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.
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.