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    boards.hgtvpro.com    HGTVPro Message Boards  Hop To Forum Categories  Trades and Specialties  Hop To Forums  Plumbing    Leak coming from main pipe
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I've been wondering for the past two years where this leak from the apartment upstairs was coming from and to my surprise I pulled back the dropped ceiling tile and here came the water. I almost got a face full of who knows what kind of fluid it was coming from. I realized that for now I can't fix the problem cause the tenant upstairs doesn't want to be bothered, so for now I have to figure out how I can fix this from inside my place. The pipe is the big black pipe that is like the one that all the waste and stuff goes into. I'm not real sure but I think that is the one. Whenever the tenant from upstairs comes home shortly after he has been in his apartment I hear the water come flowing down. Right now I have a bucket up there to catch the water that flows down. Can someone help me figure out how to go about fixing this without calling a plumber. Thanks
 
Posts: 10 | Location: Missouri | Registered: 19 September 2007Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Picture of LA Marlowe
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While not recommending any particular option, you have some available. Renters always have rights and legal recourse, even with unfriendly and unhelpful property owners, but, personally, I would save those for the very last resort; even if he/she is knowingly exposing you to continual health hazards despite repeated notification. I don't know how things are in Missouri, but juries in Alabama have been known to award very substantial penalties for such callous disregard of common sense health issues, after years of dragging things through the process, of course. If it comes to that though, have good documentation, with notes of every date, time, and contents of the conversations you've had with the owner or agent; pictures and physical evidence of the problems, etc.

Theoretically, one could wrap duck tape, or some of that self-adhesive rubber wrap around the leak, if it can be pinpointed. Or one could drill a 1/4" hole in the top of a section of the pipe and fill it full of expanding foam insulation from a can. That would shift the problem upstairs, at least temporarily, until it filled up the floor and dripped down on your head, eventually. One might even be tempted to cut off any water supply to the upstairs until such time as the leaks are addressed. But I would never recommend such a thing.

The upstairs tenant might be acting like an A-hole but it really is not his problem until it is made to be one. Bottom line, it is the responsibility of the landlord, whatever it takes to make him aware of it.

The bigger problem you face is health issues, not just from the bacteria and germs you're being exposed to on a continuous basis, but from the mold and mildew growth. The only realistic options I can see are threatening a lawsuit, filing one, moving out, or all of the above.

I hope things work out okay for you!
 
Posts: 261 | Location: VA, AL, GA | Registered: 23 October 2007Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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