Wow. I am super excited. We just had our offer accepted on our very first rental property. Yeah! Also, we just found out the plumbing needs replacing. Yikes! Any idea on a price for replacing the plumbing (bursted in a cold snap) on a two story, 2 bedroom, 1 bath house-about 1000 square feet in metro detroit?
If you are wondering you have to shimmy into the darkness shown by that hole in picture two (about 2'x2') and then belly crawl hauling your wife's favorite electric fireplace behind you for about 31 ft over dirt, broken concrete, and discarded timber/refuse until you get to the 1.5' by 1.5' space they hammered out of the stacked rock for access to the next crawl space. Once you squeeze your 38 year old (and now slightly heftier bulk, get off my back I like craft beer and wine) through that hole you can then point the aforementioned fireplace at the P trap while you begin to heat tape the frozen toilet water supply line because "bro, toilet won't flush yo....". My Fluke temperature gun says the ambient temp is about 20 to 30F which isn't bad considering outside is -25F without windchill.... paaartae
@Charisse Ryan; Minneapolis chiming in here (-52 wind chill)
Step by step tutorial on how to deal with -34 ambient temperatures
1. Panic about your 119 year old duplex when the main floor renter texts "hey... the hot water line doesn't work, am i supposed to not use that bro?"
2. Panic again, visualize the split copper pipes and 33 degree water raining into the crawl space
3. Get in there and fix some frozen pipes, start with a hair dryer and graduate to a space heater, or (like I did) take your wife's favorite 'fancy' electric fireplace and drag it into the crawl space dirt to thaw the main floor P trap under their tub because you have no options and nothing is draining
4. Over do it and start wiring in unnecessary hardware like baseboard heaters (panic subsiding... slowly)
5. Feel free to lay awake at night listening for bursting pipes and not sleeping, either way, get in there and save your investment by any means necessary.
If you are wondering you have to shimmy into the darkness shown by that hole in picture two (about 2'x2') and then belly crawl hauling your wife's favorite electric fireplace behind you for about 31 ft over dirt, broken concrete, and discarded timber/refuse until you get to the 1.5' by 1.5' space they hammered out of the stacked rock for access to the next crawl space. Once you squeeze your 38 year old (and now slightly heftier bulk, get off my back I like craft beer and wine) through that hole you can then point the aforementioned fireplace at the P trap while you begin to heat tape the frozen toilet water supply line because "bro, toilet won't flush yo....". My Fluke temperature gun says the ambient temp is about 20 to 30F which isn't bad considering outside is -25F without windchill.... paaartae
@Lee Fahy I feel your pain. We have had too many frozen pipes over the last few years. Last year we got them good enough to not freeze at -10, this year we had more work to keep them working at -25. Hopefully we will not get any -30+ next year.
@Charisse Ryan there is no way to answer this for you. In some instances you can simply replace a broken section, if you have several brakes, broken pipes in the walls, or old plumbing you may find replacing all lines to be the best option. Single story with unfinished basement is pretty simple, finished basement or plumbing on the second level is more involved. I would make sure you figure this out before you agree to purchase the property especially if it is a cheap house in Detroit.
@Lee Fahy another interesting landlord story - I have one house where the lines were freezing up but I think it was because they were away a few days. Can't prove it and we fixed it before there were any brakes or leaks.
Have an apt with electric baseboard heat and a couple years ago a couple tenants (mid 20's) turned everything off to save money while they went away during Christmas week. I got a call on New Years Eve when they returned that the water in the toilet was frozen solid. l told them to turn up the heat so it got to 70 and I'd be there in the morning. Got there and it was about 36 in the apartment and told him he'd be paying for the toilet as it would be cracked and the pipes in the wall that were obviously busted. Turned the water off to his bathroom and brought the plumber in the next day when it was thawed. I did ask him "Didn't your parents teach you anything?"
Replaced all the galv. plumbing with Pex in a 2 story. Took 4 days but that included all the PVC drains & hooking up a new diverter to the shower. I charged them $3200.
@Charisse Ryan all depends on how many places it burst. One burst will could be a inexpensive and quick fix depending on the location. If you really have to replace plumbing, @Pat L. price of $3200 is something I would consider reasonable.
@Andrew Pospychala it was for friends kids. They sold the property a year later for 2x what they originally paid. I also did a complete rehab on their small bathroom but that was another $3500.
@Lee Fahy@Tim Swierczek. Lee I had nighmares of that exact scenario. I was thinking of you and @Erik Anderson as well in my nightmares. I had my tenant keep the water running for all four days (I pay water) and she said she turned the heat up higher since I was worried about my property as this is the first winter Ive had the place. God bless her. I feel like I'll be doing the exact same thing one of these winters.
Wait. Did you close on it yet or just have the offer accepted?
I had to perform this and it is definitely not cheap fix. Especially, if the house isn't just studs. Also, is it just in one location? Get a plumber to the property and get a quote, put some buffer in there, and renegotiate the sales price.
I thought of you this week too, Isaac. I often drive through the neighborhood of your property. You have a nice property. Both of my houses did fine in the extreme cold.
If you are wondering you have to shimmy into the darkness shown by that hole in picture two (about 2'x2') and then belly crawl hauling your wife's favorite electric fireplace behind you for about 31 ft over dirt, broken concrete, and discarded timber/refuse until you get to the 1.5' by 1.5' space they hammered out of the stacked rock for access to the next crawl space. Once you squeeze your 38 year old (and now slightly heftier bulk, get off my back I like craft beer and wine) through that hole you can then point the aforementioned fireplace at the P trap while you begin to heat tape the frozen toilet water supply line because "bro, toilet won't flush yo....". My Fluke temperature gun says the ambient temp is about 20 to 30F which isn't bad considering outside is -25F without windchill.... paaartae
Critical question....Is it still her favorite fireplace?