Next Two Weeks Will Be MISERABLE and Expensive

[rpjkw]

Multiple leaks in main water line under the slab. We'll have to have the entire house re-plumbed with water lines to run in the walls. Lots of sheet rock cutting with the attendant dust. What fun. With the temps in the low 90s, it's almost that warm in the house. We'll be living in a motel for the next week and MAYBE back to 'normal', except for painting, in two weeks.

Indoor plumbing is a wonderful thing as long as it's working properly.

This 'little job' will run about $10,000, with a LITTLE reimbursement from the HO insurance. Had I known this place had polybutylene pipe when I bought, I'd have thought twice. Oh well.

Thanks for letting me rant, Guys.

Bob

[Cratermaker]

Oh man, that stinks! I had never heard of that piping.

Found this:

"It’s in up to 10 Million Properties Nationwide.
From 1978 to 1995, up to ten million homes, mobile homes apartment buildings, and commercial structures were built with poly or had poly installed during remodeling. It’s commonly found in properties in the Sun Belt, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Pacific Northwest."


When was your home constructed?

[Willy]

If that's the stuff I'm thinking about, there was a big class action suit in the 90s against the manufacturers of mobile homes that were built with it. I had a job with a construction company back in the late 90s, replumbing them with PVC piping that was a result of the suit. Don't know if there was similar for regular homes.

Did a quick search and yep that's the stuff I used to replace. Here's a link on it.

http://www.polybutylene.com/myths.html

Sounds like you might could get some kind of reimbursement out of one of the suits.

[MaddogK]

I feel for ya, been rebuilding my bathroom for the last 3 months, and all I intended to do was replace the wax ring beneath the toilet (rotted floor). Since this started my basement has been flooded twice, lost power numerous times, purchased 500 bucks worth of tools I'll prolly never use again, and next month I need to have the roof done.

[rpjkw]

I found out about the polybutylene a couple years after we bought the townhouse and looked into it, but we didn't have a claim. The suit closed last year for any claims. The stuff was banned by Rio Ranch building codes a couple of years AFTER this place was built (15 years ago). We live in a gated community with 102 townhomes and, so far, an even dozen have had to do the same thing, five just within the last 90 days. Interesting how the 'service life' just exceeded the class action time limits. The wife is starting to pull her hair out and I'm afraid she'll start on mine soon.

I'll tell you this, when we move to Florida in about four years, we'll build a custom home so I can specify exactly what I want, starting with COPPER water lines.

Bob

[OBIO]

My wife keeps getting on the local real estate sites and showing me this or that house she thinks we should try to buy....not sure where we are supposed to get the money to buy a house when we are just scraping by now. I keep telling her that while owning a house would be nice as we could paint it how ever we want to, put down what ever kind of flooring we want to....there are just as many, if not more, down sides to owning a house as there are pluses. If the water pipes bust, the home owner has to have the money to fix it. If the roof tears off in a storm, better have deep pockets to have that fixed. As a renter....no worries. If the furnace goes out, all we have to do is call the landlord and he will have someone here in no time. If the steps leading up to the patio need rebuilt, as they did this spring, all I have to do is tell the landlord and he picks me up in his truck and off to the lumber yard we went. He bought the materials, I did the labor, and he paid me $50 for doing it.

[HouseHobbit]

Yes, I have had to help several friends the past few years redo all their plumming,
Because of this stuff..
I do feel sorry for all who were BRUNT by this..

And Of course, those who got rich from selling this Junk, are still rich..
And we got the "PIPE" stuck to us..LOL..

I hope all works out well for you..

[Dain Arns]

Multiple leaks in main water line under the slab. We'll have to have the entire house re-plumbed with water lines to run in the walls. Lots of sheet rock cutting with the attendant dust. What fun. With the temps in the low 90s, it's almost that warm in the house. We'll be living in a motel for the next week and MAYBE back to 'normal', except for painting, in two weeks.

Indoor plumbing is a wonderful thing as long as it's working properly.

This 'little job' will run about $10,000, with a LITTLE reimbursement from the HO insurance. Had I known this place had polybutylene pipe when I bought, I'd have thought twice. Oh well.

Thanks for letting me rant, Guys.

Bob


Feel your pain. Sorta.
I really, really do.
The contractor that built this house decided to save time and money by putting the main right directly under it.
Underneath a two story house.
In an area with ground water.
It was built in the late 70's, so polybutylene line.
*sigh*

Woke up to a very wet laundry room one morning a couple years after we moved in.
On rural water, so that's where the meter is.
No good well water in these parts.

To get that fixed, it involved a cutting a hole in the basement floor.
Over the next year noticed the water bill got more and more expensive.
About a year later, I could hear the sound of running water, directly under the house.
Could hear it eating away at the floor.
Enough was enough.

Several thousand dollars later, and thankfully a very understanding neighbor who let equipment be parked on her lawn, we had the line properly routed around the outside of the house( in case it ever broke again), with much a much better line.
Thankfully, the rural water company replaced the head for us for free at the time, since we had it tore up.