Tenants report water in the basement

Sinks, showers, pipes - usually pertaining to water or sewage. So don't mix them up.
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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Tenants report water in the basement

Post by kevm14 »

My tenants reported water pooling behind the washing machine. It would come and go. First we thought it was the washing machine. Then I said to check the shutoff valve for the faucet at the back of the house (seen it drip before and is above this general area). Then we thought maybe the toilet or something in the bathroom?

We got about as far as we could get over text and I decided to go over and check it out for myself.

I tried some shots over the top of the wall (it is partially finished). This is the main plumbing stack that goes out to the septic system. It's cast iron and then things that plumb into it are copper, with the exception of the toilet which is all cast iron. It is also very close to the stack for efficient shit flow.
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We were able to rule out the toilet though I was convinced it was the toilet before I came over. I was going to replace the toilet and the closet flange which would have been a bit of a project because it is cast iron.
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Eventually I had to cut into the wall to check out different things.

Turns out it was the main drain pipe from the kitchen, which is 1-1/2" copper. Check this out.
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The pipe was split nearly the entire length on this 45 degree down slope. Crazy. It seemed to be eroded and maybe the pipe is made with a seam so this was the natural place to split. Or it just eroded and eventually got so thin that it cracked.
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So for the repair it turns out you can't buy 1-1/2" copper pipe from anywhere but a plumbing supply house. So I didn't do that. I just used two rubber couplers and cut a length of 1-1/2" PVC and clamped the upper coupler to the elbow itself (not the pipe). For the lower part I heated up the reducer with my torch, removed the piece of pipe and clamped the rubber coupler to the adapter. This seems to work just fine and I think I'm just going to say it's permanent. I told them to let everything dry, vacuum and spray bleach in the areas that were wet. This worked out surprisingly well, assuming it holds.

Total in parts: about $20.

As Red Green says, this is a temporary repair, unless it works.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Tenants report water in the basement

Post by kevm14 »

It's working. Time to close up the wall.
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Rigged up some 1/2" plywood pieces behind the existing wall to give the cut out pieces something to bite on. Lots of screws, which I already had, in addition to the scrap wood. So this was totally free (aside from my time). I could putty over it or just leave it.
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