Why You Should Check Water Pressure in Apartment Buildings

My wife and I bought a two-flat a few years back in the Mayfair neighborhood of Chicago. It’s been a pretty good investment so far, but we made a bit of a mistake in not checking the water pressure. This mistake may have cost us between $7,000 and $22,000 depending on what is required to repair the issue. Let me tell you a story that I hope you’ll be able to learn from.

We were excited because we were getting a two-flat for only $240,000 where they were selling over $300,000 at the time in this area. Once we closed on the property, we moved into the second floor to live for free while we saved money to buy a home. All was well because the 1st floor was vacant and we had the whole place to ourselves. Eventually, we found a nice tenant to occupy the first floor and to cover our mortgage and other expenses. One morning, while in the shower, the water started to lose pressure and then eventually stopped altogether. I stood there hopeless and blind with soap dripping into my eyes. I wondered when or if the water would turn back on. Or would I have to wipe myself off and roam caked in dry soap the rest of the day? After a few minutes and some shivering, the water slowly kicked on again and I finished my shower. This was the beginning of an endless saga of water pressure issues and troubleshooting.

What we learned was that whenever the 1st floor or basement water is being used, it severely impacted the water pressure on the 2nd floor. As owner-occupants we weren’t as concerned. But when we moved out, we knew it would be tough to put a tenant into this property without constant complaining – and we had lots of complaints including letting three tenants out of their lease early in 2 years. Over the next year or so we tried many things:

• Inspected all of the plumbing. Result: we have all copper. That removes the possibility that galvanized steel corrosion is the issue for the lower water pressure. Steel plumbing can corrode and reduce water pressure over time.
• We found that we have a water pump to increase pressure. So the prior owner must have known about it and was trying to improve it. Also, our inspector didn’t know what the pump was and didn’t talk about it. He should have found this easily, it was a dead giveaway. You live and you learn I guess..
• We replaced the water pump with a brand new one. The new one has an expansion tank that maintains a certain level of water pressure. The tank wasn’t large enough and this didn’t fix the problem. It’s louder (now the 1st floor tenant complains too!) than the previous one and isn’t increasing the water pressure at all. This cost us $1,200 for no results!
• We had a contractor help us dig up the water service in the basement to see what size line we had coming in. We found some copper that was 3/4 of an inch which should have been enough for 2 units. So it seems like that might not have been the issue.
• We have now started interviewing plumbers to repair or replace the water service from the street or to the Buffalo Box. This brings us to our current situation.

So after ruling out pretty much any possibility on the inside of the property as the cause of the lower water pressure, we now have to assume the issue is outside of the property. This means the city service line from the street is likely the cause of the issue. In talks with the various plumbers, I learned that I first need to locate my B-Box. I had the city come out and dig it up for me so that it’s now exposed and accessible for plumbers to shut-off the water. After locating the b-box, I had a few plumbers come by to quote my job. The general consensus was that from my basement to the b-box (located on city property on the OTHER side of the sidewalk) it would cost me about $6,000 – $8,000 to replace this with 1.5 inch copper pipe. Also, they would dig up my lawn and I’d likely have to pay someone to repair the sidewalk and yard myself depending on the plumber. This is all assuming that the issue exists between my house and the b-box. Here comes the kicker…if that doesn’t fix the water pressure issue (it might not) then I also have to replace from the b-box to the street. Now this is where the serious cost comes in. Now you’re dealing with the City of Chicago and union contractors. Here is a general layout of the Welcome to Chicago costs:

• Tap Permit: $1,500
• Water Service Cut and Seal Inspections: $2,000
• Water Cut and Seal Fee: $400
• Street Opening Fee: $1,000
• Asphalt Grinding and Repair of Street: $2,500
• Total: $7,400 of extra cost from b-box to street!! It’s only a 5 foot of so distance!
• Plus an additional $2,800 if the city requires us to install a meter vault.
• Plus an additional $5,000 if the water main is on the other side of the street (it’s on our side thank you God.)

So as luck would have it, I was interviewing a plumber the other day at my property and found that there were notices on the trees at my property only. They were plumbing related notices saying not to park there for the next 3 weeks because of water main repairs. So I thought, maybe I’ll call the city and find out what they are doing, maybe they are going to fix this thing. When I called, I confirmed that when they were locating the b-box they noticed it was faulty. They couldn’t explain in what way, but I’m very hopeful that by them replacing or repairing the b-box, we may have normal water pressure! So at this point, I’m holding off on hiring any plumbers until this job is completed. I may have dodged a bullet! I’ll update this post when I have the final results. What can you all learn from my mistake?

1. Know your inspector, don’t just hire anyone, get a referral or use someone who has a lot of experience. We had a new guy fresh from the academy and he missed this one and it may still cost us big time.
2. Check the water pressure on the top floor at least. Run plumbing fixtures on multiple floors at the same time to determine if there is an issue with water pressure. If so, assess the possibilities of the cause.
3. Check to see if you have copper plumbing or galvanized plumbing.
4. Check the diameter of the water service line coming in.
5. Call the city and/or your alderman before doing any water service work. If the issue originates on the city side of things, they may repair it for you at their cost or help you decide how to proceed without spending top dollar.
6. Contractors want your money. You must do your own due-diligence. I have a feeling that most of the plumbers I spoke to could have given me advice to have the city do certain things first for free to rule out all the options before taking my money. The city has information that is accessible by the homeowner for free. You don’t need your plumber to call them and ask about the plumbing service line – do it yourself.
7. Locate defects before buying the property so that you can use them to negotiate the price down. If we had found this and knew what it was when we were buying this property, we probably could have negotiated down about $15,000-$20,000.