P & L Plumbing

Review: improperly plumbed washer drain, left gas leak, and did not properly plumb out water heaters per code.

plumbed a new washer drain pipe and connected it to an abandoned/not working floor drain and also did not vent the drain pipe. Installed water heaters but did not plumb out the overflow valves. We had over $7500 in repairs to fix this problem that included tearing out new tile and placing new tile once the new plumber properly did the work to code.Desired Settlement: reimburement for the cost of doing the job correctly.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Company states: There were 3-4 contractors on the job, and we were there to do the plumbing. We didn't know the laundry went to the ditch and not the correct place-the bathroom, which was 10 feet away. We simply tied into existing line,which was not done to code. There is a disclaimer on our work order, where we are clearly not responsible for other contractors work. I was open to fixing it, but ended up at UC Davis getting a pacemaker. She has chose to hire another company to fix her pre-existing issue. We are not responsible for another company's work. There is clearly not a gas leak if the valve that was installed held the pressure.

Consumer's Final Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

* P&L Plumbing was not the only contractor working on the property, however, he was contracted to do the plumbing work

* The house was built in 1958 and sits on a concrete slab and was originally on well and septic but sometime ago was converted to city water and sewer. P & L Plumbing was hired to convert the old well room into a laundry room, run a gas line from the utility closet (outside) into the kitchen for gas stove and run a water line for icemaker in refrigerator. Since he was present during the removal of the old well equipment from that room, Mr. [redacted] was quite aware of the existence of old abandoned pipes from the septic and well.

* There was an existing "overflow drain" in the floor for the old water tank. [redacted] told us that he would tie into the sewer line from the half-bath off the well room. Instead, he tied into the abandoned drain line.

* The "Y" connection P & L Plumbing had installed was backwards and the drain line from the washing machine (installed by P & L Plumbing) was not vented . [redacted] Plumbing installed the vent for the laundry room drain through the roof and the roofing contractor had to come out to open the roof and reseal around the vent.

* The pipe Mr. [redacted] tied into was plugged with dirt and was obviously not going to drain - it was the old septic line. Since the line had not been used in years, the line had broken down and deteriorated. Perhaps if he had tested the line he would have known that it would not drain.

* Don't know when he went to UC Davis for a medical procedure, but, when I ran my first load of laundry, the line backed up into the house. My daughter spoke with Mr. [redacted] that day and he told her he was working in "the foothills" and would stop by on his way home. He never showed up. She called him again that evening to question when he would be by and he responded that he would be there in the AM after dropping his daughter off at school. When he hadn't arrived by close to noon, I called him and he told me that he was really busy with this job in the Sacramento area and he could not be there until later in the day. He would not answer any more of our calls. I finally left a message for him stating that if I did not hear from him I would be calling another plumber and would expect him to pay the bill. My son-in-law was finally able to contact Mr. [redacted] and he stated that we should go ahead and get it repaired as he was very busy and I should "do whatever I needed to do and we will work something out".

* Almost from the time Mr. [redacted] began bringing the gas line into the kitchen we could smell gas. He did something with the gas meter and laughed and said don't tell anyone, PG&E wouldn't like it. My daughter and I kept telling him that we could smell gas and he finally told us that if we thought we could smell gas he would light a match and show us there was none.

* New gas stove could not be connected because the flex line was leaking just below the connector. The installation guys stated that I should have the plumber come back out to repair so it could be connected properly. They said they had never seen only flex line used without being placed in a sturdier casing. [redacted] did come back and fix the leak and placed a different connector onto the flex line. He did not attach it to the wall or into a casing of any kind. [redacted] Plumbing attached it to the wall so it would not be crushed by the stove, and PG&E came out and identified and repaired a gas leak at the meter.

* P&L Plumbing also installed 2 water heaters - 1 replacement in the exterior utility closet and 1 new one for the laundry room. He did not install the required overflow valves when he installed either one.

* Everything we did was a direct result of what Mr. [redacted] did (or failed to do).

I have supporting itemized invoices from Fletchers Plumbing and Overall Roofing to support my claim. I also have photos that we took and Fletchers has offered me copies of their pictures.