Should I fire my sloppy plumber?

10 years ago

Hi all,

We're doing a full remodel on our house and we thought that we had found a very reliable and professional plumber. Since yesterday, we're no longer so sure. The first indication of problems was when I noticed he plumbed our washer into the septic line rather than grey water. No problem, a fairly easy fix and everyone makes mistakes right? Well, then I noticed that ALL FOUR of the stub lines coming through the subfloor are seriously crooked -- not vertical -- some nearly 1/2" out over 16". And because of the way the holes are drilled through the subfloor and the 4" main septic line underneath, the pipes cannot simply be pushed into a plumb position.

Finally, the abs cement is totally sloppy and after looking at the joints underneath the house the cement is literally hanging off the pipes in drips all over the place. And what's worse, when I look at some of the welds between fittings I don't see a smooth continuous weld, but rather some air gaps between the cement, as if the pipes weren't twisted together when they were fitted. two fittings come together and they aren't even at the same pitch! Please see the photo of this. (More pictures at the link)

I should mention that all this work is being "tied into" an existing line leading to the septic tank, and the location of this line is fixed because one end exits a concrete slab, and the other exits the side of the house on its way to the septic tank.

So what do you think, should I fire my plumber? This does not look like quality craftsmanship to me. Even if we only consider the issue of all the crooked stub lines -- how typical is this? Should I demand he come back out and correct everything?

Here is a link that might be useful: More Pictures

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Comments (6)

User
10 years ago
When I was a young kid an old timer explained to me that you hire a professional to do a job better than you would. If that's not what you get then why pay someone else to do the job worse than you would?

In my lifetime I've hired two plumbers whose work impressed me but I've told other plumbers to get out of my house.

With respect to those plumbers out there who have pride in the quality of their work I'll wager that if you confront your plumber he'll defend his work to his last breath.

Sadly you appear to have poor quality(?) work that is too common too often today, but the next plumber you hire might be a lot worse.

Since you have the eye and understanding to question the quality of this plumber's you've already answered your question and I suspect you know that.

This post was edited by justalurker on Sun, Dec 8, 13 at 13:14
snoonyb
10 years ago
Having the "offset" on the upstream side of the "T" while it may be marginally offensive, in the general flow of things, it's far better than on the downstream side.
In many cases there is not sufficient room to safely effect solder joints without some offsets. The strapping and stable fixture installations are far more important.
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bob_cville
10 years ago
As people commented in the other thread, the sanitary tee in the middle of your picture above, and the other one in of of your other pictures, should never be used to go from vertical to horizontal. It should only be used when going from horizontal to vertical. (or as someone noted if the vertical piece is a dry vent)

I'm pretty sure that no matter which plumbing code is in effect in your area, that is a code violation. Given that such a basic rule of DWV plumbing was violated, I would have serious doubts whether anything is done correctly. You are not paying the supposed professional plumber simply to glue pipes together, anyone can do that (although your guy demonstrates that some are better at it than others) A big part of what you are paying for is the knowledge of the plumbing codes that are designed to allow a trouble-free plumbing system. Given that your guy doesn't even seem to know the relatively simple rule of "no sanitary-tee laid on it back" it is easily conceivable that he didn't follow other less easily seen DWV rules.
stitz_crew
10 years ago
What % of work has been done. Problem being now that if you get a new plumber most of them will want to redo a lot of poor work b/c they don't want it affecting their job. It does seem that you found a lazy plumber that puts some pipes together and knows that he can get away with many things b/c problems won't be an issue until after he is paid. Assuming this will be inspected it would have issues passing unless the san-t is supplying a vent and not drainage. I agree that many of us out there could do better work. Sorry for your bad experience but I would not give him anymore money until you have acceptable work or things fixed.
aidan_m
10 years ago
Ask your plumber to explain the difference between a tee and a wye. Then ask why he used a tee where there should be a wye. Post his answer to this forum. Then we can tell you for sure if he needs to be fired.
dreamgarden
10 years ago
Is it possible to ask a building inspector to come out and see if the work is being done to code?

I wouldn't want anymore work done until I knew this.