My Plumbing Problem: the Bad Remodel.

I’ve owned three homes in my life; all have had their unique and wonderful features. The first had a beautiful picture window in the living room that faced west and lit the entire home. I had beautiful, thriving plants in that house. The second had an incredible view of the Sandy Hook Bay and was minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. On breezy days, we could smell the salt of the ocean from our kitchen window. The third was (and still is) situated on a corner lot and is covered with the loveliest indigenous foliage and large pine trees. I’ve planted lilac bushes here that grow like weeds and offer their perfume to visitors every spring. Other than my residency, these appealing little abodes had very little in common… except for their plumbing problems.

I didn’t realize until recently that the plumbing problems I’ve faced in all three of my homes were caused by their previous owners who were ‘amateur contractors’ and ‘recreational plumbers.’ I know what you’re thinking… people need permits and inspections to do any significant remodeling or plumbing, even on their own homes. But minor construction and plumbing changes that can’t be seen from the street are commonly done without permits, even though illegal. Needless to say, illegal amateur plumbers rarely have a concise, well-designed plan that is drawn to scale and analyzed for potential problems.

My first little house had been designed as a petite one-bedroom with a tiny kitchen and a closet-sized bathroom in the 1930s. Sometime in the 1960s, the owners decided to add a second bedroom and enlarge the kitchen and bathroom. When I did see the tangle of pipes under the floors during a final plumbing repair project, I became convinced that no licensed plumber or county inspector had been involved. New piping had been added without removing any old pipes; thus waste water from the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink and the shower had to run through a series of unnecessary pipes before exiting into the town waste water system. Further, some pipes had been capped and just ended after six feet of unnecessary pipeline. After $3000.00 and a professional contracting repair, the house was free of major plumbing problems. Short of general hair and grease clogs handled by a powerful drain cleaner, I had no more problems.

My second home and my current home were ‘remodeled’ when previous owners chose to add entries into the closed basement areas. The owners of my second home had opened the basement wall and dug out part of the foundation to put in a wooden and glass door, very little protection from the winter winds off the Atlantic Ocean. The bathroom and kitchen drain pipes in the corner of the unheated basement near the new doorway would freeze, and no sink or tub in the house would drain. This occurred for the first two winters we owned the home. We did hire a plumbing contractor who redesigned our system; he was a true professional, got a permit, and his work passed inspection.

My current home, my favorite so far, had the entire north basement wall / foundation removed to create a garage and had tons of soil dug out to form a driveway. The waste water pipes from both bathrooms used to run the length of the now unheated garage. Again, pipes were freezing on and off from December to March. Luckily, we now have a great mechanical contracting company who reconfigured our pipes and solved our problems, at least our major plumbing problems.

Minor plumbing problems still occur… we have two dogs who need baths seasonally; I enjoy cooking and baking; we love fried foods, especially chicken and fried green tomatoes in the summer, I love bath oil and moisturizing soap… all poison for drains. But this is life in America, and we’re lucky enough to have products that can clear our pipelines.