systems.

Eric

And so it really makes it a very foolproof way to go.

Eric

And I really appreciate that because thats going to make that long term system stick and work well.

Eric

And youre not tearing it back out again because youve got some kind of a crazy water leak.

Eric

And thats where those benefits really are.

Eric

So take a look at that, plan it out.

Eric

And when youre doing a shower, these are the things that take you from a just a basic shower system all the way up into something thats very designer and something thats going to be much easier to maintain.

Eric

And like we were talking about earlier, with that hair filter on it, to be able to cake that out and not have to worry about a plugged up drain, that is pretty cool.

Eric

So really, if you're working on a shower inside, having that drain system, having your waterproofing, make sure that you're not hanging tile on just regular concrete board.

Eric

That you've got a waterproofing system behind it is really the key to a successful one.

Eric

And then, of course, making sure that you've got the right mortar and everything else throughout the project and using one of the next generation grouts, my favorite company that I work with, and they don't pay me a dime to say, this is when I do tile projects around the house, I use everything that Ardex does.

Eric

I use their products.

Eric

And then when I can, I use either their board or wheaties because when I do a shower system, it's really cool.

Eric

You can use their vapor 85 for a steam shower and keep that so it's really dialed in, and that's what's really cool.

Eric

I've got some great videos going to be coming up on our YouTube channel.

Eric

I want you guys to keep a look for that.

Eric

I'm doing some fall lawn care that'll be coming out shortly, as well as some shower system stuff.

Eric

So I'll have a new upgrade here coming up soon on my shower system on YouTube that you don't want to miss.

Eric

All right, if you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouseonline.com dot.

Eric

As always, everyone, thanks for tuning into around the house.

Eric

We'll see you next week on the podcast or next weekend on the radio show podcast.

Eric

Thanks for tuning in to around the house.

Eric

Stay safe out there somewhere unseen and undiscovered, anywhere beyond the me love is a love song.

Eric

Let's be lovers.

Eric

We're all over the race.