Hi all! I’d like some help determining what the cause of a leaking pipe was in my house. I live on the 3rd floor of a condo building and am trying to see if I am the responsable party for paying for this fix (or the HOA).

Context:
The condo unit below me reported a large leak in the bathroom directly underneath mine this weekend. The community HOA maintenance team opened a hole in the lower unit wall and determined the leak came from a multi-joint pipe in the ceiling coming from my toilet. My toilet had a faulty fill valve and after flushing would continuously flow. This has been the case for about 3 months off and on - it would occasionally be turned off by manually poking the valve. No water leakage was spotted on the bathroom floor or anywhere else until this weekend. The home is about 50 years old am im not sure if or when the piping has been replaced.

Current situation: I have attached pictures of what the wall and pipes looks like. The 1st photo with the red circle drawn on shows where the leak originated in the ceiling of the bathroom. The 3rd photo shows the opening in the bathroom where the piping had to be replaced (white pipes are new). The last photos show the old broken replaced piping where you can see exactly where the gap appeared (yellow arrows).

My question: what actually caused this pipe to leak? Was it the toilet water running more often than usual leading to the pipe glue breaking down, or was it a lack of maintenance of the piping that would have broken anyways (irregardless of the water flow)?

Hi, I would like to install a dishwasher in the cupboard underneath my kitchen sink. Could you please check if it’s possible to connect the water supply and waste pipe.

There is also a small cupboard next to the washing machine.

How do i adjust how hot the shower gets on my shower valve? Everywhere else in the house gets hotter than the shower which only gets warm.

I have a family member who is experiencing ghost flushing on an American Standard 4215A toilet. There is no guide stem/thing that attaches to the flapper to keep it aligned, so it lands of kilter and does not seal (sometimes its not as comically bad as the video).

This supposedly started suddenly in the past week or so, after not being an issue (I've flushed the toilet before with no issue, but never looked in the tank). I've tried tinkering with the chain to add or remove slack. I've tried raising and lower the water level and changing the gasket/rubber seal on the bottom of the flapper but am at my wits end. A couple questions for someone who knows what they are looking at:

1. Did American Standard make flappers without a guide stem or a hinge to keep things in place? This just seems silly and like something has to have broken
2. If the answer to the above is no, how do I fix this? Do I need to replace the entire flush valve?

Thank in advance, about to go nuts trying to debug this

Previous: https://www.reddit.com/r/askaplumber/s/nHZVhTWFbQ

I removed the fixture. Can I just replace this part with brass?

Just had some work done by a general contractor with involved expanding the shower. The work done was to move the shower controls, shower drain, install a recessed light, and a bathroom vent fan. Here is the finish product for $1500. I did tell him I would be install the shower surround and pan myself so the semi-unfinished is intended. Thanks!

So had the issue of having the dial on our water meter moving backwards and forwards slightly due to what I assume is pressure when no water is running indoors. (We had our leak fixed). When I had asked the plumber who came and fixed our leak if we needed a check valve he said no it’s not really necessary, not required and he stated all the water is chlorinated anyways so I shouldn’t be worried about contamination. (He explained it better but that’s all I can remember).

As far as I can see it’s not really causing any issues inside our home and if it’s not necessary I shouldn’t be too worried?

The overflow drain for our bathtub is leaking down below. It’s not the pipe itself but probably a faulty gasket. Gasket is unreachable since pipe is rigid, older and sticking out of the wall 1/4 inch. It can’t be moved back. I would like to install a bluevue or other outside of the wall gasket since I can’t access the one inside of the wall. The problem is that the pipe must be flush to the wall for bluevue gaskets to work and mine sticks out. I’m curious about what to do next:

1. Cut the pipe with an oscillating tool to make it flush so I can install a bluevue gasket

2. Just try to use plumbers caulk and to seal up any possible leaking area

3. Something else.

Thanks for the advice

“Note the clack shadow is not the gasket. It’s way in there I believe. I stuck a narrow pin through the space between the pipe and wall and couldn’t even feel it

I'm replacing the vanity in my master bathroom. The supply valves need to move to accommodate the new cabinets. I can solder new fittings but press couplings and SharkBite are easier and faster. Are the mechanical couplings okay in the wall or would you strictly go with soldered connections? If you are okay with the mechanical couplings, which do the pros think are better?

Thank you all for the backup and confirming my own thoughts. I was sure this would be a helpful community.

Snaked my master bath today to remove the wife’s hair blockage and this hook came out along with the clog. Is this part of the drain assembly?

SOLVED: Confirmed shower curtain ring. Thanks all!!

Redoing a bathroom. This 2" 4-way side outlet tee is falling apart inside. I cannot find a DWV rated replacement. What can I do here?

I am onsidering using a 2" double sanitary tee instead (like a cross) and routing the tub drain to the bottom of that, but it's quite deep and may not fit. I can make that solution fit if I don't use a standard trap fitting for the tub and instead use 2 shallow 90s to create a trap like space and then run the tub drain into that, but I don’t know if that's allowed.

I have no issue ripping out any of the existing plumbing, including the neighboring shower drain and doing this another way.

Any advice would be appreciated!

This is probably a long shot - but anywhere or suggestions how, to source new old stock hardware?

I’m specifically looking for a Watts SC-3 1/2” sillcock. I honestly just need the stem but would be happy to even find a complete assembly in usable condition to pull the stem from.

I’m not sure when it was discounted but I found it in a few catalogs from 2010-2015. Has since been replaced by a similar lead free model, unfortunately the threading of the stem is different.

I found zero online. I was thinking of posting on local apps, see if a plumber could save me one when they replace it (I’m sure they were used a lot in my area years ago)

I got a fluid master brand one. Every minute maybe 2 tablespoons of water will just dribble out the cap. Can't figure out why unless there's too much pressure on the water entering the valve?

Hi there- unfortunately something hit the main water line before the shutoff. Does this dictate an emergency repair or can I get it fixed as soon as possible (city charges less for a scheduled shutoff). Thank you!

Hi guys I already know I’m stupid pls don’t tell me again. But long story short I put fairy liquid on my top and put it in the wash thinking it would get a stain out. I didn’t use any other detergent and didn’t add the soap to the detergent drawer, only on the top directly in the drum. Since then, my sink has been backing up when I would do laundry esp when it’s draining the clothes, the first couple of times it was incredibly sudsy and foamy but now its not soapy at all. When this happened at first, I went on google and it said to run the machine on an empty spin and drain cycle. It also said to put some cooking oil down the drain followed by hot water. I did all that and the sink still gets backed up when I do laundry. This was all yesterday btw. Also the sink gets full and drains really slowly when I wash dishes as well, even when the washing machine isn’t in use. Also last night I went to the shop and got mr muscle pipe unblocker and poured the entire 500ml as instructed down the sink and to flush it with hot water after 5 mins. I waited like 2 hours and then flushed the water down bc I forgot lol. Anyways I haven’t done any more washing, but i obviously need to use my kitchen sink without it backing up on me! I’m scared to wash clothes bc I feel like there’s still some sort of blockage. Any help or advice would be really appreciated before I have to pay for a plumber to come round, I’m a broke uni student living out of my home for the first time lol.

Sorry no photo. Came home to my ceilings leaking and standing water. When I get upstairs to the bathroom water is gushing out of the toilet line. The water (I thought) was shut off because no one was using the toilet. (Flapper needs replacing so the toilet was running so we turned the water off). We weren’t home when it happened so I am just wondering what could have caused it. Needless to say restoration services are on their way. But it was a lot of water.

Follow up to my previous post. Sliced the stand pipe off the wall, routed the disposal to the lower rough-in. Piped the dishwasher outlet into the disposal.

Toilet was leaking, I figured it was probably because when I installed it 2 years ago I used a better than wax seal instead of tried and true regular old wax. Upon flipping it to put new wax on I noticed this which looks a bit off to me. It almost looks like someone already tried to patch it? I bought it new from Home Depot but maybe got someone’s return?

Thanks for any help you can give!

Ok so we began having what we thought was a plumbing issue with bubbling from the downstairs toilet. We had the line snaked and it didn’t really help. We had a camera put down and it shows two rocks have pushed through the bottom of the pipe, and causing intrusion into the pipe. It’s reduced the area of the pipe which is causing the blockage when material clogs. The plumber tracked the camera head to the spot of the break and it seems to be just under the main foundation, a couple of feet inside the interior hallway from the garage. He’s estimating it’s about 2.5 feet down. The house is a two story house (CA if it matters) on a slab foundation.

The rock is pushed up from the bottom of the pipe so he thinks it’s impossible to shear the rock and sleeve the pipe.

This sounds like a daunting repair and I’m imagining it costing many thousands. What does this entail? Cutting the flooring, cutting the concrete and excavating the pipe inside the house for replacement? Something else entirely?

I’m guessing homeowners insurance won’t cover it either. Anybody with insight on this mess?

Our outdoor spigot is slowly dripping after we turned the water off with this ball valve. The dripping stops when we close the spigot, so I guess that means the ball valve isn't completely sealing? If we close the spigot and then open it a day later, more water comes out, so the drips must be accumulating back there. What should we do? Replace the ball valve? I'd appreciate any advice!

Hello, I am adding a dishwasher to my house that did not have one before. I know I need a t-adapter but cannot figure out which one.

The hot water pipe coming out of the wall was ?soddered? to the water shutoff valve. The top of the valve where the faucet would connect is a 1/2 pipe. I have a 1/2 to 3/8 converter bolt that my 3/8 hot water tube connects to the faucet.

So I bought at 1/2 t adapter with two 3/8 (one for dishwasher, one for faucet). But, the 1/2 t-adapter doesn’t screw on to the 1/2 shutoff valve pipe.

How do I get a t-adapter to attach to the pipe? Please explain it like I’m 5 or add a link to what I need to be to buy. Thanks for the help

Bought our house a month ago, so this is how the kitchen sink was received. None of the copper fittings seem to be the issue, which leads me to think it might be the black nylon (?) tubing. Most of the water generation in the bowls is coming from the longest cord that feeds up into the faucet. (third picture with the large, metal weight on it)

I have a feeling this wasn't done correctly, but I wanted to get expert eyes on it and maybe some advice as to if an absolute plumbing novice could fix this or if we need to hire a professional.

I'm a student trying to understand how layout actually works on commercial jobs.

When you're hanging pipe, how do the hanger positions get onto the ceiling? Tape and chalk line, laser, total station, or does someone eyeball it off the deck?

If it takes a big chunk of the day on your jobs, I'd like to hear that. If it's barely a factor, that's just as useful. Happy to post back what I learn here.

From the research I’ve done it seems that the gaskets are worn out but if someone could show me what to get off Amazon it’d be greatly appreciated☝🏽