The Costly Unexpected Plumbing Problems When Remodeling

Remodeling or renovating your bathroom into exactly what you want can be a great project and a rewarding accomplishment. Unexpected plumbing problems when remodeling can ruin the experience, your budget for the job and delay finishing it. Bathroom, and any work involving plumbing, can go bad in a hurry. Then, you have jobs and costs you didn’t plan for. If you know about some common problems before starting, you might be able to avoid them. You’ll get to spend your time and energy how you plan. This means you’ll get to enjoy the renovated bathroom sooner.

Poor Plumbing from the Past

Often you find previous home plumbing jobs from a professional, or not, that is incorrect. A common sign of bad pipes is a tapping noise when the shower is running. This may tell you some pipes were not secured appropriately, so they shake as water goes through them. Faucets or spouts with irregular water pressure might also mean repairing lines. Reach out to an expert if you discover emergency plumbing issues during a remodel project.

Old plumbing problems, or just simply old plumbing which was fine three or four generations ago, may include corrosion. You may find rusty pipes, old copper piping and lines, and faulty joints. You could be looking at replacing copper pipes with PCP or CPVC. This can be a difficult and lengthy job. It might not be worth doing it yourself unless you’ve got plumbing experience.

Get Cheap Parts, Get Cheap Results

Everyone wants to save money. It might well be a reason you tackled the remodeling project on your own.

With that said, if you want the final results to be great, it’s best to pay for proper, correct parts. This is true throughout a bathroom and especially for plumbing. Cutting a corner could bite you later during the project or just after, you think, you’re done.

Cheap sealant may lead to imperfect seals or mold. Buying sealant from a tile store is a good idea. Poor hardware may look bad and, what’ll look very bad, may leak and cause other damage. Look for faucets and fixtures with ceramic disc valves and professional-quality finishes.

Mold

Mold loves the wet and humid environment of a bathroom. Ripping up parts of a bathroom might lead to discovering stuff you never knew was there. Search for black areas or spots which look like they’re wet on walls and drywall before and during the remodel. These spots could be mold. If you don’t remove mold and mildew, and do a better job of stopping it at the source, it will spread.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says moldy and damp homes or rooms can result in sickness, coughing, wheezing and asthma. It can affect healthy people. It can also make people who are sick or have other health symptoms worse. No matter how the remodel works out and looks at the end, the health of you and your family is very important.

Water Drainage

Poor drainage in a bathroom and its fixtures is often a reason for committing to a renovation or remodel. It’s easy to check your drains. Let the shower and bathtub run and watch how they drain. Make certain both drains are not pooling. Most of the time, the bad or slow drainage is because of poor or old sealing. This can lead to corrosion and leaks. The leaks can damage flooring, then even the ceiling if it is an upstairs bathroom.

Ventilation

Bathrooms require an exhaust fan to an outside vent. The main function is to remove moisture from the bathroom which can harm the bathroom and the whole house. Fans help, yes, with odor, but equally in the fight again mold and germs.

To judge if you should put in a venting upgrade, run hot water in the shower and turn the fan on. The mirror shouldn’t fog up. The walls should not get wet and sweat. Turn the shower off. The humidity in the bathroom should decrease quickly. If you’re getting fog, dripping walls or lingering humidity, a new exhaust fan is a good idea.

It could be a simple, quick fix of switching out a damaged fan or it might need new, upgraded venting which is a larger job.

Galvanized Pipes

Galvanized steel pipes are water pipes which have been dipped in a zinc finish to prevent rust and degeneration. Galvanized steel was used until the 1960’s as a choice over lead pipes. Lead was discovered to cause health risks as harmful debris would go into the water. Soon, galvanized pipes were found to not be much better. Usage over the years leads to corrosion, including on the inside of the pipes. This leads to copper and zinc getting into the water, including drinking water, at too high a rate.

As alarming as those health risks are, there’s even more to think about with galvanized pipelines. Galvanized pipelines have contributed to problems such as poor distribution of water, bad water pressure, stained water, smelly water and leaking which gets worse with age.

Sump Pump Problems

You remodel project is underway and going great when it rains. One big rainfall shows you your sump pump is a piece of – junk. It’s working inefficiently or not at all. Now, it might take a lot of money and weeks to fix. You might have to call a pro now. It’s also going to be a big mess on all the work you’ve got done or in progress. Prior to starting the remodel or renovation, it’s a sound suggestion to have a plumber check your sump pump to make sure it’s 100 percent and removing water as it should.

At South End Plumbing we specialize in everything to do with plumbing and bathrooms, so we’re just a click or call away. South End Plumbing is one of the only companies that will give you a free estimate. Just schedule a visit with one of our plumbers to talk about how we can help with your plumbing needs. Call us at 704-919-1722 or fill out the form online to schedule a visit.