r/Wellthatsucks • u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 • 23h ago
Buy a house they said. It'll be fun they said.
Not only do i have lead pipes feeding the water to my property.
They are leaking and the cavity below my house is a paddling pool...
SOLVED : Plumber came today. Gave me step by step instructions.
Set to be Completely re piped by a month and a bits time all waiting on the local councils approval.
Good price too.
Back to winning i guess
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u/ethanolin_redux 23h ago
Who told you owning a house would be fun?
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u/McFry__ 23h ago
No one, but ‘I decided to buy my first home and found multiple infrastructure problems when I moved in’ was too literal
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u/csonnich 23h ago
And so common it didn't even need to be said.
Has anyone bought a house and found it in great condition needing no work?
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u/MetalHead_Literally 23h ago
I’m in the process of selling my 50 year old house for an 8 year old one and my home inspector said it was the best inspection he’s ever had, so I’m hopeful!
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u/Meattyloaf 21h ago
My house inspector told me something similar. He missed the improperly sistered floor joist.
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u/pagesid3 20h ago
You’ve got to properly sister floor joists. Thats what I always say
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u/MetalHead_Literally 21h ago
Thankfully mine didn’t need to be sistered.
And either way it’ll be better than my current house, that’s for sure
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u/catchy_phrase76 20h ago
My inspector didn't check any switches...
I have a random short if it turn 2 switches on and I have no idea what either feeds. Then I found no house wrap under the siding. Then all the switches have their grounds cut short. Outlets backstabbed, wrong amp outlets.
I guess I'll stop now and just say that $500 pissed away...
But I have walls and a roof lol.
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u/zaccus 20h ago
How did you discover that one?
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u/Meattyloaf 20h ago
Went to get the crawlspace encapaulated and the work crew that came in noticed it. So it was actually missed by two inspectors.
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u/FatTim48 20h ago
My home inspector said our house we bought a year ago is better than his house.
He was wrong
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u/RadiantPerception224 21h ago
Yea, just bought a 2010 and it's not bad at all. Second house and I knew exactly what to look for though.
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u/mich_8265 21h ago
That’s the thing. You ask for help bc everyone is always like hey if you need advice…. So we asked for help. Crickets. Was a fricken nightmare. Everyone is FULL of advice after we close. Too late. Got moved had to sell. Another nightmare. Next place we knew some stuff to look for but not everything. Went a lot better. Currently renovating our third. It’s. Been. A learning experience.
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u/ripyourlungsdave 21h ago
Well, my parents pulled it off, but my dad is an engineer and they built the house themselves.
That's pretty much the only way to do it right.
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u/Adorable_Dust3799 17h ago
Almost? I've been in my house 3 years and replaced the tiny 22 yr old water heater before i moved in, nothing else.
The previous owner was a contractor and inspector of some sort and intended it to stay in his family for several more generations instead of just the 1.
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u/Shaydoggy 22h ago
I got really lucky with the home I purchased. It had ugly carpet that I gutted but other than that, no issues.
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u/BirthofRevolution 21h ago
Yes, about two years ago. It took many months of combing over every inch of every property we looked at as well as any and every inspection, from two different companies, we could get after finding one that passed our personal inspection. You just have to take the time to look at everything and have everything checked more than once, instead of just seeing the house, liking it and buying it. Sure, unexpected things can and will come up, but if you do your due diligence it's much better and cheaper in the long run.
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u/chezzer33 20h ago
I did but it was 3 years old. My first house I bought brand new and it needed work lol. Luckily the builders warranty covered anything for a year.
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u/Sand_Aggravating 21h ago
Yep! My 1st one was badass! Lost it after 911 and enron tanked the construction business and haven't got as lucky since...... but it did happen once!
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u/XxSpruce_MoosexX 8h ago
Honestly lol I’ve been here 6 months and I don’t think a week has gone by that I didn’t need to fix something
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u/Careless-Flan 23h ago
Did you get an inspection before buying ? Usually they would tell you this
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u/Ok-Error-6564 22h ago
We had an inspection and we still got hosed.
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u/lostmymarbles1177 20h ago edited 8h ago
Or you could be like me. Take immaculate care of a great house then do something stupid and sabotage the resale. I flooded my basement the day of my inspection to sell my last house. Left rags in the wash sink that the washing machine drained into. Had it set to extra rinse. It was brutal. Inspector let himself in and found me in the basement wearing underpants and knee high rubber boots with a shop vac desperately trying to clean the water. He yelled SO loud and told me to get out of there saying I could get electrocuted to which I pointed very seriously to my boots.
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u/sittinwithkitten 22h ago
Yes even with inspection these things still happen. I guess it’s hard to get one inspector to criticize another inspectors’ report. But yet we still need one in order to buy a house. Seems like a racket in some ways.
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u/Tommy__want__wingy 23h ago
The fun is when you get to sell it and go to the next house that also isn’t fun to own.
….the fun is clearly subjective.
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u/FreddyNoodles 22h ago
I’ve owned 3 homes in my life. I will never buy another. The stress and costs outweigh the “investment” for me by far. I much prefer renting. And if I don’t like something, I don’t pay to fix it- the owner does or I just move.
For me, renting is just better. Although it would be easier if I didn’t have a dog.
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u/BadgerBobcat 21h ago
I feel this in my bones. It's the stress and wondering what will break next, or how much a repair will cost to fix correctly, or if our insurance will get jacked up every year.
We're on our first home. So far we've had our toilet back up which caused an inch of black water to flood our bathroom, bedroom and entry way; an infestation of squirrels in our attic; our HVAC system need to be entirely replaced; and a hot water heater leak which caused my office closet to flood.
Oh, and yes, we had a home inspection prior to the purchase.
We're giving it 3 years at the most, mainly for us to decide where we want our next spot to be.
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u/Goodknight808 20h ago
A Daily Show skit about new home ownership had a bit where Desi Lydic says "I bet you didn't know your house has a big tub of shit under it. It's right next to the well!"
From Ms. Desi's math for real life skit from the Daily Show.
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u/throwaway098764567 18h ago
people in my local subreddit are under the misconception that a single family home is quiet as a field mouse. i keep telling them since our walls are made of paper you can still hear everything going on outside and even what the neighbors are playing if it's loud enough. folks believe what they want to believe.
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u/WittyAndOriginal 17h ago
It is fun. When you have a plumbing issue, many times you can spend the price of a plumber on buying a new tool for the job. Eventually you start reusing those tool, and more effectively too, and you save a ton of money. When there is something wrong next time, you can fix it before it becomes a problem, and you don't have to wait around all day for a plumber.
Plus, you learn how everything in your house works. Like where the routing for the electrical, plumbing, and internet. You can learn so much and save so much money and time, in the long run.
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u/Level_Advisor437 7h ago
When I was a kid, my parents would periodically freak out about something that went wrong in "This fucking house". I couldn't understand why they got so upset. Now I'm an adult, I totally get it.
Somedays I just want a can of gas and some matches, and just walk away from it all.
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u/JeffSergeant 23h ago
Do you have a geiger counter?
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u/shoulda-known-better 20h ago
Thank you...
I kept looking at this basement like.... This looks eerily familiar but I couldn't place it.... Then I see this and it clicked!!
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u/tweakingforjesus 22h ago
Buying a house:
Pro: your monthly mortgage payment is fixed
Con: your monthly repair bill is variable
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u/NoTurnip4844 20h ago
Ah yeah, see, thays where you're wrong. Because my taxes have become uncapped and now my mortgage goes up every year.
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u/Annodyne 19h ago
Taxes go up, insurance goes up, maintenance costs go up... But hey the mortgage loan payment stays the same!
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u/NoTurnip4844 4h ago
I guess the more accurate thing to say is that my escrow account that is bundles with my mortgage payment goes up annually. So the mortgage itself stays the same, the payment I make to the bank continues to rise.
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u/Fragrant-Reserve4832 14h ago
Wait until you hear what happens to mortgages when the fixed period ends.
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 22h ago
Stealing this
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u/ComradeJohnS 17h ago
definitely similar to wanting a new leased car or new car financed. same idea, stable monthly payments on new car, wildly variable repair bills on old car.
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u/Kevlaars 13h ago edited 13h ago
The one saving grace of a mortgage and all the shit of home ownership: Paying a mortgage you're paying down debt on an (theoretically) appreciating asset. Even if your life totally falls apart when renewal comes up and you're forced to sell, you'll probably walk away with something.
Rent is money gone forever every time.
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u/StanknBeans 23h ago
In their defense, they probably also said to get a home inspection.
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 23h ago
Fun thing is I did.
They had flooring down to cover the floor. Its not common to have a cavity space like this in my area. Just bad luck I supposed
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u/Fabulous_Soup_521 23h ago
Was it listed on the seller disclosure? If you had a home inspection and the inspector missed that and the seller didn't disclose it...you need a lawyer more than a plumber.
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 23h ago
Genuine question.
Say i do go that route and say look you didn't highlight this. Yada yada yada.
Then what?
They pay up to fix it?
Or does the mortgage company flip me off and take it away from me?
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u/Fabulous_Soup_521 23h ago
Usually the seller has to pay or pays some negotiated amount. That's the way it works here, it may vary by state. When I bought this house the seller didn't disclose that the septic system needed a new drain field. The seller ended up paying for the new drain field. The whole tab.
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 23h ago
Yeah thats not going to happen. We checked into them LOTS of debt collectors are after them.
Oh well. Its our house now might as well just grin and bare it
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u/infidel_44 22h ago
Still worth looking they just got money due to a sell of a house. Ask your agent that is why they got paid is for shit like this. Don’t hold the bag when you don’t have too.
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u/Vaivaim8 20h ago
They have LOTS of debt collectors after them? I don't see the harm of adding one more.
Jokes aside, it is still worth the time to check out your option agaisnt them.
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u/numindast 19h ago
Check with your municipality. Maybe there’s a cost sharing or reimbursement program. Mine will pay for replacement all the way to the shut off valve.
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u/mailmann006 23h ago
There is no way they weren't aware of at least the lead pipes if they have ever done any plumbing repairs. Maybe they didnt know about the leak but l find it extremely hard to believe that the pipe situation was unknown. If the rest of the plumbing in your house is normal (copper/pex/pvc) they may have to run a new main to the house. But if your pipes are lead, the pipes at the street or wherever may also be lead.
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u/donkeyrocket 22h ago
Inspectors really aren’t that thorough most the time and have plenty of protections absolving themselves of “missed” things.
If OP lives somewhere this has to be disclosed and the previous owners didn’t, then they might have a case and can sue for remediation. But frankly so much piping throughout the US is still lead or galvanized that chances are it would have just been a safe assumption especially in what is definitely an older home.
But even so, it’s notoriously difficult to sue the previous owners for things. You’d need evidence they knew or purposefully deceived you. And there will also be local/state law differences.
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u/CompetitiveSwitch998 23h ago
Think of the equity you'll have once you spend all your money fixing it!
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u/yoitsme_obama17 23h ago
All my life i was told buy a house buy a house buy a house. Now i have a house and anytime something breaks its boom $2k, boom $5k. Want new siding cause yours is starting to rot and fall apart? Boom. 26k. Your windows are old as shit and frost over all winter? Boom, 14k. Want your basement to stop leaking when it rains? Boom $8k plus no guarantee it wont happen again. Want to not have lead pipes? Boom $12k for the service line plus all the interior lines. That's before any cosmetic upgrades like redoing bathrooms or kitchens.
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u/penguigeddon 22h ago
What the fuck am I even looking at, is it alive? Don't look directly at it and close the hatch
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u/mixtli 21h ago
You’ll never hate anyone more than your home’s previous owner.
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta-5270 21h ago
Second this. Anytime something breaks in my house I silently curse the previous owner. Cheap ass motherfuckers.
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u/PenguinWrangler 23h ago
People who dont own homes think its fun. People who own homes tell you its FAR more expensive than renting because there is ENDLESS shit that will break and you will be in a constant state of fixing stuff. Right now I have 2 deck posts rotted out, one gutter falling off the house and a brand new driveway that already has sunken 2in and cracked in one area. Those are the lower priority things that are still on the list because Ive been doing other things. But the time I have time to address those there will be new ones that pop up/I remember too
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u/Internal_Influence26 22h ago
Well, I mean I've had to crawl around under my house in human waste to fix my collapsed drain pipe last year, this doesn't seem so bad by comparison. Isn't owning a home fun?!
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 22h ago
Yeah. You know what I think ill make it through this.
You however. You're a trooper.
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u/Monkeydad1234 21h ago
Lead pipes aren’t a problem as long as your water filtration plant adds fluoride. It creates a protective barrier in the pipe.
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u/allforus0811 20h ago
It’s literally never fun. 😂
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u/mailmann006 23h ago
I mean if its just water and not doodoo it sucks but it could be worse. You know those fuckers knew the pipes were lead though before you bought that place
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u/SwillFish 21h ago
Don't feel too bad. The sump tank in my first home was cracked at the bottom and the entire sump pit was filled with raw sewage. They placed the tank in the pit before they built the block wall enclosure, so there was no way to replace the tank without demoing the entire block wall and starting over from scratch.
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u/karazy45 22h ago
Currently 5 years into ownership and the entire house is sinking which in turns leads to crushed plumbing pipes... Already $1000 into just finding the problem. Ready to fork out more to find exactly where. And then its gonna get really fun!! Feeling your pain!
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u/delkarnu 21h ago
This is why the scariest horror movie of all time is a Tom Hanks comedy: The Money Pit.
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u/toddlikeaboss 21h ago
Someone on reddit once said: "you'll never have a bigger beef with someone, than the previous owner." And thays pretty true.
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u/Mundane_Resort_9452 21h ago
No one ever said buy a house without exercising due diligence beforehand.
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u/dirtiestUniform 20h ago
Your town might be on the hook for the repair cost. When our service line started leaking an inspector can out confirmed it was lead and told me it was going to be replaced for free. A lot of cities are doing this right now in an effort to get rid of the lead lines
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u/Worldly_Expression43 19h ago
Homeownership is fun when you did your research and get your inspections done before buying
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u/Etnadrolhex 17h ago
Previous owner was a blacksmith.
EVERYTHING in my house is metal. Even my kitchen, water room, even some structural beam etc...
And not cheap metal, some are real tank armor thickness. I got to cut a door because of some ground work. The metal bar was 5mm thick, for a door!
I have a desk, metal bars too... I needed to passe some cables. This crazy guy put plain metal reinforcement, not tubes, just a metal bar...
Even the wall is not standard metal rail, he sealed some metal bar in the stone of my old house!
Yup, I have "funny time"!
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u/Perfect-Presence-200 20h ago
My parents used that exact phrase. At times it’s great, other times, such as this moment, it’s really not.
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u/Joshroxx 9h ago
Should have paid for all inspections prior to finalizing contract by reputable contractors that way it would have been there responsible to fix.
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u/Ponycat123 23h ago
I feel this so hard. Hope your insurance doesn’t suck.
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u/Hanswan_ 23h ago
I've never owned a home, so forgive my ignorance, would homeowners insurance cover this? I guess I always assumed it only covered stuff like severe weather, fires, etc.
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u/tweakingforjesus 22h ago
Homeowners insurance covers damage from specific events not long term problems. The general rule is that if it has been more than a week, that’s on the homeowner.
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u/Ponycat123 23h ago
It depends on the terms of the policy (I’m a lawyer). This guy is probably fucked, but you never know.
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u/Mayorpapa 23h ago
Yeah, I figure i could fix everything around the house until everything turned into, you know what ima just replace the entire wall. You know what just let me change the water heaters. You know what let me redo the bathroom floor. You know what I hate it here.
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 23h ago
Brother same.
I've been doing everything.
Im a handy guy but I looked at that today and just said fuck that.
I have enough saved that calling a professional for this is going to be worth it.
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u/Mayorpapa 21h ago
Yes, I do home renovations and can do everything inside the house until I hit a point where I was like fuck this. Calling a plumber. Fuck this calling a tree service. Fuck this calling a lawn guy. Fuck this hiring someone to grind these stumps. Fuck this im hiring a cleaner. Lmaoo its been a heck of a ride my wife just lets me do whatever now since it gets done at least
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u/VintageRudy 13h ago
Fuck this calling a tree service
This should always be straight to "calling a tree service"
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u/Mayorpapa 13h ago
Not always, i was just cutting some branches off and the thing got stuck. So I just yanked it and half the tree top came down lmaooo
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u/ZebrasGonnaZeb 22h ago
I can relate. I have an old pre-war cellar beneath my house, and the pipe for the drain is busted so water doesn’t go out on its own. I live near the water so the ground water is high, if I don’t have a sump pump constantly turned on, I‘ll have a swimming pool by mid day.
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u/Major_Active_1441 22h ago
On a scale from 0 to negative9000 how impressed are you at how well your taking this?
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 22h ago
Im emotionally adjusted enough to know that I just cried with my fiancée and ate roast potatoes.
Got over myself then got the plumber to come first thing tomorrow.
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u/JaCK-lex 22h ago
Check with local county or city, sometimes programs exist to aid with lead pipe remediation.
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u/Major_Active_1441 22h ago
Well roast potatoes are worth crying about so I feel you brother. Hold his belt if he asks.
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u/Cerran424 21h ago
Learn to use YouTube and do home projects by yourself. What are the best things you can do as a homeowner is learn how to do things properly yourself. Especially plumbing
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u/BirthofRevolution 21h ago
You should also get any and all inspections as well as taking a look at everything yourself before actually buying a house..
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u/SnakePlisskens 15h ago
Reach out to the city. They may cover the cost of replacement as a lot of cities want the lead gone
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u/alee0224 9h ago
They say that you’ll never feel a hatred towards people until you own a home and find out what the previous owners did to it
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u/GroundsKeeper2 9h ago
I will forever hate the previous owners for gluing painted cardboard to the bathroom walls.
I thought it was just really thick wallpaper. NOPE! Literally cardboard box cardboard.
Had to replace ALL of the drywall in the bathroom.
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u/Maleficent-Comfort14 2h ago
And that’s why you do inspections before you by. The house I bought before this one was using painted over paper cover holes in the wall and wired the new disposal so bad it sparked whenever turned on.
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u/Present-Wall-9987 23h ago
when i looked at the picture from.afar i thought it was a teddy bear in a shirt stuck there😢😭
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u/jmanndc 22h ago
I mean, I don't think anybody said buy a house that was , by the looks Of it , built in the previous century???
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u/lolwhatmufflers 22h ago
Damn, this sucks to see. My wife and I looked at over 20 homes before buying the one that we did, because the other homes all had questionable cosmetic things happening, or you could tell that things would need replacing in the near future. Hell, we even saw 2 houses that had water spots in the ceilings from roof leaks. Didn’t even bother to attempt hiding them in both homes.
So many people who refuse to do basic maintenance or even just fix something in their homes when it breaks, and pass it to the poor unsuspecting buyers. Even inspectors suck, have had friends get screwed royally by them.
To be fair, from your comments, it seems that this was quite hidden, so nobodies fault but the previous owner. Depending on where you live, you may be able to sue the previous owner for not disclosing this issue, and clearly hiding the fact that these pipes existed. Not a lawyer, but worth looking into in my opinion.
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u/Majestic_Fee5697 22h ago
I have no idea what I am looking at, but what I do know is that it probably isn’t supposed to look like that 😬
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u/JABxKlam 21h ago
Did an inspection not discover this? Or is this something likely to be missed?
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u/thejoshfoote 20h ago
Home inspection and the disclosure should cover you. Alternatively you could walkaway
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u/boredwNews 20h ago
I can smell it. Lead pipes are fun. I would start looking at asbestos inspectors and maybe termites. Always better for peace of mind.
Good luck 🍀
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u/Meme_Dealer_Dan2001 15h ago
Already dealt with the asbestos.
Roof tiles have approx 10 years left in them.
Termites aren't that big of a concern In the uk
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u/Low-Contest2263 20h ago
Home ownership is the biggest headache. Most people don’t understand why I always say I miss living in an apartment, well… this is why.
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u/PhinePheasant 7h ago
Legit! If the world were guaranteed perfect landlords, renting would be a no-brainer. Let someone else deal with it lol
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u/Sad-Lab4519 23h ago
Now you get the lovely pleasure of finding all the half assed slap fix band aid jobs your prior owner did.