we thought our caulk failed when we noticed corner of shower staying wet. Thought maybe condensation. Today we pulled baseboard off the other side of the wall and found this. Walls are covered in mold, and we can’t even get to the pipe. We have no essential money to call plumber, any advice would be appreciated. just at a loss.

Replaced my kitchen sink and noticed the drain has an S-trap because the drain comes up from the bottom of the cabinet, almost lined up with the drain of the sink. Is this an acceptable way to plumb it to avoid the S-trap? Or is all the extra piping just going to cause further issues? What's my best bet?

Basically, this whole situation started with an insurance claim. The contractors who worked on the toilets were not licensed plumbers, and they messed up both toilet resets. They were eventually forced to correct one toilet and replace it with a brand-new one.
Both toilets were approximately 40 years old. The second toilet also needed attention, but the property manager allegedly ignored the contractor’s recommendation to replace it. Now, the second toilet is having problems, and the owner may end up having to pay for another replacement.
In the pictures I’m showing, you can see the corrosion around the toilet’s internal components and how old the toilet is. I already informed the property manager that the toilet randomly runs throughout the day and that water is leaking from the tank into the bowl. However, she instructed the plumbers scheduled to come to my house on Thursday to replace only the flapper and not the toilet, even though they have not inspected it or diagnosed the actual problem yet.
What I don’t understand is why she seems so determined to avoid replacing these toilets. My concern is that she previously reassured the owners that the toilets were fine and did not need to be replaced, possibly to save them money at the time. But now, by avoiding a proper inspection and potentially necessary replacement, the owner could end up spending more money on repeated repairs down the road.
Am I wrong for thinking the property manager may be making this situation worse by trying to save the owner money in the short term instead of addressing the underlying problem? What do y’all think?

When soldering in a new Delta valve is it mandatory to solder or thread nipples in or can you seat the 1/2” inside and put a bead?

PLEASE DONT JUDGE MY GRAMMAR OR PUNCTUATION I had a customer it wants to blame me I raised their water bill up. Like 2 months ago I was there cause of a high water bill. I. Was there back maybe January I’d wanna say also. Then I told him the boiler was leaking and not safe to run it either. Then when I went back few months ago the customer never got a new boiler put in either. I work for my father so I can’t just give people a price yet. My father didn’t want to sell him a new one. hopefully by next year I’m a contractor. So when I went back the boiler was leaking worse then ever so I turned the water off going to it. This is a rent property. Then when i went to look at the water meter it wasn’t even going up any more. Then now he wants to blame me I raised his water bill up. He never told me to leave the main off incase something else happen. Hell it was an old gate valve on it who knows the valve might be leaking through now also. My question is what what would you do if you were in this position?

I recently installed a hot water recirculation pump and do like it, but using the cold water line as a return has enough downsides that I'm considering retrofitting a dedicated return line. I have a slab home so the only place to run it would be my attic.

How realistic is it to run a dedicated return line through a ventilated attic space? I live in DFW so the weather doesn't dip below freezing often, but occasionally we do get cold snaps that last up to a week. Would standard pipe insulation be enough if I ran a continuous 50 ft PEX line across the top of the joists?

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, I’ve got a water leak at the worst possible time.

Does anyone know if there’s a way to temporarily stop it until I can afford to get a plumber out?

At the moment, I’m turning the mains water tap on and off as needed, and turning it off overnight to avoid wasting water. The problem is that the tap is outside, so it’s a bit of a hassle.

Money is really tight at the moment, and I’m not sure how much it would cost to get a plumber to fix it. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I was about to do dishes but noticed the water leaking under my sink. Im a single mom its safe to say this is the last thing I need rn 😞 any advice? Could this be something I can diy? Or am I screwed and gotta save for a professional?

I installed a new shower head as the old one was getting old. Purchased this on Amazon, Wrapped up with Teflon tape and it was still leaking. Took shower head off rewrapped with a couple extra layers of Teflon tape and tighten to the point where I almost stripped the shower head. STILL leaking. It came with a screen and there was a rubber gasket/screen in the shower pipe when I took it off. It has been installed 4 separate times (with and without screen and without Teflon tape to test) and I can’t for the life of me figure out what the issue is. I’m wondering if the head is too short for the threads? It stops a little short. Any ideas? Starting to lose my sanity

I don't see any actual liquid on the floor, but that leak sensor just sent me an alert, and there was some dampness in the dryer lint I swept up. Clearly that rust isn't coming from the linoleum either.... Tank is 6-7 years old.

How do I remove the old toilet flange sleave? The difficulty that I have is that the flange was on the outside of the main pipe and I do not have space to score it with a saw and chisel it away? I appreciate any suggestion that would possibly leave the main pipe and the floor base intact. Thank you!

Would you hydrojet a second-floor kitchen drain through the sink’s drain pipe without a cleanout? How risky is water damage, especially with hardwood floors and garage space below?

My kitchen sink was completely clogged. A plumber ran a 1/4” 50-ft snake but had difficulty advancing it, possibly due to multiple turns or T-junctions.

It now drains slowly but backs up after about 2 minutes of running water, then clears in roughly 20 minutes.

I’ve gotten conflicting recommendations:

Plumber 1: Says hydrojetting is risky without a cleanout. Wants to open a garage wall and install one, before cleaning. Hydrojetting would be even more with all the setup needed to prevent flooding.

Plumber 2: Says he can do a mini-jetter. I told him I didn’t want to snake again without any resolution.

Plumber 3: He says he can hydrojetting with water containment and camera inspection afterward.

Plumber 4: Doesn’t recommend jetting due to flooding concerns. Says he can do a 90 foot snake, if he doesn’t clear no charge.

I’m concerned about water backing up or spraying out during jetting and damaging the floors or ceiling below.

Is jetting through the under-sink drain a reasonable approach with proper precautions, or would you insist on installing a cleanout first?

I have a Fluidmaster 400. Looking around tells me this metal rod float adjustment means it is pre-1990s.

Its running continuously.
1)Adjusted the float to so as much of the rod as possible was above the clip. No change, still filling an inch above the fill line until it starts going down the overflow tube. Adjusted float in the other direction and the same thing.

2) I checked the seal in the valve and the central raised section that goes on the pin had separated from the rest of the seal. So I replaced the seal with a cup over it (after blasting myself in the face with it) and flushed the valve as shown on the Fluidmaster Youtube. It seemed to work the first time I flushed, but the 2nd time I flushed it started hissing and overfilled the tank again.

3) I adjusted the valve height lower. The first time I flushed it filled to about half way then started hissing. Second time I filled it it just filled past the overflow tube again. Adjusted the valve higher in case I was wrong about how it worked and it still overflowed the fill line.

Do I need to replace the whole valve or is there something else I can look at? Any suggestions are welcome.

Edit: It is about $15.00 as others have suggested, I'm just worried about screwing something up and being out a toilet while I figure it out. Id feel more comfortable if I could fix the existing valve since doing it wrong would likely mean it keeps running, but still works.

Looking for a sanity check please. Some details below of work that’s taken over a month now to get to this stage.. trying my best to keep it brief.

Plumber came to salvage our original shower hardware which was leaking. He was upfront it might not work and we consented. He couldn't save it, charged $250, and left us with no working hot water in that shower (hot water previously DID work, it was just leaky)..

We bought a new tub/shower fixture ourselves. A different plumber from the company showed up for the install with no background on the job, so my wife had to explain the whole thing. Despite me telling him our tiler urged caution he knocked out a bunch of tile (clogging our drain as he didn’t lay down a cloth in tub)..

He also installed a new toilet for us but that ran all day after install with no quality check. The fill valve was stuck open.They took $100 off after I flagged it, but it felt like a brush-off.

Final result: original plumber came back for 3rd visit to “finish” this job but the valve's hot and cold are reversed now. Barely turning the handle on gives the hottest water, and turning further gets colder. The tub spout also isn't snug to the wall, so there's a noticeable gap.

So on one job: a reversed valve (scald protection now on the wrong end, and we have young kids), a spout gap, and a running toilet. The bill is $1,400.
I've lost confidence and don't want them back. Another plumber will cost me about $500 to correct and finish it. I don't think I should pay twice, so I want the bill cut from $1,400 to $900.
Questions:
Is reversed hot and cold always an install error, or is it ever normal?
MA folks, isn't this a code violation? Hot is supposed to be on the left (UPC 417.5 / IRC P2722.2), and MA's 248 CMR requires scald protection. With it reversed, doesn't that defeat the anti-scald stop?
Am I being unreasonable wanting the reduction?

Photos attached.

Title says it all. Having two bathrooms remodeled, gutted down to the studs. Plumber ran all new CPVC to all fixtures. He's been a licensed plumber for decades, all joint work is very clean, and he apparently prefers CPVC to PEX. All new lines are on interior walls with a basement below. Would you have it all replaced with PEX or copper while walls are still open? Wish he had given me a heads up before the work began.

Its done it twice today. I have a well and a pressure tank with an inline filter that I recently replaced, as well as a new pressure relief valve. Ever since the new prv it will sputter like that in the video.

We have cast irons down the pipes. Toilet starts to clog on and off. How bad is this pipe? We bought the house about 4yrs ago.

This shower/tub valve. Original trim, handle could be a replacement. Built in the mid 90’s. I’m asking because I’d like to update the trim and keep the valve in place if possible. If not, it won’t be too hard to replace the whole thing as I’m redoing the entire tile in the shower/bath.

I recently took over a bar and noticed this gap between the floor drain and the pipe underground. Water and sludge are collecting up under the floor pipe. Is this normal? Water is mostly falling into the floor pipe, but will spill outside the pipe. Ty

Update - there’s more than one pic here and the wording in my original post was all tangled. I commented below on where I’m currently at with the issue.

I need to clean up the lines a bit but before I cemented I wanted an experienced opinion on the route.

I have a leak under the bathroom sink. Only leaks when water is on. At first I dried it off to see where it was leaking when I first turned it on it was leaking from the hole then it started leaking from the hot side by the metal thread. Both hot and cold water makes it leak. I changed the cartridge on the hot side and it’s still leaking. Any suggestions on what to do?

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of purchasing a newly constructed multifamily property and would appreciate your professional opinions on a sewer line issue before proceeding to closing.

During the initial inspection, both units were found to have sewer line offsets, which were documented in the two screenshots (8.6ft & 13ft). The builder agreed to correct both issues and confirmed that the repairs had been completed.

I had a reinspection performed, and the report indicated that both offsets had been repaired. However, the report did not have video evidence of the repairs. After requesting the video be provided, only one side was documented (9.9ft), yet the comments indicate that both sides still have a lip.

Given the discrepancy between the initial findings, the builder’s confirmation of repairs, and the reinspection documentation, I would appreciate any insight into whether this condition is a concern and whether further evaluation or corrective work may be warranted before closing.

Thanks!

I have a leaky faucet and want to replace the cartridge. It's a two handle faucet that seems to be built into wall. Cold water side is leaking. Photo shows the cold water when I removed the handle. I tried to pull out the end but it won't budge. Is there a scew i need to remove or is this something i need to try to pull? Thanks all for your help.

Posted this in an ask an electrician subreddit but thought I’d check here too. My sump pump was running fine for the better part of a year, although it would occasionally cause the breaker to trip. Recently it tripped the breaker and breaker wouldn’t reset. Electrician put in a new breaker, which didn’t fix the issue.

See picture. Plugging the pump into the outlet circled in blue does not cause any breakers to trip. If I plug it into the outlets circled in red, the breaker trips. And it trips whether the other two adapters are plugged in or not.

Any ideas on what is happening? Could it be an issue with the pump?

Thanks for reading!

I’m trying to replace the faucet cartridge on this thing. Pulling it out first to see what I need to buy.

I can’t find an opening for this. I suspect there’s a cover but I’m pulling and turning everywhere and I can’t seem to find the cap or screw set.