I know a few people around these parts work in remodeling and more than a few own a home. We have a house that was built in the 1950s. It’s bones are good but a bit dated but we like it. We have just about every intention of staying here over the long term.
For the past year and a half we have been plagued by a random leak from the upstairs bathroom. At first it seemed to be from the caulking between Where the tub and the tile meet- and I laid a nice line of sealant and thought it was taken care of(even patched the spot in our downstairs ceiling). Well about 8 months later it was clear that the ceiling downstairs was experiencing water issues. I then was more diligent about searching out the issue and traced the leak to a certain spot but haven’t nailed down if it’s only when it’s cold water or hot or when it’s the shower or tub faucet; it doesn’t seem to be splashing related but hey I’m not sure...
We had a plumber out to look at it and he stated that he only puts in single handle faucets due to code with this plate over the old handle spots(not the greatest looking) but in trying to show him the issue it wouldn’t leak a drop so he wasn’t sure that this would solve the problem. He said to solder in the new handles and faucet would cost $1,700.
On top of a lot of money to possibly not fix something; here is the other catch; we aren’t crazy about the bathroom, the tub is chipped, the tile is dated(pink), and the grout on the floor has seen way better days. It’s the first room we planned on renovating when we moved in. We weren’t planning on doing it until at least next year though. Maybe 18 months.
I suspect the $1,700 is a sunk cost if we remodel down the line- the work would likely be redone. But I also think a remodel would start near $10,000 and be possibly much more; so the fear of spending $1,700 shouldn’t necessarily spur me to spend much more.
Anyone have a vote on what might be a good solution-
- New faucet in the current bathroom knowing it may not fix the problem
- Move up they timeline for the remodel(or at least get quotes)
- keep trying to diagnose so that I have further confidence in the $1,700 fixing the problem
- try to catch the water that does leak and live with it on my timeline