We bought a house three years ago with a beautiful looking bathroom that had been remodeled. In the last 12 months, we have experienced two leaks due to poor plumbing by whoever did the remodel (probably a DIY job to get it looking good and at least functional).
This past Friday, I was about to go to work and noticed a drip coming from underneath the bathroom's sink. I used my fingers to wiggle it a bit, thinking, this is weird, when the valve stop shot off the supply line and I experienced that moment where I'm yelling at my wife to turn the water off (she found a neighbor) while I tried jamming this thing back on. Imagine a cartoon where the water is coming out like a firehose into a guys face. That was me.
Had a neighbor who is a plumber from a company that charges RIDICULOUS fees graciously walk down and explained that I had a shark bite fitting not properly installed, and just by the looks of things, it looks like he a middle schooler plumbed this remodel. I glued proper valves on to stop the leak.
That was depressing. Then I got a stomach bug, which was like getting kicked in the face after being kicked in the junk. Fast forward to today...
I had a plumber come out who does whole house plumbing for custom homes (a good friend just happens to build custom homes in the area and uses him for all his plumbing). He opened up the ceiling underneath and saw all types of mixing of pvc with abs with wrong connections, pex to copper to cpvc to pex back to cpvc for the shower and sinks, and improper fittings all over the place (one type of shark bite works with everything!!!)
Total replumb of the remodel from the copper to the faucets, fixing the ABS, and doing some other small things for $1400. I think thats a great price, considering the cost of waiting for another leak, and just having roto-rooter take a quick peak and spout off, "It'll be 4,000 minimum, and you cut the drywall and clean up."

TLDR: What seemed like a great bathroom remodel looks like it was done cheap by a guy who wanted to sell his house, and will cost us. At least I have peace of mind. Rant over.

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

Quote:

---

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

---

Permits? hahahaha

But seriously, I live in the burbs of Houston, and I've only ever gotten a permit to redo my septic because its not a DIY job, and the installers won't do anything without the right permits (which the charge quadruple to do on your behalf, by the way).

UpstateAg said:

---

Had a neighbor who is a plumber from a company that charges RIDICULOUS fees graciously walk down and explained that I had a shark bite fitting not properly installed, and just by the looks of things, it looks like he a middle schooler plumbed this remodel.

I had a plumber come out who does whole house plumbing for custom homes (a good friend just happens to build custom homes in the area and uses him for all his plumbing). He opened up the ceiling underneath and saw all types of mixing of pvc with abs with wrong connections, pex to copper to cpvc to pex back to cpvc for the shower and sinks, and improper fittings all over the place (one type of shark bite works with everything!!!)

TLDR: What seemed like a great bathroom remodel looks like it was done cheap by a guy who wanted to sell his house, and will cost us. At least I have peace of mind. Rant over.

---

To this day, I'm surprised they still sell these...Shark Bite and/or Gator Bite fittings!

I've used them a few times in emergency repairs only but I never trust them as far as I can throw them and always replace them with crimp type fittings instead. I've seen too many incidents where they have failed and caused major flooding damage.

The latest was a couple of years ago when our friends were remodeling a bathroom and were waiting on the tub faucet valve kit to arrive so they just capped the lines with Shark Bite caps. They were visiting us for the 4th of July, when they installed them, and when they returned home that night, their home was flooded as one of the caps had popped off.

Had it happen to me once when I temporarily capped a line while replacing a water heater. Luckily, I was still there when it popped off so minimal damage involved. I had even examined and properly cleaned the copper line before installing it (as recommended, which people don't do, especially if they are not familiar with them) to no avail.

I just hope the previous owner, or whomever remodeled that bathroom, didn't use them inside of the walls as well...

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

Quote:

---

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

---

Look at the sellers disclosure. It should have a spot for "Are you (seller) aware of any additions, modifications, repairs, etc. made without proper permits?"

Your city can tell you what permits have been pulled in the past 3 or so years.

---

I'm going to go with "NO". Good luck Mr. Homeowner.

They are being replaced. Literally everything that appears to have been touched by these morons is being redone.

As an inspector I see this quite a bit.

I get yelled at by the builder/seller when I show them the crappy remodwled/built shower enclosure leaks.

Around here, I would say the bad to good ratio of remodels. Is at best 60/40,maybe even 80/20.

If it is in the walls, what can a home inspector do during that two hour walkthrough?
My general DIY jobs in our house are:
Demo, Scrape popcorn, drywall, tape/mud, replace trim and mounding, paint, install can lighting, replace light switches. I hire out things like installing the load bearing beams.
But this has me hiring a retired electrician to come and check all my work.

UpstateAg said:

---

If it is in the walls, what can a home inspector do during that two hour walkthrough?
My general DIY jobs in our house are:
Demo, Scrape popcorn, drywall, tape/mud, replace trim and mounding, paint, install can lighting, replace light switches. I hire out things like installing the load bearing beams.
But this has me hiring a retired electrician to come and check all my work.

---

Not much, honestly. Usually there are indicators of a poor diy job that give me an overall feel. But you are correct, I'm not looking in the wall or pulling on wall valves. Don't really want to be in that cartoon then get sued for flooding the sellers house.

if they did the plumbing that poorly i wonder how the rest of the workmanship was in that bathroom...

The home inspector seem to think that the quality of their products was good, and stuff like the shower install looked sound. We will find out more when we open up the walls.

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

Quote:

---

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

---

Look at the sellers disclosure. It should have a spot for "Are you (seller) aware of any additions, modifications, repairs, etc. made without proper permits?"

Your city can tell you what permits have been pulled in the past 3 or so years.

---

Probably plenty of locations where permits aren't required. So the answer to that question is and honest, "No."

UpstateAg said:

---

The home inspector seem to think that the quality of their products was good, and stuff like the shower install looked sound. We will find out more when we open up the walls.

---

Please update this thread with the findings...inquiring minds like to know! Been there, done that as I totally gutted 2 houses we lived in to the studs to perform major remodels and it was amazing what we found in the walls.

When my son bought their house in Dallas, I was there when they were having a remodel done on the kitchen and living room areas (removed some walls, etc. The previous homeowner had done a DIY remodel of the kitchen to partially open a wall to the living area. Inside that wall were about 8 electrical runs that were just wire nut connected within the wall, none were in exposed junction boxes for any of the connections as required by code.

And when the u-verse guy was there, he asked if there was an electrical outlet to use for their equipment in the attic above the closet he was going to install their equipment in. There wasn't, so I got in the attic to install one there for him from the junction box near the A/C unit about 10 feet away. When I pulled the wiring up, running to the j-box, out of the insulation an arc occurred and a breaker tripped as there was an open plastic j-box in the insulation that just had a wire nutted connection in it that shorted out. After further inspection, I discovered that the j-box had been melted considerably as the wires were not properly twisted together before the wire nuts were put on so the loose connections had heated up over time. Had the u-verse guy not asked about possibly installiing an outlet in that area, there's no telling when, not if, that would have eventually lead to a house fire...

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

Quote:

---

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

---

Look at the sellers disclosure. It should have a spot for "Are you (seller) aware of any additions, modifications, repairs, etc. made without proper permits?"

Your city can tell you what permits have been pulled in the past 3 or so years.

---

Well... The issue there is that he would need have known he needed a permit to begin with to technically be lying on the disclosure. In SA, you technically need to pull a permit to install a prehung door. Nobody is going to disclose they replaced a door without a proper permit because I doubt most DIY homeowners even know that there's a permit for it.

I don't know why but I can't stop laughing

maybe, but it's everything the inspector can't see that matters. waterproofing, etc.

Plumbers are out this morning. It is amazing how efficient and clean they make this job in removing drywall and old pipes and putting in the new lines.
Stuff that was replaced:
Abs and pvc mix pieces were not fully together. Would have been another leak.
Cpvc was done wrong going to shower and was leaking through an improper glue job.
New washing machine area put in.
Other than the messed up plumbing from the copper to a myriad of different materials with sharkbite connections, everything else looks good.

While I have stuff opened up, I've got an electrician coming by tomorrow to check a few things and put in an outlet to the outside.

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

Quote:

---

My question though: do you have to disclose your DIY work if you never pulled a permit? I always get paperwork and notify the city when I'm about to do something, and sometimes they send an inspector to check the big stuff, like AC. They did nothing when I put in my LVL beam. Just wondering.

---

Look at the sellers disclosure. It should have a spot for "Are you (seller) aware of any additions, modifications, repairs, etc. made without proper permits?"

Your city can tell you what permits have been pulled in the past 3 or so years.

---

This is probably your only recourse.

The waste line that was "fixed" by previous homeowner didn't have couplings on properly. Guy showed me how they slipped right off. Amazing!

The previous owner who "fixed" a leak in our guest bath tub drain just sprayed it with flex seal (and did a crappy job of that). I feel your pain.

I thought shark bites were good. I put my new water heater in with them. Sounds like I should have that redone

None of the plumbers that I have talked to in the past week use them. Not sure what the rest of the board thinks, but after seeing what it takes for one to fail, I'm not putting them in my house and replaced all of them.

Shark bites in open areas have been recommended as ok. Mostly because if it fails you can see it.

But I wouldn't put it in the walls. Garage water heater? Sure.

Dr. Doctor said:

---

Shark bites in open areas have been recommended as ok. Mostly because if it fails you can see it.

But I wouldn't put it in the walls. Garage water heater? Sure.

---

As long as you're there to catch it in the process like I was lucky to do in my situation...our friends who's house was flooded while they were away, not so much!

Unless it happens while you are on vacation.

https://texags.com/forums/61/topics/3026332/replies/54000453

Dark side of this house flipping trend.

Still laughing about trying to stop the flow of water while yelling at your wife to shut off the water.

Kind of interested on how that played out.

I'm imagining that there were all kind of follow up questions and ****, that she actually had to see you getting blasted in the face with water and the bathroom destroyed before taking any sort of action in furtherance of actually turning off the ******* water.

In other words at this stage of my life, I'm having difficulty imagining a scenario where you tell a spouse, "turn off X, it's an emergency!"

Aaannnd they actually do it in a quick and efficient manner.

insulator_king said:

---

Unless it happens while you are on vacation.

https://texags.com/forums/61/topics/3026332/replies/54000453

---

and it ALWAYS happens when you are on vacation!

I have used sharkbites for years without a single problem. I have researched (online) quite a bit. If installed properly I would recommend their use. I have only installed them where I can inspect them.

-I only use the Shark-Bite Brand
-I also avoid contactor packs (a plumber told me they are made cheaper, I have no clue, but this is what i have done)
-Since they use an o-ring I use the special de-burring tool and mark the required depth for each one.
-i only make the connection with a de-burred clean end and ensure it is set to the marked depth.
-Since it is an o-ring, i avoid more than 2-3 uses (remove and put back on).
-I've read they are more susceptible to freeze failure, which seems to cause some of the horror stories. Also note that most folks don't de-burr which could lead to the o-ring being damaged.
- Technically the o-ring could degrade over the years. Shark-Bite claims they use high quality material. Only time will tell here, but i haven't seen anything conclusive.

Overall I have been very happy with them, the problems I've seen have been from people not using them properly. Even so, I've never put one where i can't inspect it.