Concrete job gone bad.

[Anonymous]

Had a small but not insignificant concrete repair job done at my home (about $5K) about 2 years ago.

Unfortunately as they had to demo existing concrete, these guys hit a PVC pipe (near a drain) which they fixed with another PVC pipe. Fast forward a year and it's smelly as heck near this concrete (and associated drain). I now believe they broke a p trap and didn't replace it with a p trap.

Do I call my insurance company? The contractor hasn't been helpful (I raised concerns about it at the time, but was told there were no issues and if I thought there were at the time I should have told the foreman to stop work). I don't really think I would want these guys doing additional work for me but the smell is strong.

They were not the least expensive company and came referred through our realtor.

[Anonymous]

so they demo'd a concrete floor, ruined a drain line, and they replaced the line? If this is a floor, drain, you should first make sure it just hasn't gone dry. A lot of times with no active water draining, the floor drain trap will dry up enough to allow air admittance.

If there is no trap where there should be one, You might have some leverage. If you can demonstrate they did plumbing work without a master license and without a permit, you can get them in serious trouble with WSSC (assuming they have a MD contractor's license). Get a plumber to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Is it a basement bathroom? What is the drain?

You want a plumber. They can bust up the concrete floor if they need to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so they demo'd a concrete floor, ruined a drain line, and they replaced the line? If this is a floor, drain, you should first make sure it just hasn't gone dry. A lot of times with no active water draining, the floor drain trap will dry up enough to allow air admittance.

If there is no trap where there should be one, You might have some leverage. If you can demonstrate they did plumbing work without a master license and without a permit, you can get them in serious trouble with WSSC (assuming they have a MD contractor's license). Get a plumber to figure that out.

It's an outdoor drain in a sidewalk so it did not require a permit for the concrete work. Obviously the concrete guys weren't supposed to touch the drain but they jack hammered right through it (even though I told them exactly where the drain was. They were only supposed to change the fixture on the drain but not touch the pipe).

I am in DC.

Plumber can't see through the concrete, but I have photos of their work when it was broken (I don't have photos of what they replaced it with though).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it a basement bathroom? What is the drain?

You want a plumber. They can bust up the concrete floor if they need to.

It's an outdoor drain in a sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it a basement bathroom? What is the drain?

You want a plumber. They can bust up the concrete floor if they need to.

It's an outdoor drain in a sidewalk.

What does this even mean? Is this a sewer drain from your house running under a sidewalk?
Is it a French style drain or gutter drain pipe that runs to the city sewer?
A proper description or some pictures would help.

[Anonymous]

Maybe an animal died in the pipe?

[Anonymous]

An outdoor drain would not have a p trap (!). That's for interior plumbing to prevent sewer gases from coming into the interior space. An outdoor drain is presumably draining to daylight, so would not have sewer gas to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Find a plumber who can do a camera sewer scope of the line and determine what’s wrong.

I don’t see where your (home) insurance company comes into it. If there’s any insurance involved it would be the contractors liability or E&O insurance but I suspect you’d need more evidence they actually did something wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An outdoor drain would not have a p trap (!). That's for interior plumbing to prevent sewer gases from coming into the interior space. An outdoor drain is presumably draining to daylight, so would not have sewer gas to begin with.

+1. The animal comment is interesting. I would bet most plumbers can camera the line these days.