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View Full Version : Water pipe in condo walls annoying me... who's responsible?



djmr2
01-12-2016, 11:34 PM
Got a noisy water pipe that probably feeds the baseboard heaters in our building. It ticks/knocks non stop with maybe a two minute pause between cycles.

Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with this before, would the condo board be on the hook for this since those pipes are common property? It's right behind my drywall but pretty sure those pipes are going into the other units....

djmr2
01-12-2016, 11:36 PM
oops... maybe this is better in home and garden...

Env-Consultant
01-12-2016, 11:54 PM
I had this is a brand new condo that I rented for a summer. The problem ended up being the contactor cheaping out and using valves that were discontinued. The reason they were discontinued was due to quality issues. Ended up talking the landlord into replacing them and voila, the noise was gone. Contractor ended up paying.

dj_rice
01-13-2016, 12:06 AM
If its the water pipe feeding hot water INTO your unit then its the condo board responsibility. But if its a water pipe thats feeding into the baseboard heaters AFTER coming into your unit, I believe that would be condo owner responsibility to fix.

djmr2
01-13-2016, 12:39 AM
Originally posted by dj_rice
If its the water pipe feeding hot water INTO your unit then its the condo board responsibility. But if its a water pipe thats feeding into the baseboard heaters AFTER coming into your unit, I believe that would be condo owner responsibility to fix.

makes sense, i'd somewhat agree to that.

now the problem is this one pipe that comes out of the floor and goes straight up the drywall into the unit above. It's banging on a stud or something. Condo boards responsibility?

Do they usually fix stuff because it's noisy? I'd normally not care but it's in the bedroom.

gwill
01-13-2016, 12:48 AM
There's actually a certain measurement when it comes to plumbing or electrical where it becomes the condo boards responsibility. If it's banging on the studs id say it's a Board responsibility but your property manager may disagree. If they don't try and help ask them to see something in writing as to why it's an owner issue and not a board issue.

We had a flood caused by an owner where a plumbing stack got clogged... Because the clog was past a certain point it became our issue and not the owners.... Even tho the owner was responsible for jamming stuff down the drains.... Ugh

kaput
01-13-2016, 03:01 AM
.

djmr2
01-13-2016, 09:51 AM
hmm ok thanks for the help guys. I'll ask the condo board to pay for it because that water pipe doesn't actually feed my unit at all. It goes from the floor straight up the wall and probably into the unit above us (can't see with the drywall still up).

The property manager kept trying to push it off on me that it's just normal thermal expansion and that if i want to fix it, it'll be my responsibility but i disagree cuz its not my property but making noise in my unit!

timdog
01-13-2016, 10:00 AM
if it's steam heat, this is called steam hammer, and it's very common and there is likely nothing they can do about it. it usually only happens when the boilers are starting up or shutting down, so mid-january wouldnt really make sense, unless one of your boilers had some maintenance being done on it and it just got started up again. I would wait it out for a couple days and it should go away (again, only applicable if you have steam heat)

revelations
01-13-2016, 10:08 AM
Originally posted by djmr2
Got a noisy water pipe that probably feeds the baseboard heaters in our building. It ticks/knocks non stop with maybe a two minute pause between cycles.

Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with this before, would the condo board be on the hook for this since those pipes are common property? It's right behind my drywall but pretty sure those pipes are going into the other units....

It gets complicated:

- is the noise new to you
- are you new to the noise thats been there all this time (eg moved in recently, turned off music )

In our unit, anything behind the paint was dealt with by the property management co.

mr2mike
01-13-2016, 10:21 AM
Originally posted by timdog
if it's steam heat, this is called steam hammer, and it's very common and there is likely nothing they can do about it. it usually only happens when the boilers are starting up or shutting down, so mid-january wouldnt really make sense, unless one of your boilers had some maintenance being done on it and it just got started up again. I would wait it out for a couple days and it should go away (again, only applicable if you have steam heat)

This.

Could be an air bubble if recent service done and it's gotten frequent or louder. If it's really loud, they could potentially bleed the line but chances are there's nothing you can do. It's just how hot water heating works. But worth a call or door knock to find out if there was any recent servicing done. But more like, it's colder out so the heat is going on more frequent.

loweg
01-13-2016, 10:33 AM
My bro just bought a condo in inglewood and is dealing with this.

You in inglewood?

His isn't water hammer, it has to do with the slips used in the hot water pipes and is fully covered at no cost to him .

djmr2
01-13-2016, 02:22 PM
They bled the pipes on the units above us a few times already because those units complained of no heat. Didn't change the sound on our pipes. They've remained the same since the heat has been turned for the season and it did it last year as well.

Not in inglewood.

I'll be making a formal request to the board and see what they say. I guess the bylaws should cover this but is there anything in the condominium act across alberta that says anything to this?

mr2mike
01-13-2016, 02:33 PM
Originally posted by djmr2
They bled the pipes on the units above us a few times already because those units complained of no heat.

An air lock

Mitsu3000gt
01-13-2016, 02:38 PM
I'd be very surprised if the heating pipes in your unit are your responsibility - mine sure aren't and I have the same hot water baseboard heat. Usually you don't own permanent fixtures like that. I had a noisy valve replaced just 2 weeks ago actually, at no cost to me. Usually you don't own things like exterior doors, windows, utility rigging, etc.

Also most condo boards are beyond useless, go to the condo management company, assuming you have a decent one.

Kloubek
01-13-2016, 02:42 PM
I'm not certain the rules are completely set by an outside entity. (Though they might be). But, upon building a complex, could the bylaws not be the legislation that defines this?

You could simply notify the condo board of what happened and get it fixed. Let them do the legwork on responsibility until they come back and say it is yours.

...and keep in mind this is an annoyance. Not a requirement/emergency.... for any difference it makes to the rules.