My home inspector missed the poly-B piping and now I'm stuck with a leaky basement

I bought a house in the Strathcona area back in March, and you know what, the inspection report came back clean. The inspector even said the plumbing looked fine. Fast forward to two weeks ago, I'm walking down to the basement to grab a jar of pickles and I hear water running. Not a drip, like a steady stream. Turns out the previous owners had polybutylene piping hidden behind a finished wall, and a joint just gave out. I had to call a emergency plumber at 10 PM on a Saturday, cost me $1,200 just to stop the leak. Now I'm looking at another $4,000 to repipe the whole house because my insurance won't cover gradual failures. Has anyone else found poly-B in an older Edmonton home after closing?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanprice25d ago

Funny you mention that, my buddy bought a place in Mill Woods and found out the hard way too when his washing machine supply line blew at 2 in the morning... turns out the whole house was piped with the grey stuff behind every wall.

the_hugo24d ago

OH MAN no way. That exact same thing happened to my cousin over in the Rutherford area, he bought a 90s townhouse and the inspection gave it a clean bill of health. Then six months later he was tearing out the drywall in the laundry room and found that grey pipe running EVERYWHERE behind it, like a hidden spiderweb. The worst part is the inspector even had a poly-B detection tool on his belt, I saw the photo my cousin showed me, and he still missed it somehow. Total nightmare material right there.