Plumbing/Plumber Questions

[ericlambi]

We are in the process of a complete remodel of our second floor bathroom. The bathroom was gutted to the studs and floor joists, the rough plumbing was moved and updated, and then re-construction began this week. Today, the plumber was setting the tub and I come home to a gigantic hole in my first floor ceiling, directly below the tub. I won't be able to discuss the reason for the existence of this hole with my plumber until Monday, but I cannot understand why it was necessary. I can see through the hole all the way through to the second floor. It appears to my untrained eye that there was no need for this hole, and they could have managed everything from the second floor, where there was already a hole. Is this normal? How can I find out if the hole was necessary? I have plaster walls/ceilings, and this hole will be very costly to fix.

In a related question/note . . . the plumber insisted that I buy a cast iron tub. Apparently, you cannot get clean taking a shower in a fiberglass tub. I followed the plumbers recommendation, and was thanked for this by having my wood floors damaged by the clumsy plumbers while they carried this 500lb monstrosity up to the bathroom. I would guess there is approximately 8 gouges of various sizes between my front door and the bathroom. The gouges are cosmetic and probably unfixable. I am definitely bring this up to the plumber, but do not know what I should expect him to do abou it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

FYI, this plumber came highly recommended and has been very professional in my dealings with him so far. I do not know if the owner was even here today though, it may have just been his employees.

 

[thunderdave]

Call him, I think you deserve an explanation.

 

[HawkHater]

Ok, was the subfloor present in the bathroom? Why are the setting the tub if no subfloor was present? Am I confused.

 

[isufbcurt]

Fiberglass tubs are perfectly fine. I worked at a plumbing wholesale store in Ames during college and we delivered alomost 99% fiberglass tubs and showers to all projects.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

Ok, was the subfloor present in the bathroom? Why are the setting the tub if no subfloor was present? Am I confused.

I was wondering this as well.

Were they needing to move some plumbing and could not do it from above? Difficult to tell without seeing some pics.

Either way, plaster ceiling work really isn't THAT expensive or difficult.

 

[Sousaclone]

The hole in the ceiling is most likely so they can install the trap for the tub (which has to be accessed from underneath). Plumber probably doesn't have it installed yet.

 

[kberyldial]

The hole in the ceiling is likely due to the fact that he had no room to hook up the trap otherwise. The cast tub could be a casual way around busting out a wall to install water pipes that normally wouldn't be there. So far I wouldn't fret. Any damage to the drywall on the way upstairs they should fix. However, from your description I am imagining a crawl-foot tub where the piping would be on the outside without busting stuff up. So temper my earlier comments if that is not the case. If your showerhead is already coming out of the wall then I would say they passed an old cast tub onto you. P.S. I worked for a plumber for 8 years in h.s. and college. But that has been almost 20 years ago.

 

[ericlambi]

Thanks for the responses . . . I have a new subfloor, but there's a pretty good sized cutout in the subfloor at the head of the tub.

 

[ericlambi]

The hole in the ceiling is likely due to the fact that he had no room to hook up the trap otherwise. The cast tub could be a casual way around busting out a wall to install water pipes that normally wouldn't be there. So far I wouldn't fret. Any damage to the drywall on the way upstairs they should fix. However, from your description I am imagining a crawl-foot tub where the piping would be on the outside without busting stuff up. So temper my earlier comments if that is not the case. If your showerhead is already coming out of the wall then I would say they passed an old cast tub onto you. P.S. I worked for a plumber for 8 years in h.s. and college. But that has been almost 20 years ago.

This is a new Kohler tub, no problems there. They did do some damage to the plaster on the way up (besides gouges, I actually have foot and hand prints all over the walls). I am not concerned about the plaster, I am a master spackler by now. I am concerned about the floors, which I don't think are fixable, and the hole in the ceiling. My construction guy charges $60/hr and is SLOOOW (I am in Boston, that is not high for around here), so the hole could be pricey.

 

[kberyldial]

This is a new Kohler tub, no problems there. They did do some damage to the plaster on the way up (besides gouges, I actually have foot and hand prints all over the walls). I am not concerned about the plaster, I am a master spackler by now. I am concerned about the floors, which I don't think are fixable, and the hole in the ceiling. My construction guy charges $60/hr and is SLOOOW (I am in Boston, that is not high for around here), so the hole could be pricey.

Okay. Hand and foot prints can be cleaned off and/or repainted. Reality of that situation. You'll get nowhere on that. Floor damage is something to bring up. Th hole in the ceiling - if plaster-ugh- is alos they need to address. The point to argue there is that it was not a leak and they just came to fix the leak. It was a plumbing upgrade that they took on which required messing up the downstairs ceiling. That is theirs to fix. Without question. Don't get further down the road until you have it resolved. Certainly don't pay until it's resolved. But be nice. Tricky.

 

[kberyldial]

It should be noted that the cast tub could very well be a way around framing up a fiberglass tub. Nothing sinister in that. If the space was tight they might have recommended the cast tub as a way to avoid really scraping the bathroom in order to frame an area for a fiberglass one. Out.

Edit. I think I repeated myself repeated myself there.