Shiny, Pretty Things Have Arrived

Late last night UPS delivered a box to me from my good friends at Astro Chrome & Polish. There were a few surprises, but all and all, I am very pleased with the results.



Above is the shot of what I had nickel plated. None of these things had ever been plated. They were unfinished brass when I sent them in. The tub waste and feet are from the 1920s and made by Crane. The tub was from one of the rental unit bathrooms I removed from the house, so they were a low-end Crane item.

The odd thing about the tub waste is the horizontal piece that connects the tub drain to the over-flow drain. This is not the one I sent them. All of the parts on the tub waste were the original 1920s heavy brass when I removed it from the tub, except that short horizontal pipe. It had been replaced with a modern chrome plated steel piece, which was already starting to rust. Before I sent it to Astro I went and bought a new one and replaced it. The one I bought only had threads at one end and was chrome plated steel. The one Astro sent back has threads at both ends and is now nickel plated brass. I have no explanation for this, but I got a better piece back than I sent them, so I don’t think I will call and complain.



The two rectangular brackets are for the marble sink. They will mount to the wall and support the ends of the marble apron. I had these fabricated by Don from Vintage Plumbing. I added the two little finials myself before they were plated. I found a set of finials at Ace that you could use to replace a standard hinge pin on a 3-inch door hinge. I took the finials off and soldered them on to the ends of the brackets because I thought it would look cool. Unfortunately I did a crappy job soldering them and one fell off during the plating process. I can’t fault Astro for this, because honestly, I assumed they would both fall off. I just need to find a way to stick it back on that doesn’t require a torch.



The toilet paper holder came out really nice but they did forget to return the 4 tiny screws that I needed to reassemble it. I guess they removed the arms to plate it. It was 39 cents for 4 new screws, so no big deal. I bought this on Ebay, but not to use in the bathroom. I have another one for that. This was listed with a wall mount soap dish as a “1970s Soap Dish and TP Holder”. It had a Buy It Now price of $12.95 for the pair. Obviously it was miss-labeled. I’m using the soap dish in the bathroom and I had this plated and I’m going re-list it for what it really is, an 1890s to 1910 TP Holder. I think it will go for around $100.



The feet came out as well as can be expected. I was warned by Astro that they would not be perfect because of some of the pitting in the cast iron from rust. They were right. Still, I think they look very nice. It’s not something you will notice unless you get right up close to them. Maybe some morning when I wake up hung-over on the bathroom floor I might notice as I left my head towards the toilet bowl. Other than that, it should be fine.

Over all, I give Astro Chrome & Polish two enthusiastic thumbs up. Considering how much could have gone wrong, 39 cents worth of missing screws is a small price to pay for fast service and good workmanship.

Nickel News

When I got home from work today there was a message on my machine from Astro Chrome & Polishing telling me my plumbing parts had been nickel plated and were ready for shipping. I put the groceries away and then went to the computer to look up their number, but before I could they called again. I think the guy’s name was Joe. He said he called again because UPS was getting ready to show up and if he got my billing information he could ship the box out today.

Ten days ago when I last talked to Joe he said it would take about 2 weeks to plate the parts I sent in. The quote was $325, not including shipping. Today I was told the total with shipping and taxes came to $341.58. I spent about $20 to ship the parts down, so it seems they came in a little under the quote.

So far I’m thrilled with the service I've received. The last piece of the puzzle will be the quality of the plating. When we spoke the last time, Joe warned me that the cast iron claw feet for the tub may not come out perfect because the old cast iron has some pitting. The other items are brass, so there should not be an issue, despite the age.

It’s too early to start gushing over the job they did, but so far I’m thrilled, especially given the problems I’ve had with others during this bathroom restoration project. Speaking of those others, the first time I called them back in November or December about buying a marble vanity from them I was told that it would need to be shipped freight because it was too heavy for UPS. That is what started the whole saga of me almost driving down to Murphys, CA in the first place. Today, I got a UPS tracking number for a marble vanity being shipped from an antiques dealer in Wisconsin. The only difference between the Wisconsin vanity and the one I looked at in Murphys is the price. The one in Wisconsin one was exactly half the cost of the one in Murphys.

Plating Prices Presented

I got a call today from Astro Chrome and Polishing on the items I sent in to be nickel plated. I wasn’t home when they called so I was not able to confirm the information, but the message was clear. This is for stripping and plating 4 claw foot tub feet, a drain assembly for a claw foot tub, a fancy, cast brass TP holder, and a pair of small brackets for the marble sink. The reason I’m doing the tub feet is because they will see more water than normal because of the tub shower design. Originally, I was just going to paint them. The whole procedure will be to strip back to bare metal, copper pre-plate, nickel plate, and then polish.



Above are the results of the poll I posted. I never posted a guess in the pole, but the figure I had in my head was about 50% lower than the actual cost. To be fair, though, I had no idea since I've never had anything like this done before. I could have gotten it done cheaper, I’m sure, but I feel you sometimes get what you pay for. It would suck big time if the tub feet started rusting in a few years. Sometimes it’s worth it in the long run to do it right the first time.

There is also the issue of paying for not having to deal with flakes and losers. I think a good indication of the work that will be done is the promptness with which they contacted me. I shipped the package late Thursday to LA and they called me with a quote today, on Monday. I just get this feeling that I'm not going to be shipping these items back to them 2 or 3 times for them to finally get it right.

The total comes to {drum roll}: $325.00

Yes, that’s a lot of money, and some people will think I’m nuts, and they’re probably right.

Plating News

I called Astro Chrome & Polishing today to see about sending them some bathroom items for nickel plating. I tried to get an estimate from the person I spoke with, but he basically said it all depends on condition. The best he could tell me was that there was a $75 minimum, so it will be at least that much.

I mentioned it yesterday, but to recap, I’m having a few things for the bathroom nickel plated. On some, the original plating has worn off, others are new, fabricated parts that need to be plated, and some were never plated, but for the sake of protection, I’m having them plated.

I’ve never done this before, so it’s new territory for me. We don’t have anyone locally that can do it. I called some places in the area and did not feel good about the conversation I had with them. With one guy I had to repeatedly correct him that it was nickel and not chrome I wanted, and others sort of had funny comments when I told them these were antique plumbing parts.

Astro Chrome & Polishing was recommended to me by Don Hooper, who owns Vintage Plumbing. When I spoke to the man at Astro today, he didn’t flinch when I mentioned it was old plumbing parts. I sort of tried to give him as much information about what it was I wanted plated, and the condition it was in, while we were talking. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get a, “Boy, I don’t know about that”, or, “Well, I guess we can do that”. With each curve ball I threw at him his response was something like, “Yes, we’re familiar with that”, or “We do this often”. It’s just the sort of thing you want to hear.

On their web site they even have a link for “Hardware” and it shows a few pictures of nicely nickel plated bathroom and door hardware, along with some other high-end house wares. The man I spoke with told me to UPS the items to him, and once they get them, they will contact me with an estimate. I’m going to send them out tomorrow or Friday.


The Polls are still open.

I Miss The Nickel & Diming

Today I made a large purchase from DEA Bath for some shiny nickel plated bathroom things. It’s all the exposed plumbing and some assorted toilet parts. It’s going to come to over $1,100 once shipping and taxes are factored in. Ouch! I know it’s very un-American but I hate spending money and I hate having debt.

The debt is very minor at this point. I sort of got a little behind when I was doing the kitchen and the idea was to pay it off when I was painting the exterior, which was relatively affordable. I’m not sure what happened, but I finished painting the house and I still had the debt. Now it’s growing. It’s a home equity loan, and I’m investing it in the home, so it’s not the end of the world. I just like to complain about it. Now that I’ve done the complaining we can move on.

At the beginning of December I called DEA Bath about selling them some vintage toilets and sinks that I didn’t need. I was going to get store credit for some of the plumbing parts I wanted. The biggest item was going to be a marble vanity. Because the vanity has exposed plumbing, I needed to get that item nailed down before I could rough in plumbing and electrical. I spoke with a guy named Tim Daley and he was about as unhelpful as anyone could possibly be.

This is not run-of-the-mill, garden verity stuff I’m dealing with. I’m rebuilding a 100 year old toilet, sink and tub. I had a few questions and he was unable to answer them. At first it was fine because I know that not everybody is an expert. I would give him a few things to follow up on and I would call back in a few days and he had not followed up on them. He wasn’t able to get me pictures of the vanities I asked for, and he seemed not to know the inventory well. He would email me work orders to review and he would have part numbers and pricing wrong. It was annoying but I tried to be patient.

Finally, after about three weeks in to this I started to get very impatient with him. I told him I was going to be driving down with the vintage plumbing parts and I needed to make arrangements. I asked him when he thought he would have all the parts I ordered ready for me. The idea was that I would pick up everything I ordered at the same time, and save money on shipping. Tim’s answer was, “It’ll be ready, when it’s ready”.

That was pretty much the end of it. I told Tim I was taking my plumbing parts else where. I would buy the vanity else where, and maybe if he had time in a month or two I would call back for some of the other parts. A lot of this was done via email and after I emailed them saying I was taking my business else where I got a call from the owner. I was so disappointed at this point that I did return his call.

I’ve dealt with DEA Bath in the past and my last experience was exactly the opposite as this. I didn’t handle this well at all. The first time I felt that Tim was dropping the ball I should have asked to speak to the manager. Eventually my short fuse ran out and as a matter of principle I couldn’t go back. The trouble is, there are some things DEA Bath has that I can’t get other places. So today I called them and placed an order.

I got a guy named Jim this time. He was very knowledgeable and very helpful. He knew the inventory and what parts go with what parts. I gave him a wrong part number at one point – I transposed two numbers - and he immediately stopped me and questioned it. I told him the part name and he knew exactly what I was talking about. I asked him if all the parts were in stock and with out putting down the phone he assured me they were and it would ship tomorrow. I really wished I had gotten Jim the first time.

If you have vintage plumbing in your house and someone tells you it can’t be repaired because the parts aren’t available, call DEA Bath first. They really are good people and know their shit. However, if a guy named Tim answers the phone either ask for someone else, or hang up and call back later.

Don To The Rescue

I contacted Don Hooper, the owner of Vintage Plumbing, about 2 weeks ago asking about wall brackets to go with my sink legs. I had bought a pair of 1890s, nickel plated sink legs on Ebay to use in the downstairs bathroom. The legs support the front two corners of a marble vanity, and then there should be brackets mounted to the wall to support the other two comers.

I’ve since discovered that the wall brackets have a small post on the top that accepts a hole on the underside of the vanity. This is what holds the vanity to the wall. Once the backsplash is in place, the only way to get the vanity away from the wall without disassembling it, would be to break the marble. The brackets, it seem, play a larger role than just helping to support the marble.

Anyway, I contacted Don 2 weeks ago asking if he had any brackets, or if he knew where I could get some. He emailed me back within minutes and said he makes a reproduction pair and he’d be happy to sell me a set if he still had any. We agreed on a price and I waited for him to contact me telling me he had a pair for me. I never heard back from him.

Even after a few days the pessimist inside me began to doubt I would ever hear from Don again. His site is pretty popular, and being that he is located in LA, I’m sure he gets a lot of local traffic. Also, judging from his site, he mostly deals in high-end stuff for big spenders, and I just figured me and my little request from a couple of brackets might be too mundane. Woa-is-me, right?

On Friday, just a few days ago, I decided I’d better try and find an alternative to Don Hooper. The brackets are roughly 1 X 5 inches, and are a fairly simple design. I started searching for fabricators to make me a pair. I needed to find someone who does non-industrial fabrication. A lot of places I saw on-line were fabricating parts for production machinery and industry prototypes. Not really what I needed.

I eventually found Vulcan Metals in St. Louis, MO. Their site said they would fabricate anything from as small as a pencil holder to as large as hotel railings. Judging from the pictures they do a lot of high-end residential railings, bar BQs, tables, chairs, etc. I shot off an email to one of their estimators, along with a crude drawing of what I needed.

Well, wouldn't you know it, later that day I got an email from Don at Vintage Plumbing saying he just located a pair! I shot off another email to Vulcan saying, “Oops, never mind”. I told Don I’d take them. He gave me two prices. One was for finished but unplated brass, and the other was for finished and nickel plated brass. As it turns out I need to get the waste pipes for the claw foot tub nickel plated, so I said I’d take them unplated and just add them in when I plated the pipes.

I asked him about a good nickel plater and he suggested Astro Chrome & Polishing in Van Nuys, CA. He said he’s been going there for 30 years, and people ship stuff to them all the time. That is exactly what I want to here. He suggested that I request copper pre plating before the nickel plating for better results when having something replated. I don’t understand it exactly, but it seems the copper adheres better to a already polished surface than the nickel does. Works for me.

Next all I need is the marble skirting, oh, and the marble vanity itself. I’m hoping to pick up the vanity in a week or two, and after that I’ll know what size skirting to get. It’ll feel good to have this out of the way.