I am pleading with anyone about to embark on a DIY adventure in plumbing: please be kind to your future buyers, and hire a plumber to do the job right. Some things are great for DIY projects, like decorating, or perhaps anything if YOU are going to live with the results. But please, pay kindness forward to anyone forking over half a million for your home that needs work in obvious ways. We have just discovered the not-so-obvious ways... and yes, I had a home inspection prior.
Along with the cosmetic horror that abounds in our home - shitty corners on the crown molding, crooked chair rails, uneven trim around door frames, flooring going multiple directions, baseboards not secure and falling off (hey, at least I can remove them to paint over puke green walls), baseboards nailed onto old baseboards - we discovered major plumbing problems 5 days after moving in/closing. My mother in law arrived - literally walked in the door from the airport - to the first floor bathroom spewing shit all over the tile and into the hallway, and the basement pipes were leaking, creating a nice wading pool downstairs. I told my MIL I had just finished dinner if she was hungry. She said, "Oh, don't worry, shit happens." At least she likes to stay busy.
A plumber diagnosed the major problems with the toilet. Check. The upstairs shower wouldn't drain. He came down and asked if I had done the tile myself. "No, we just moved in," I said carefully. Well, the previous DIY genius didn't cover the drain as he laid tile, so there was a ball of grout in the pipe. Fantastic. I guess that guy saved a ton of money by going the DIY route; he was confident and persistent, but not smart.
The basement.... well, that is a CF. Thankfully it's unfinished so we can see all the pipes. The previous owner bought a new sump and moved the old one to the utility sink. The warranty won't cover it because it is the wrong pump; supposedly if it were the right one and simply broken, it would be covered. The washer is routed UP the wall, through some curvy pipes, and then down into this pump, then back up into the main line. Plumber says this configuration is senseless and will burn up the washer soon. Utility sink barely functions because of incorrect pump. Sump pipes flow to the main line, rather than going to ground outside.
The plumber's recommendation is to spend about $3200 to rework the pipes - washer and sump to a separate line that empty into a pit in the yard, so we don't pay sewer bills for this - and buy and install a new [correct] pump for the utility sink.
Question: Does this sound like the right course of action? And, thanks for letting me vent.