10-5-11 Wednesday (Builder Water Torture)

When we last left our calm annoyed blogger, Garret, he was expecting the plumber to come today… at 9:00am.  By 10:15, no plumber.  I had to call the Adams Homes Warranty Department.  They’d have to call me back after checking into it.  With a return call from them, the story is that there was a “mixup”.  Like what?  I don’t know and frankly didn’t care.  The plumbers showed up at 11:00am.  I pointed out the water stains, my suspicions and the like.  They ran the water in the tubs for a long time.  They stood downstairs staring up at the ceiling as if awaiting a message from God.  Psssst, God said fix the leaks.  I was standing upstairs and had better reception. 

Since the leak investigation process takes a while, why not check out a photography link from my friend and dentist, Dr. David Lesansky?  With his superhero, alter-ego, photographing self marketed as “Jack”, I present to you his gallery of amazing photography: Jack’s Darkroom.  He likes arches and doorways as well as industrial scenes.  I like old dilapidated barns and such.  Visit his darkroom, support him.  There’s no photos of teeth, you’ll be fine.

The plumbers are still investigating so I’ll remind you about 3 of my favorite photos that I took:

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Fabulous, huh? The rest of my favorite are on the blogs left side-bar toward the top or you can see them here too.

Do you remember the story of the dentist, foot in mouth, orange walls… sound familiar?  It’s a classic story.  It’s usually a faux pas Jim would do.  Really.  Here’s the back story if you’re interested.  A reminder:

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Back to the plumber.  He believes that water is getting behind the faceplate and he wants to caulk it or he can cut a hole in the ceiling to be sure.  I opt for a hole in the ceiling since caulking this just doesn’t seem right.  What did the manufacturer of the faucet suggest?  Why didn’t the plumber who installed it do that?  Why didn’t the builder catch that?  This plumber of the same company that plumbed the house said he’d always recommend caulking.  I decline… for now.

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The cutting of the ceiling begins.  About now, I think I want to cry.

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The drywall dust…  It sucks:

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He says “there’s a river up there”, while gesturing toward the lovely hole.  They go upstairs to run the water some more and I climbed up the ladder for a peek:

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They think it’s coming from the drain.  He needs to cut a hole in the master linen closet to inspect and repair.  I had to empty it’s contents of sweaters, sheets, and towels.  It almost pushed me toward the cry I so much wanted to have.  I feel like we’ve worked our asses off just to get the house the way it was only to undo it.  To run in reverse.

He finds the water valve leaking.

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2011-10-05 015Above: Yep, looks wet.

Next he needs to cut a hole in the guest linen closet to investigate that leak.

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He shows me some water laying on the floor.

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I watch in the hole as the other plumber splashes water at the water controls.  Water leaks down as captured in the next photo.  I finally agree to caulking around the fixtures.

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The plumbers finished up the repairs and did clean up the immediate vicinities.  I still had to dust and what not.

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I hadn’t realized that he “sealed” up some of the holes.  We probably would have liked them to stay open to allow air to circulate up there.  We’re concerned about mold too.  I told the warranty department that we’d like to put off drywall repair for a couple of weeks.  We have company coming this weekend and we’d also like to be sure the leaks are completely gone.

By the way, this morning I captured this photo from the side of the house while walking Dasher.

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For Thursday’s post, I’ll take photos of the house so far…  See ya then.

6 comments:

  1. What a mess !!!! We had that problem with our tub when we first bought the house. The water ran down and ended up in the garage, soaking everything on its way. I discovered that the gasket was installed upside down. With the curve of the tub there is a thicker and a thinner end and the thinner end was down and therefore did not seal tight, allowing water to get through. When I turned the gasket around it solved the problem. You would think the plumber who did that would know, right? Caulking will do the job but what happens when the caulking gets old and starts to leak? That gasket should be fixed. And there should have been access panels to the plumbing made when the wall and plumbing were done in the first place. Stupid builders....

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  2. I forgot to mention that I LOVE the picture of Dasher looking at that other dog. Priceless !!!!!!!!

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  3. Very stupid builders. I think I should challenge the plumbers caulk repair. I questioned over and over that the gasket should have been enough. Maybe I'll research with the faucet company...

    I often title that dog photo as "no one touches my Sunchips".

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  4. Love the pictures but hate the plumbing issues. So sorry you have to go through all the hassles.

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  5. Good luck! I've been through the same thing with my builder. Eventually, everything was corrected, though we would still have problems 8 year's later. Now we're okay.
    The problem with the builder, is that, he wouldn't get a professional to investigate and correct. He would get one of his laborers to patch and fix. After too many times of this we put our foot down and got it corrected the right way.
    Mike in Dallas

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  6. Thanks Karin!

    Mike, I agree. It's all about the cheap labor and the builder superintendents not making sure quality is there.

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