by Beks
When we purchased our home, we were forced to remodel part of the bathroom due to a shower pan leak. The ‘partial’ remodel turned into a full master bathroom remodel very quickly. My husband tore out the shower pan, then decided to tear out the shower walls since he was working on it anyway. Then he decided to replace the floor since the shower was going to be new and… you get it. He didn’t have to do much convincing to me. The bathroom was in terrible shape and I was excited to replace it.
Obviously, this was before we decided to become debt free.
Midway through the project, my husband asked what I thought about replumbing the whole house. He was concerned about the age of the house (over 50 years) and, in his experience, slab leaks from plumbing failures tend to be very expensive. I’m curious as to what a plumber charges to fix a slab leak. Moreover, would a plumber in Long Beach (or any other large city) charge more or does the price tend to remain constant regardless of location.
I didn’t want to do it. I felt like our credit card had been exercised enough with the remodel. He persisted and I gave in. We have all new plumbing in our home.
Last Wednesday, my mother called. They have a slab leak at their house.
The water crept across the carpeting, into walls, waffled through furniture, and up through bookcases.
My husband has been working to replumb their home and has had to cut open lots, and lots, and lots of holes in the walls and ceilings. I went to visit and felt like I was standing in the middle of a cube of Swiss cheese.
Of course, this comes at a bad time for my parents. My father is working diligently to start his own business and money is tight. It would have been nice if they had been able to pick a better time for a home disaster like we were able to do.
Ugh.
I hate saying this…
but hubby was right. He saved us a fortune.
No, he’s not like me. He doesn’t rub it in – but he’s got a sparkly little glint in his eye today.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Your poor parents! What a miserable headache! It’s nice that your husband is so handy. I worry that I wouldn’t even know something was going on until it was too late.
Plumbing is always such a mess when it goes bad. I live in fear of our hot water tank springing a leak and ruining the carpeting we installed last year in part of the finished basement.
We’re getting new gutters today and cutting our EF in half. It hurts, but our gutters are rusted through and don’t work at all. Foundation problems are very common here in Kansas City, so we’re doing our best to protect the house from water.
That is to say, I feel your pain. It costs a lot to protect your investment!
My friend had that happen in her home three separate times, each happened when she was out of town. Her homeowner’s insurance covered the repairs, your parents should check to see if theirs does too.
Starr – My sister lives in KC. I know exactly what you are talking about. She has the same problem!
Christy – Sadly, it’s not covered. We were bummed.
Money Beagle – That happened to my neighbors. They came home and had to replace the carpet, the drywall, etc. It was pretty bad, but I think the homeowner’s insurance covered some of it. It turns out water heaters don’t last as long as they used to! Their water heater was only 6 years old 😛
Beks – I feel so sorry for you parents! What a nightmare! 🙁 At least they know a good plumber…
Wow that really turned into a huge project! Our last house was nearly 100 years old and they are so expensive to keep up on. It seems like the jobs never end. First its the sink, then the plumbing, then the roof, the carpet is old the floors squeak. I think from now on we buy newer more modern houses. Its just too much work to keep up on older houses.
we lived on a slab and a plumbing leak and our home insurance covered it. Make sure they check! they said you can’t tell it needs replacing as you can’t see it so it wasn’t something we were neglecting.
Oh wow! That’s awful!! Sorry about your parents house. Water damage can be really hard to fix. It tends to get into everything.. one of the reasons I like the ceramic tiles in my house. Water isn’t usually too bad to clean where as carpet, vinyl, or wood are history with water damage!