Ah, the joys of an old house...

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We are the second owners of a 1959 rancher, purchased just shy of a year ago. We love the home and it suits us well. That being said, it is old! Which also means character that you just don't find in new construction. It also means that you never know what might pop up. Yesterday I found myself checking behind the access panel to the plumbing in one of the bathrooms to check for termites (we had some swarmers recently). The good news was that I didn't find any termites, the bad news is that I noticed the soil was damp.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the water to the tub then went back to the access panel and sure enough, there was water dripping from the drain line. GREAT! I called two plumbers today before remembering that we have a home warranty. I called the company and they verified that they do cover leaky pipes, they had someone at our house in less than 3 hours from the time I placed the call. The plumber confirmed there was a leak and was able to replaced the affected and surrounding pieces with PVC.

I am a happy camper to say the least!


 
You got lucky there being on a slab! Guess I'm spoiled by having a basement and ease of access to everything. I recently had to replace the tub and sink plumbing as it was all clogged up. My house was built in '52? I think so, I'm no stranger to old plumbing.
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Glad you got it fixed. What else is going on in that photo?


I was wondering that too.

I hope that old saddle valve and plastic tubing isn't being used...or does it feed a bathroom ice maker?
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My fridge shares its back wall with a toilet, so the ice maker runs off toilet water.
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LOL! That's not old
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My house was built in 1906 roughly. It's had several generations of plumbing and I recently removed and replaced all the threaded cast. We are looking at a place built in the late 1800's next week, I'm guessing some of the stuff there is going to be interesting.
 
Oh yes, the remaining cast iron to the original toilet is only about 4' long Everything else is PVC. When I bought the place in '78, I should have demoed the original ca. 1870 New England farm house. Instead, I renovated. Renovation is waaaay harder than starting from scratch.
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Glad you got it fixed. What else is going on in that photo?


The cold water line feeds the plastic tubing that makes its way over 1 room and into our kitchen which feeds the fridge. The pipe sticking out of the slab was the original hot water line that burst some years ago, the pipe coming down from above is the current hot water line that was routed through the ceiling to replace the original. Quite the network.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
Oh yes, the remaining cast iron to the original toilet is only about 4' long Everything else is PVC. When I bought the place in '78, I should have demoed the original ca. 1870 New England farm house. Instead, I renovated. Renovation is waaaay harder than starting from scratch.


Yes, I would argue that you would lose the charm though. To each their own.
 
I have a '59 house as well. About 1.5 years ago, I decided to demo a second bathroom and found very poor copper plumbing work and the cast iron below ground was falling apart if you touched it. Got the whole house done in pex and PVC below. I noticed the electric had some spaghetti going on behind the main light of said bathroom and a couple other things. Just finished having the whole house rewired a couple weeks ago. The electricians said the old wiring was a mess. Its comforting to know I have big core concerns taken care of now so I won't (hopefully) have to deal with them down the road. Still have to redo both bathrooms, kitchen, update bedrooms and turn the carport into a two-car garage. Its never really done, though...
 
1959 is not too old. I grew up in three houses, the newest being 1928. Good to hear everything was fixed. As a suggestion, I would replace that water line to the fridge with a proper braided poly line. It looks like it has seen better days.
 
Not too bad, but I don't like those couplings. After a few years of running hot and cold water, they eventually loosen up and you get a leak again. I prefer either black or white plastic and using glue. Then you don't have to worry about those leaking again. Those plumbers cheeped out by using that plastic too, for a tub drain it's about triple the price for metal.
 
The house I grew up in was 1887.. there was alot of oddness including an earth cellar under the kitchen.
concrete block everywhere else.

That being said my 1952 cape cod has been an adventure.. although it sat vacant and someone stole all the copper so it has all new wiring and pex pipes.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
LOL! That's not old
wink.gif
My house was built in 1906 roughly. It's had several generations of plumbing and I recently removed and replaced all the threaded cast. We are looking at a place built in the late 1800's next week, I'm guessing some of the stuff there is going to be interesting.

I have a 1880s Victorian. You can find the progression of technology through projects on the house. Currently working with my cousin on new furnace and central air. House originally had coal heat, the fuel and then natural gas. Plumbing wise, I’ve found the old lead- lead in. It’s dead and cut off, some galvanized pipe and what not. Cast iron stack still, that sucks. Everything else is newer pvc. These old houses are an adventure.
 
We had a house we bought in 1996 that a supply line to washing machine had a stealth leak that got past the seals under the spigot, went unnoticed due to being hidden from common view by washing machine in front of it. Well, the plumber who plumbed the place when new had made the access holes in the wall base plate and sub floor too snug and the copper pipe was in firm contact with all as it passed through to crawl space. You can guess what's next, since it's been leaking unnoticed for a long time. Insurance ended up covering the repairs to the home, which meant going into the wall, replacing most of the sub floor in the adjoining 1/2 bath other side of wall (bust out all the tile, remove tile backer boarding, etc) where the water migrated as it soaked the OSB sub floor creeping it's way east for however many months (black mold on underside of sub floor in crawl space. Came in at just under $10,000 claim. It was a professional restoration company that did the work and they repaired everything well.

All because the person who plumbed the house when built (1988) drilled the access holes too tight and had to force the pipes through. Had he made the holes big enough to allow air space around them the trickle of leaking water running down the pipe for months would have not contacted the base plate and sub floor and dripped freely off pipe onto crawl space floor instead.

OSB becomes a very effective sponge if receiving water over a period of time. Soaks that [censored] right up, holds, migrates its, great food base for black mold too !! We cussed the plumbing sub contractor for months after that. The insurance co was going to try to subrogate the claim from him on account of "improper installation." No idea where that went.
 
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