Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drain collapse insurance covered?

Probably a dumb question, but oh well.. I had a cast iron drain pipe
break under my foundation (slab, 40 years old) causing the kitchen sink
to lose the ability to drain entirely. It cost me around $3k to have
the kitchen floor jackhammered all the way through the foundation down
to the break and have that section replaced with PVC, and the concrete
repoured, etc..

Would my homeowner's ins have covered this? Furthermore, if any of you
have seen such iron pipes fail like this, am I in for having the entire
house torn up to replace the REST of the iron someday? :-( :-(

  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
Charles Spitzer
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drain collapse insurance covered?


wrote in message
oups.com...
Probably a dumb question, but oh well.. I had a cast iron drain pipe
break under my foundation (slab, 40 years old) causing the kitchen sink
to lose the ability to drain entirely. It cost me around $3k to have
the kitchen floor jackhammered all the way through the foundation down
to the break and have that section replaced with PVC, and the concrete
repoured, etc..

Would my homeowner's ins have covered this? Furthermore, if any of you
have seen such iron pipes fail like this, am I in for having the entire
house torn up to replace the REST of the iron someday? :-( :-(


typically, no. it would pay to fix problems elsewhere, but the original
damage not.

maybe yes, maybe no.


  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
louie
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drain collapse insurance covered?

Whether or not insurance covers it is something you'll have to check
with your agent and/or policy documentation. I very much doubt it will
cover such a thing, but you can always look. Iron rusts. Rust is
relatively weak. When enough of the iron in the pipe turns to
iron-oxide (rust), it will fail. It could just clog shut (as the iron
supply pipes in my house did in a couple of places), or leak, or both.
It's possible that the rest of the drain piping will eventually fail,
but I wouldn't start tearing up the slab just to replace those pipes.
Either wait for another one to fail or for some other project involving
making holes in your foundation.

  #5   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drain collapse insurance covered?

made worse by using drain chemicals, best way to find out if it were
covered is call company and ask.

insurance is big on sudden failure, not so big on slow failures

sure pipe wasnt terracota pipe? that collapses and breaks easy.

if one part of your under slab failed the rest is likely on its way out
too



  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
 
Posts: n/a
Default Drain collapse insurance covered?

Speedy Jim wrote:

Are you *sure* it was really Cast Iron and not Galvanized Iron pipe?

Galv rots out in precisely 40 yrs bg but cast iron has a life
of double that.


That's what the plumbers said was used in this era home (for the drain
lines, not supply), and that's what they dug out - a broken 90 degree
elbow joint of heavy iron, or rust. There's some cast iron still under
the house for the main line with subsequently-added PVC joining up to
it in various places. The line out the front yard to the city sewer is
cast iron, too, and has obvious-on-camera damage that will eventually
fail it at any moment.

Oh, the joys of owning an older home..

Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Questions About Title Insurance Ablang Home Ownership 0 June 14th 05 02:47 AM
Bosch dishwasher SHU 3300 cycle not advancing past initial drain repair story mcquarrie Home Repair 1 June 17th 04 12:14 AM
Buying a Flat - Insurance, Subsidence & Underpinning Questions/Concerns waz UK diy 4 May 31st 04 02:11 AM
Water heater pressure relief value drip Remove dots from userid to reply Home Repair 29 May 17th 04 08:46 PM
Shop Insurance..... Ken Sterling Metalworking 20 March 28th 04 04:18 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:56 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 DIYbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about DIY & home improvement"