I am writing regarding a home in the Bay Area, CA.
My sister bought it NEW about 8 years ago.
There is a leak in the pipes (bath tub area) inside the walls and is dripping to the first floor. This could be serious and cost a lot of money to repair.
Can anyone pls tell me what is the warranty for for such pipe leaks ?
We tried recaulking the bath tub ...but it did not help.
Is the builder responsible for this ?
What is the law with respect to home builders and plumbing/leaks/ related warranties ? is it 10 years ?
In speaking with the HomeBuilders they brushed us off ...saying the warranty is only a year or so.
Probably none after 8 years. Do you know what material was used for the water system? There are some recovery methods for certain types of PVC flexable tubing.
Leak inside the wall and you caulked the tub, your joking
Probably not after 8 years, what does the contract say
What does the contract say? Where I live the structure is the only thing guarnteed beyond 2 years.
Your stand on the fault line, not strong at all.
Call a plumber ASAP and get the leak fixed. BEFORE it causes thousands of dollars in damage.
Ms. Goldman, the chances of your sister having any warranty on a home's plumbing after 8 years, unless she has been paying maintenance insurance premiums is ..... gornisht mit gornisht.
Tell her to stop dreaming about warranties, learn about "maintenance costs" with regard to owning her own home, and call a plumber before she gets mold inside the ceiling and walls and has *real* problems. It may be too late for that already.
Yes, it certainly could. So why are you wasting your time asking about warranty issues on Usenet, when you should be picking up the phone and calling a plumber to get it fixed? Your first priority is to fix the leak, before it causes any more damage than it already has. If the problem *is* covered under warranty -- doubtful after 8 years, but possible -- you can probably be reimbursed later. Get it fixed now. Worry about who's going to pay for it later.
Varies from builder to builder, and no doubt from state to state also. Maybe even from city to city within the same state.
If you already know that "there is a leak in the pipes" why would you suppose that recaulking the tub would have any effect?
Probably not after 8 years. Especially in a seismically active area.
Ummm... shouldn't you be asking a *lawyer* that question?
What does the warranty paperwork say?
Probably not. But only a local lawyer can give you an accurate answer to that question.
You all missed the most important piece of info...........Ms Goldman is writing about a "new home" purchased 8 years ago in the BAY AREA (that would be the San Francisco bay area).
Norhern California (esp the bay area) is the center of "no person responsibility", it's always someone else's fault.
About her question as to the existence of a warranty claim.........she's thinking about the ~10 year limit on construction defects in California.
If she can prove a defect in design, material, construction or installation perhaps she has a claim against the reponsible party but the legal & techincal expert costs to persue such a claim would make this a losing effort.
OP-
How long since the leak was first noticed? Get someone on the job to find the cause & stop the leak, then look into the repairs needed to the sub-structure & the finishes.
OK, lets start with a little 'netiquete. It's customary (and polite) to use a relavant subject line, such as "Pipe leaking in wall, I need help", rather than "Urgent ..Please help..." I almost didn't read this post because I figured it was spam or a scam of some sort
It's not new anymore, things happen...
How do you know it's the pipes?
If left alone, it WILL be serious. Not sure what you consider "a lot of money" but an ordinary pipe leak needen't be very expensive (more than a few hundred dollars), unless there's a lot of rot/other water damage to repair. Home repairs that are a few hundred dollars aren't considered "a lot of money" in my book -- that would be reserved for things like a furnace going out or a foundation crumbling, which would cost thousands.
Certainly not 8 years. A year would be typical, I believe.
Others have already beaten this point -- but if you said the pipes were leaking why calk the tub?
Very doubtful, unless you can somehow prove it was a faulty installation. Even then I doubt it anymore. Things break. It's part of home ownership.
Murphy's Law says things will break, at the worst possible time, and cost more than you think.
There you have it.
Legally speaking you are on very strong grounds-- grounds to take care of the repair yourself, like all of us who own a home do. You can either do your own repair, or hire it out.
Gee, I'd thought in CA, you'd want to focuss group, relate to the experience, and, like, invite all your friends over, man. Lets stay on topic, here. She didn't ask for the way to fix the drip, she asked for opinions as to the liability.
Now for my on topic reply. I'd think you should call the local television's trouble shooter. And also the attorney generals office of your county. Notify your personal attorney, or the public defenders office, if you don't have one. In the meantime, go live in a motel, and keep the receipts. Call the news papers, every half hour on the half.
Why did San Diego get all the lawyers and San Francisco get all the homosexuals?
San Francisco got first choice!
Are you sure? Maybe a drain pipe was not fitted right and water is leaking at a coupling (or in my case a rubber sleeve was not installed properly) and draining water is following the pipe down from the break. I presume this is intermittent, because you would have fixed a flood by now. A two dollar piece amounts to removing wall board, etc.
You are farting in a space suit!
Oren "My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."
I don't know about warranties, but you need to fix the leak ASAP. Mold can be a worse heath issue than water damage. Make sure you spray the inside of the wall with bleach or a mold inhibitor after you fix the leak. Is the leak on the straight section of the pipe or on the solder joint? You need to cut out a section of the wall and see exactly how bad the leak is so you can fix it.
Ace hardware has a clamp for about $7 for a leak on the straight section of copper pipe. That has worked for me in the past. I used a Instaclamp (instaclamp.com) on my 1/2' solder joint leak and fixed the leak in 5 minutes. The $25.00 it cost me beat the cost of a plumber or me having to solder it.
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