I have a general contractor who is constantly fighting me on things. I call him out for crappy work and he hand waves it away saying it’s not a big deal. This bathtub issue is probably the worst of it and I was wondering if maybe you can help me understand it.
We were 1 day away from stucco when I noticed this bathtub issue and took these pictures. In the picture we are looking up to the ceiling above a recessed front door into the floor beneath the bathroom.
If we filled the bathtub up, wouldn’t it just drain into this ceiling area? I think it’s just wide open into the tub and the knockout is on the 4” drain pipe.
I could see up into the drain so I assumed it was not connected and we were about to be in for a world of problems. First he says it’s an alternate drain and it’s done right. Then his plumber comes by and says oh shit this isn’t done and fixes it. Now after the fact he says nothing would have happened because of the knockout cover.
Thank god it’s fixed (hopefully) but I’m trying to get him to acknowledge the monumental failure.
Thanks for your help
Dump a gallon of water into the tub, see where it goes
I really should have just done this. I thought about it but I wanted to trust my contractor which I am regretting.
Lol, I lived in an apartment building that was built like this. One time I overfilled my tub and got a call from the landlord saying there was water filling up the light fixture in the unit below me. He had the balls to try to blame me for the fact the overflow pipes weren’t connected to anything.
Jesus. That’s horrific. One bath and your house would have been ruined.
my upstairs neighbour did this.
well, their landlord did - too cheap to even use a plumber, “fixed” the bath himself and didn’t connect the waste at all. the water in the bath went straight through my ceiling.
not hilarious when the tenants had a bath.
The great thing about firing a contractor is the next one you hire will know you have it in you
This is a great way to look at it; it’s always seemed like an absolute last resort but the way you put it it’s about getting what you need done.
Change contractor. You pay him: it’s really easy to stop paying him and pay someone else instead.
I would look into getting a different contractor.
A drain that is just open at the bottom is terrifying. And while accidents do happen, refusing to acknowledge this is wrong means he is likely hiding other issues you didn’t happen to notice.
This is really validating thank you. You touch on a fear that I have now. “What else is wrong” echoes in my mind a lot now.
