Bellies in Plumbing- Is It Worth the Fix?

Question

Hi BP Community-

I've been lurking in forums for a while but this is my first official posting!

I'm super new to Real Estate and purchased my first home in Austin, TX last June. This house is my primary residence but I have slowly been renovating the space and hope to start "househacking" in the next month. We've been nearing the finish line renovation wise and just as I was starting to get excited, disaster struck.

We noticed some light leaking in our guest bathroom around the toilet over the course of the past few months but we didn't originally think too much of it since we planned on renovating that room. We replaced the toilet including the wax ring and thought we'd solved the problem.

Fast forward to two days ago, my partner and I took two showers back to back- about 30 minutes of water use from the master bedroom(not the leaking bathroom). When we passed by the guest bathroom, it looked like someone had poured water on the floor and it seemed to be seeping from the bottom of the toilet(awful luck considering we just renovated that room, replacing tile, and drywall etc.).

Since we still have our home warranty, I had a plumber come out because I assumed we had some sort of blockage. The plumber used his snake camera, could not find a significant blockage but told me that he did see "bellies" which would be around a $20K repair and would consist of extensive plumbing work around the house. Of course- this didn't sit well.

So, I come to you, BP Community, with a few questions:

1) Has anyone encountered issues with bellies in their plumbing? If so, what was the actual cost of repair? From the plumber's suggestion, it sounded like he thought the best course of action would be to replace ALL plumbing but that seems like overkill to me. Is there a way to narrow down the possible offending pipes without costing hundreds of dollars?

2) Is this sort of repair worth it? My fear is that increasing the water usage by adding additional house guests(house-hacking), we'll continue to see an issue. We also planned on Airbnbing the house when we leave town and have room for 10 guests.

3) If we were to flip this house(another option we've considered), what sorts of disclosures need to be made about this plumbing issue? The plumber who came out recommended flushing the system a couple times a year and we shouldn't have a huge issue but there's only two of us living here currently.

Thank you in advance for any answers provided- We truly appreciate any and all help!

Adriana Escalante · Answer

Thanks for the response, @Craig Tripp!

It sounds like a more consultative meeting with a plumber will be my next step. I'm assuming they'd be able to map out where the issue stems and then give me a more realistic quote?

The previous homeowner did some work on the plumbing but we don't know what all that entailed. I know that there has been some replacement of the old cast iron and I would say most of the pipes outside of the house are PVC. BUT, it seems like the plumbing within the house is still cast-iron. I'm not sure how far the PVC replacements went but they obviously did not make it all the way to the interior systems.

Sounds like I will eventually have to bite the bullet and shell out money for that fix... We'll probably just try to be light on toilet paper usage etc until we have the time/funds for that.

Craig Tripp · Answer

It depends on location and length of the belly. If it's under the center of the slab and runs the length of near the entire length of the main line then it can be costly to tunnel and provide access and then of course make the proper repairs. Sometimes...depending on your layout and city sewer, you can reroute around the home if you have enough fall.

There are primarily two important concerns you do the work:

- make sure plumbers use clevis hangars attached to bottom of the slab to prevent a new belly from developing in time.

- put the dirt back properly and mud pump the voids to prevent additional settlement or erosion from occurring. Flowable fill does not equal mud pumping under pressure.

Are the existing drain lines cast iron or PVC? Branch lines may not need to be replaced if the belly is only in the main trunk line.

The decision to replace or not lies with your comfort level, but experience (or Murphy's law) tells me that the issue will typically show at the worst possible times (i.e Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or a big party). You don't have much history in the home, so you have time to figure this out, but I'd be saving for some big expenses if I was you.

Adriana Escalante · Answer

That's good to know, @Greg H.! I don't have too much experience with Austin plumbers but I kept thinking "there's just got to be another, non-$20K way."

The house is slab but I know the last tenant did some plumbing work(according to neighbors). It seems like someone has replaced most of the non-interior pipes with PVC. And that would have been sometime in the last 10 years. Not knowing much about plumbing, it seemed kind of crazy to suggest replacing all of the pipes if the issue does not impact all of the pipes.

Greg H. · Answer

Austin Plumbers are notorious for trying to take advantage of people. Is the house a pier and beam or slab ? I had a friend call me last month as the plumber recommended a $10k fix to a clogged washer machine drain without even inspecting first. The next plumber fixed for $125

Personally, I would do nothing and monitor the use of toilet paper and such and more than likely you won’t have another issue .

Bellies in Plumbing- Is It Worth the Fix?

4 Replies