Condo Re Pipe

BeyGon · 02-05-2013, 10:14 AM

Our condo, 2000 sq ft, two story, is scheduled for a complete re pipe the 18th of this month, they are doing them in order and working up to us. The water here eats through the copper pipe, it's been a problem for a few years in the area. Last week my wife heard a noise that I just thought was neighbors plumbing or outside sprinklers, but Saturday night she said, listen to this wall, downstairs in a bathroom, yes, there is a problem. So now we have repair people in the house, pulled the cabinets out of the laundry room and the bathroom, the drywall is out and equipment in there to dry the place out. They won't be putting drywall back up until the people come to re pipe the place. It's a mess. If the leak could have waited a couple more weeks, if only. We have two other full bathrooms so that helps but the washer and dryer are out, it maybe laundromat time for a week or so. I think the bill to re pipe would have been 6 or 8K but the HOA, I don't think, will replace the cabinets and sink area. We will see.

Aragorn · 02-05-2013, 10:28 AM

Most new homes around here use pex. I'm not sold on it yet and probably wouldn't use it. Doesn't corode though.

You don't have any moisture/mold problems? That can get expensive to get rid of.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

My first house got flooded by the ticking time bomb polybutalene pipes, but not before the deadline for claims on the class action settlement had passed. What a PITA that whole thing was. It was my first house and I didn't know any better. And my realtor and home inspector were in cahoots, made zero mention of it. After that I always looked at the pipes in the basement when looking at houses.

Crowbob · 02-05-2013, 11:19 AM

I thought this thread was going to have pics of a sunny Caribbean resort type place that I will never be able to experience. Wrong!

BeyGon · 02-05-2013, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crowbob

I thought this thread was going to have pics of a sunny Caribbean resort type place that I will never be able to experience. Wrong!

maybe compared to Michigan it is.

tevake · 12:40 PM

Crowbob, I am working on the pics of our just repainted condo here in Kauai, to put up with the listing. And will post here soon to tempt you:-)

The water damage issue is tricky, Our condo rules state that any thing inside of the outermost walls is yours to deal with. But In your case the damage came from within the wall.
Do keep us posted, and good luck with it.

Cheers Richard

PS have you reviewed the CC&Rs, condo rules?

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

My condo in San Diego polybutalene pipes but my unit had been re-done in copper. Then the copper started springing pinhole leaks.

sailchef · sailchef's Garage

Had the same pin hole nightmare several times with copper pipe. I have a single story and decided to replace all the copper with cpvc just two years ago. Did all the work myself, section by section over the summer during free time.

Its a lot easier gluing peices together rather than braising. Probably couldn't have done it in some areas with copper as there would have been no room to get a torch close enough to the copper pipe to braze it.

It cost maybe 300 bucks in material. It was a lot of work so I can see why it cost so much to have a contractor do it.

recycled sixtie · recycled sixtie's Garage

As an aside the condo owners in our building where our unit is rented out voted in favor of a water treatement conditioner unit. The taps, shutoff valves were getting calcified and required too frequent replacement. Total cost $10k. Perhaps your local water is not compatible with the pipes?Check with other buildings in that neighborhood to see what kind of pipes they have in place and extra treatment needed for the water?

GWN7 · 02-05-2013, 02:56 PM

Interesting reading on the possible causes of pin hole leaks here: Copper Pinhole Leaks

Is it just your building? Or does this happen in your area? If it's just your building then the HOA and the builders might be responsible for the repairs.

I redid my other house in PEX about 5 years ago. Redid the copper lines twice and then went to PEX because the house isn't heated in the winter.

jwhcars · 02-05-2013, 05:30 PM

I agree in investing in a water treatment system. This should solve future problems and the water will taste a lot better.

BeyGon · 02-05-2013, 06:18 PM

To answer most of the questions, it is the water in the area, a lot of places here in Dana Point have been having this problem, most built about 20 years ago. The copper pipe gets the pinhole leaks, this one developed into a big leak before we saw it. The house is on the side of a hill and this was in the wall of a downstairs bath. the water leaked out under the house, mostly, but did damage the drywall and cabinets. So we didn't have a noticeable leak in the place. Probably went on for a week or so. Yes, the HOA pays for the re pipe and whatever they do to fix it, paint the walls they mess up and such. It would have been a quick, three day problem if not for the leak. Now the drywall and cabinets are out of the laundry room and the one bath. If the repair had started at our end of the project we would have been lucky.

Nobody drinks tap water

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

After the copper pinhole leaks, I'm sold on PVC for water pipes.