L.O. from New Haven County, Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I had a sanitation line underneath my dishwasher that was leaking. The plumber had to chop out my kitchen floor to get to the pipe which was thin wall cast-iron. The first four feet of the pipe was all rotted out. The plumber said the reason it was rotted out was because the pipe was back-pitched. To find the joint to replace the pipe he had to chop out another six feet. The condo association said that this problem belongs to me. The elbow of the pipe was on the foundation and the rest of the pipe was on dirt below the kitchen slab. I want to know if you have run across something like this before?
Mister Condo replies:
L.O., I have seen similar situations and I have seen a variety of solutions to the problem. Let’s start with who owns the lines that the plumber was working on. If it was yours, this is your issue. If it was the association’s, then the association should step up and take ownership of the problem. That being said, you may also have an insurable loss with your own homeowner’s insurance. Or, you can simply accept the Board’s call and pay for the repair if the dollar amount is low enough. The bottom line is that your unit needs to be repaired from the damages caused by the plumber’s repair to the sanitation line. If the Board isn’t going to pay for it and you have no insurance to cover the damage, the expense may be yours. I am sorry I don’t have better news. All the best!