Hello everyone,
While looking for some helpful advice for my current issue, I came across this forum and hope to find someone who can give me a good tip or suggestion.
Here is some background information:
A few months ago, I purchased a multi-family house. In the basement, the following two jobs need to be done in the next days or weeks:
1. Replacement of the first main water shut-off valve because it is continuously dripping.
2. Replacement/renewal of the water pipes, since it was recently discovered that there is a section of lead pipe before the water meter (and possibly underground outside the building).
My plan was to first have the leaking shut-off valve repaired to avoid the basement flooding if the valve fails. Afterwards, I intended to proceed with the replacement of the lead pipes.
Now to the problem:
After about two weeks and several on-site appointments with my plumber and the local water supplier (they have been here three times), it turns out that no one knows where the water can be turned off—either outside or in the basements of the neighboring buildings. Without shutting off the water, the repair work cannot be carried out.
The approximately 100-year-old building is located in a backyard on private property, and the water pipes were apparently privately installed many decades ago. No one seems to have any further details about where and how the pipes run underground—not even the previous owner. They are also not marked in local utility maps since they were privately laid at some point.
At this point, I really don’t know what to do next and am seriously considering either a) starting to dig everything up from the building outward to track the course of the water pipes or b) having a completely new official connection installed by the local water utility (at my own expense) and, if possible, decommission the old still-active pipe.
Does anyone here perhaps have advice or a similar experience and can tell me the best way to proceed?
Thank you in advance to everyone who takes the time to read this long message. Many thanks!
Best regards,
Anton
While looking for some helpful advice for my current issue, I came across this forum and hope to find someone who can give me a good tip or suggestion.
Here is some background information:
A few months ago, I purchased a multi-family house. In the basement, the following two jobs need to be done in the next days or weeks:
1. Replacement of the first main water shut-off valve because it is continuously dripping.
2. Replacement/renewal of the water pipes, since it was recently discovered that there is a section of lead pipe before the water meter (and possibly underground outside the building).
My plan was to first have the leaking shut-off valve repaired to avoid the basement flooding if the valve fails. Afterwards, I intended to proceed with the replacement of the lead pipes.
Now to the problem:
After about two weeks and several on-site appointments with my plumber and the local water supplier (they have been here three times), it turns out that no one knows where the water can be turned off—either outside or in the basements of the neighboring buildings. Without shutting off the water, the repair work cannot be carried out.
The approximately 100-year-old building is located in a backyard on private property, and the water pipes were apparently privately installed many decades ago. No one seems to have any further details about where and how the pipes run underground—not even the previous owner. They are also not marked in local utility maps since they were privately laid at some point.
At this point, I really don’t know what to do next and am seriously considering either a) starting to dig everything up from the building outward to track the course of the water pipes or b) having a completely new official connection installed by the local water utility (at my own expense) and, if possible, decommission the old still-active pipe.
Does anyone here perhaps have advice or a similar experience and can tell me the best way to proceed?
Thank you in advance to everyone who takes the time to read this long message. Many thanks!
Best regards,
Anton
Hi, I didn’t expect a reply so quickly.
Together with the local water supplier, we tried shutting off the three most obvious valves on the street, but unfortunately, none of them worked.
There are actually two buildings in front of the backyard. In one of these buildings, we even found a similar piece of lead pipe with the same diameter as the one in my house and were almost sure that this was the pipe connected to my house (or privately installed back then). We shut off the valve there, but unfortunately, that didn’t work either.
My impression of the local water supplier’s team and the plumbers was generally that everyone was really baffled, as almost everything had been tried.
Good luck
Together with the local water supplier, we tried shutting off the three most obvious valves on the street, but unfortunately, none of them worked.
There are actually two buildings in front of the backyard. In one of these buildings, we even found a similar piece of lead pipe with the same diameter as the one in my house and were almost sure that this was the pipe connected to my house (or privately installed back then). We shut off the valve there, but unfortunately, that didn’t work either.
My impression of the local water supplier’s team and the plumbers was generally that everyone was really baffled, as almost everything had been tried.
Good luck
Sounds familiar to me. Luckily, a few elderly gentlemen stopped by here—just on their way to the doctor or the bakery—who had built the street back in the 1950s. With their memories, my mother’s input, and the municipal plans, we managed to find the connection.
It’s difficult to find someone who might have buried something there. Especially since very creative methods were used back then to connect old (1929) and new (1950s) sections. It’s quite possible that over the past 100 years, a creative and at the time perhaps even logical solution was found. If you dig up the area, I would definitely recommend having new cables or pipes installed.
It’s difficult to find someone who might have buried something there. Especially since very creative methods were used back then to connect old (1929) and new (1950s) sections. It’s quite possible that over the past 100 years, a creative and at the time perhaps even logical solution was found. If you dig up the area, I would definitely recommend having new cables or pipes installed.
Ante123 schrieb:
By now, I really don’t know what to do anymore and am seriously considering either a) starting to excavate everything around the building to trace the path of the water pipes, or b) having a completely new, official connection installed (at my own expense) by the local water supplier and, if at all possible, deactivating the old still-active line. Ante123 schrieb:
My impression of the local water supplier’s staff and the plumbers was generally that everyone was really at a loss, since almost everything has been tried. Well, I don’t quite share that impression. Off the top of my head, I can think of two methods to locate an active water pipe: either by pipe tracing using signal injection or by acoustic pipe location. Neither should be new to a water supplier or a plumber.
Once the pipe is found and locally exposed, and the team wonders how to shut it off without a gate valve, ball valve, or stop valve, just suggest the option of "freezing" the pipe.
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