Plumbing Job

I have a plumbing leak. It's probably been leaking for years, but I just found out about it. The leak only occurs while someone is running water in the bath or shower, so while I lived alone I never discovered it, but now that I have Nuria in the house, it was inevitable that one of us would be taking a shower while the other was in the basement. And that—the basement—is where the leak becomes visible. It's already rotted a board in the bathroom subfloor, which is the basement ceiling. Fortunately, that particular board is not load-bearing. Still, the leak must be fixed because there could be unseen damage occurring inside the wall.

I called a plumbing company. The company informed me ahead of time that if the plumber came out and I decided to not give them the repair job, there would a 99 dollar fee for coming to my house. Okay, fair enough, I guess, although there are plumbing companies that advertise "free estimates".

So the plumber came to my house and looked at the situation and he told me that he needs to make an access hole in the bedroom wall behind the bathroom shower faucets. Okay, I think, make the hole in the wall and I'll get an access panel from Home Depot to cover the hole. But suddenly there's a problem.

My house is old, and the walls are made of what I call plasterboard, which might not be the correct name. It's similar to drywall except it is made of plaster instead of gypsum. The plaster is sandwiched between two layers of thick paper. The plasterboard is fastened to wall studs (or ceiling joists) and then painted.

So to investigate the leak, the plumber decided he must cut a hole in the bedroom wall behind the bathroom shower faucets in order to diagnose the problem. But that presents a new problem, because it is his company's policy that they do not cut holes in plasterboard. So the plumber says I need to get someone to cut a hole in the wall, then he will return and work on the leak. And he says I must pay him the $99 fee for coming out to my house and not getting the job. 

Wait, what? I want him to do the job. He's the one who is saying "No, we won't do the job." Why would I pay him $99 for refusing to do the job? Is he deranged? I said to him, "Let me talk to your manager."

So the plumber goes to his truck and phones his manager. He comes back to my front door and tells me, "I talked to my manager and he says that, because you're a previous customer, we'll waive the ninety nine dollar cancelation fee this time."

That's damn nice of them. I didn't cancel the job. They refused to do the job. There's a big difference.

Meanwhile, the leak continues to leak whenever the shower is used. I'm also beginning to think that I don't need to cut a hole in the bedroom wall behind the tub faucets. I have a 3-knob tub faucet, and the center knob is the diverter knob. I'm thinking that probably the diverter is leaking and what I should do is replace the washers and O-rings in the diverter and in the hot and cold valves, too. I think that diverter valve is the likely location of the leak, and I'm surprised that the plumber didn't think the same thing.

And did I mention that the plumber told me that a replacement valve assembly would cost a thousand dollars (their price)! This is something that sells for fifty to a hundred dollars at Home Depot. 

Maybe the plumber did me a favor by refusing to do the job. What I do know is that repairs on an old house always end up more complicated and more expensive than one would expect.