How many hours to change 6+ ft bathtub drain

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vijay

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My bathtub was draining really slow; When I opened the drain cover screw
and peeked inside, it looked like there was only a small opening for the
water to flow out of the tub into the drain.

Called in a plumber. He looked in the crawlspace and suggested I replace
my old galvanized drain pipe with PVC. He say about 6 ft pipe replacement
in the crawlspace; He is asking for $800 - he says 2-3 hours job for
2 guys. Dose that sound reasonable?

:confused:

What do you guys think, -- I live in SF bay area.

Vijay
 
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elvisclock

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If he gave you Flat Rate Up Front pricing; it shouldn't matter how long it takes as long as the job is done to the specifications you agreed on. If he is a licensed, insured and bonded contractor with a good reputaion and warranty to back up the work then you are good to go. Plumbers rates vary greatly depending on how they charge and what expenses they have into the job.
 

vijay

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Thanks -- he appears to be very reputed and good plumber. I have seen
many good references. My question about the hours was to figure out
if I was being overcharged ..

Vijay
 
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elvisclock

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If it upsets you that it does not take as long as you think it should then he should be able to charge you more if it takes longer than he expected. Remember that this is what he does for a living and if he is good it will not probably take as long as you think it should.
 

hj

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cost

You are not being overcharged if you agree to the price before he starts. Up till that time you can change to a different plumber it you want. When you get a total price up front, the plumber will have an idea of how long it will take, but since you would not pay more if a problem crops up, he should have a "fudge factor" in there to cover contingencies. If there are none he makes little more money. If things crop up, he will make a little bit less if they are minor, break even if they are moderately serious, and lose money if they are major. If you don't want to roll the dice and let him possibly make more than you want him to, then have him do it time and material. Then you pay for the exact time it takes, understanding that YOU will pay for all those contingencies regardless of the total figure.
 

shag_fu

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Sometimes you gotta be careful of T&M. Paid by the hour can be motivation to slow it down a bit or get mysterious problems cropping up. Esp if its a slow time of year. A bid from a reputable plumber with lic, ins etc would be safer in my opinion.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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It depends

I agree with HJ....mostly anyway....


it really depends on what all he is going to do
for the $800.....

ask him if this includes the shoe and overflow on the tub itself.too........

If he is changeing out the tub drain only.....that seems
a little high for our area...

now of course if your crawl space is only about a foot deep
and they have to do some "spelunking" for 50 feet
through spiderwebs and mud to get over to the tub drain
from the crawl space door.....

its worth all that they can get.
 

Cookie

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You could always try to do-it-yourself, I bet...it is a piece of cake.:eek:
One thing I learned, is that you pay people for the knowledge they have, what do you do for a living?
 

Cass

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I am going to guess that in SF CA that is a going price, I could be wrong but I knoe things are higher there.

I was talking to someone from there and they told me that someone making $65,000.00/year could not afford to live there.

If true then $800.00 seems reasonable to me.
 

Wrex

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Its not such a bad job if you have worked with PVC before.

I did a similar job a few months back although the run was a bit shorter (about 2 feet) when snaking out my bathroom sink like I usually used to do every 3 months when it would clog. This was due to the galvanized pipe.

My snake actually broke through the threaded end of the galvanized pipe where it met the 90 degree elbow and water came pouring into the basement.

So I ripped the wall open and replaced it all with PVC. Check out the inside of the old galvanized pipe.

reed-pliers.jpg


Well theres your problem :D!!

The galvanized pipe threaded into a cast iron pipe via a oakum and lead hub fitting on the top and bottom with a threaded T on the side to accept the galvanized of course the pipe wasn't just going to turn out of there after 50 or so years.

First I removed all of the pipe I used a reciprocating saw and cut about 4 inches past where the pipe threaded into the cast iron T and removed the rest of the galvanized to the sink.

Then I got out a big 3 foot chisel and a 4 pound hammer and pounded a hole in the pipe right where it met the CAST iron T. After the chisel went through the pipe I used a monkey wrench and pressed down to cave the pipe in on itself.

After that I simply took my water pump pliers grabbed the mangled pipe and wiggled a bit and the end of the pipe came out threads and all.

From there it was simply a matter of buying a threaded to PVC glue fitting. I used the fitting that usually glues to the end of a PVC sink trap and connects to the tail piece. However according to HJ you must purchase a special threaded converter for this purpose while has thicker threads.

I coated the threads of this adapter fitting with liquid teflon (in a can with a brush applicator for sealing gas pipe threads I think) since I feared that the rough cast iron threads would tear up teflon tape like tissue paper. I inserted a short length of unglued PVC pipe into the fitting to turn it into the cast iron tight then removed it. From there on I simply glued the PVC to the adapter fitting and installed the piping to the sink.

Needless to say I haven't had to unclog the drain since December when I did this.

Probably since PVC doesn't have that rough inside (which later rusts) like galvanized has which catches all of the nasties that plug up the drain.

I also did the same for my bathtub which was actually in worse shape with visible rust on the outer wall of the pipe!

As for your question yes $800.00 is reasonable for that repair.

Although if you know how to do it yourself the parts will probably be under $100.00.
 
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hj

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fitting

I hate to burst your bubble, but that fitting was never intended to be used that way and therefore is very thin with a straight thread for the slip nut. The regular adapter you should have used is much thicker, and thus stronger, and also has the tapered thread needed for a proper leakproof connection. There is a good chance that fitting could snap off some day.
 

Wrex

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No bubble bursting here I am always open to criticism.

Unfortunately thats all that the local Hobo Depot had and the local plumbing supply store was closed since it was a Sunday.

Little tips like that from people in the know is the reason I come here.

I'll keep that in mind for the future thanks.

Knowledge gained and not shared is knowledge wasted.
 
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vijay

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Thanks for such an active discussion guys. This is much better than asking
my friends, neighbors, co-workers where I end up in a circular discussion
most of the times.

In addition to replacing the drain pipe, the plumber is going to replace the
tub drain close/open thing (don't know the lingo). He said he will also
replace the drain under my other bathroom shower.

I will try to take a picture of what the old drain pipe looked like after it is removed. Thanks for all suggestions, being a computer programmer I
understand the stuff in theory, but won't bet on fixing things in crawlspace.
 

TMB9862

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If he is replacing your trip lever (tub open/close thing) and shower drain I'd say $800 is a good price.
 

Cookie

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ha ha ha, my son is a systems engineer in computers, and I HAVE to kill the spiders for him! Forget a crawl space, never.
 

Redwood

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I too believe the price is very fair for replacing the Waste & Overflow and the drain pipe.
 

SRdenny

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"I am going to guess that in SF CA that is a going price, I could be wrong but I knoe things are higher there.

I was talking to someone from there and they told me that someone making $65,000.00/year could not afford to live there."

A union plumber in the SF area, working a 2000 hour year, should see $90K-$100K on his W-2. Plus pension, health and dental plan.
 
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