PEX piping due to slab leak

[OCinCali]

Hello,

I'm a condo owner in SoCal and would like to ask for your help since I'm not too happy that the plumber used by the HOA ran the PEX pipe inside my small garage.

My 1989 built condo unit in the Belfora Community is in a two story building and the slab leak happened to my next door neighbor. We're both located downstairs and I had to give access to the plumber's so that they can run the PEX pipe across my garage. The explanation was that they were going to create holes in my garage ceiling to run the PEX tubing but instead ended up running it at the top of my walls. This is not what I agreed to but the plumber said there was no other to do this because of the joist running across the ceiling.
Before I send a complaint letter to my HOA, I need to do some research and would appreciate any professional advice or help. I will try to post photos.

Thanks for any assistance and God bless.

 

[Reach4]

The explanation was that they were going to create holes in my garage ceiling to run the PEX tubing but instead ended up running it at the top of my walls. This is not what I agreed to but the plumber said there was no other to do this because of the joist running across the ceiling.

I expect they did what they did for the reason you suspect: they were too lazy to do it thru the ceiling. I am not a plumber, but I know that what they did is not to codes. I say this mainly to support them being lazy and/or not competent. The obvious code violation is that it is not supported enough. I am not sure at what size it changes, but for sizes up through 1 inch, PEX needs to be supported every 32 horizontal inches . But you don't want them to say they can fix that by hanging up pipe hangers. You want somebody who will know how to do it right, and will do it right. Not somebody who will rely on you to produce a punch list.

There are other factors in proper installation. If they can't get the obvious stuff done, are they going to do a good job on the less obvious stuff. They need to allow for thermal effects. There are going to be other factors.

https://www.pexuniverse.com/providing-proper-support-long-runs-pex-tubing
https://www.pmmag.com/articles/102126-tech-topic-supporting-pex-perfection
https://www.huduser.gov/Publications/PDF/pex_design_guide.pdf page "70" which is really page 80 of 128

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

Who knows what you would find if you opened up the ceiling there. You could cut out the drywall and find out you're still blocked and prevented from running inside the floor joists.
Or you could remove the drywall and look first, and then add hours to the job and add drywall patching to that too. How much is the condo association going to be paying for this work?

 

[Themp]

I would box that line in with drywall and paint it to match the walls. You could do a 45 degree slant with the dry wall or just a box. And maybe the insulation on the pipe can be removed since it will be boxed in and save more space(smaller footprint). I assume the insulation is to prevent UV damage as you do not get much freezing weather in California.

And the future could bring a slab leak in your condo and this pipe might be the solution also.