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Had a plumber come in to unclog a toilet and shower, he ended up removing toilet and snaking underneath to remove the clog. This resulted in several large stains on my downstairs ceiling. He is claiming that this just happens, part of the job and does not want to take responsiblity for the ceiling repair . It is a popcorn ceiling so repair is not easy. I feel he is responsible!
Hard to tell without knowing the situation, but with a clog like that, the standard way of clearing it is to bring the power snake up on the roof and go down through the vent stack. You roof pitch might be too steep for safety, you might just have hired a clueless plumber. Ceiling stains are NOT normal.
The roof is steep, so I am correct in insisiting he fix the problem? He was referred to me through an agency that hooks up plumbers, painters etc. with prospective clients that may give me some bargaining power. What specifically would he have done wrong that caused this?
What specifically would he have done wrong that caused this?
He ran the snake from the toilet flange (in the floor) through to wherever the clog was and this cleared the line. He then drew the snake back into the spool.
Any mess that HE would make should be isolated to the bathroom floor in the area immediately around the toilet. Which it appears was all cleaned up in satisfactory manner.
In relationship to the toilet upstairs... where are the stains?
immediately below or farther down the line?
Hard to tell the 3 stains are close together it appears the smallest one is directly under the toilet the other two larger ones are further down. While he was doing the work I saw the first stain start and let him know in a few minutes he informed me that he had to run to the store to get more rags. He returned in 30 minutes by then the 2nd stain had started. Don't know if tht's helpful just seemed odd that he had to run out for rags? Possible there was a lot of water and some spilled down the hole?
Again, not being there, I can't give a full assessment. Plumbers have to take reasonable care. Normally, pulling a toilet off the flange isn't even needed. There are toilet snakes that limit any discoloring of the porcelain in the basin, and they allow a plumber to go through the toilet trap to the clog. If he had to remove it from the flange, because the clog was beyond the reach of a toilet snake, normal procedure is to remove as much water and waste as is possible from the toilet, prior to pulling it. That means that if he had to do it manually (no shop vac or wet vac) there could be two or three cups of waste water that would spill out. If the flange was skirted so that the floor was continuous right up to the flange, then all but a few drops of water can be absorbed by towels. If a wet vac was used, and an extension that fit into the trap, only a few drops total should have been released.
IF... he wasn't able to remove enough water due to the design of the trap, and IF... the flange had gaps or went to the subfloor only and the subfloor had gaps, then water could quickly fall out of reach and stain the ceiling below or along the dripline of the waste pipe. That is a pretty rare situation.
All this assumes that he did not have to dismantle any of the wastelines, and that they are watertight.
Plumbers rush from job to job. Very few habitually carry a wet vac, and if they do, it can be pretty crufty and not something they bring into every house.
Overall though, if a plumber pulled a stunt like that on a Donald Trump or anyone else with an expensive house, they would be wise to get out of the business immediately and move to a different state.
Had a plumber come in to unclog a toilet and shower, he ended up removing toilet and snaking underneath to remove the clog. This resulted in several large stains on my downstairs ceiling. He is claiming that this just happens, part of the job and does not want to take responsiblity for the ceiling repair . It is a popcorn ceiling so repair is not easy. I feel he is responsible!
So when these "clogs" ocurred they maybe overflowed and you may have had some amount of water on your floor?
Not Donald Trump, have a nice 2800 sq. ft house but nothing extravagant. He apparently tried first to snake through the toilet because the porcelain in the bottom is discolored in spots. He started with a manuel snake but left to get the "power" snake then removed the toilet. I don't think he dismantled any wastelines. He did not use a wet vac I have a nice one in garage he could have used if needed. Bottom line, is it going to be hard to prove he was negligent? Stinks if I'm stuck with an expensive ceiling repair.
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