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October 4, 2006

Bed Stuy Reno'ers Bite the Bullet

drilling
Given our own experience with a collapsed sewer line (and flooded basement and cellar) last fall, our hearts went out to the Bed Stuy renovators when we read yesterday that they had been forced to start digging up the street to replace their own water main. As they point out, this ain't a cheap procedure. About $10,000, as we recall.
Lead Water Mains and You (And Us) [Bed Stuy Reno]




Posted by Brownstoner at 9:59 AM | Comments (13)
Categories: Bed Stuy Reno

Comments

At the Sight alone, my eyes are welling up. Only 2 months after closing, I endured the same fate. After attempting to blame everyone on the face of the earth; from Sanitation to the Realtor, I ultimately had to bare the cost. Oh it hurts soooo bad. :-( And there is NOTHING sexy about layin' out thousands of dollars and you can't even have a neighbor say.." Wow, that's a pretty sexy Sewage pipe "

Posted by: NewStoner at October 4, 2006 10:51 AM

$10K for a day's work? Who else makes that kind of money (legally) for manual labor?

Posted by: Anonymous at October 4, 2006 11:01 AM

Well, I guess fortunately for us, it was just the lead water main, our sewer line is still fine. So while it cost us, it wasn't quite as bad as the full package. Although now we have been wondering about that sewer line, as it's probably a ticking time bomb . . .

Posted by: Peter at October 4, 2006 11:01 AM


It shouldn't cost that much. There are outer Borough companies that do it cheaper. I've hired them myself.

$10,000 is robbery.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 4, 2006 11:31 AM

how can you tell if your water main is lead. Isn't it all underground, or is there a way to tell from where it enters your cellar? do you do a water test...?

Posted by: lp at October 4, 2006 11:34 AM

Oh, oh, oh. The Bad Thing! The rip-up-the-sidewalk-with-a-backhoe thing! The (for us, 10 years ago) $8,000 loan thing! At least we got rid of our lead main (although our water tested out OK beforehand)...and replaced the sewer main at the same time...and were assured that the Mighty Silver Maple could not invade the new sewer line with rootlets as it had the old one(whose sclerotic lumen was reduced to a diameter of...well, smaller than many waste products that wished to pass thru it, thanks to rootlets invading thru cracks...on t'other hand, the rootlet mat was actually the only thing keeping the main together...) However, the roots are back, Roto-Rooter showed 'em to us...SOB...

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at October 4, 2006 11:49 AM

There are two mains, the water main and the sewer main; the latter is generally much more expensive.

We got a new water main for around $2,500 6 years ago...

Posted by: Anonymous at October 4, 2006 1:32 PM

This exactly the problem with gentrifiyers. They brag about $500,000. gut reno jobs and bring in $10,000 water mains. As an investor in the bed stuy area for over a decade and having several of these installed, I can tell you a job like this should cost $3000 to maybe $5000 and should take no more than a day.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 4, 2006 6:10 PM

Mr. B was talking about a sewer main, not a water main... big difference in price.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 4, 2006 9:18 PM

i hope none of you replaced any kind of 'main'... those are owned by the city.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 5, 2006 7:42 AM

Anon at 7:42--the big pipe running down the middle of the street is the main, is owned by the city and is not homeowner's responsibility--but your access to it is. The city does close to zero maintenance, these things leak and break, and repairing what is commonly referred to as a water main is a $5,000 job (usually doable in one day). And yes, the biggest company (companies?) are criminals, mob-affiliated, with the convictions to prove it. But, with the city's infrastructure crumbling of natural aging, you may not be lucky enough to book a smaller company and will have to rely on a shady company unless you can wait a week or more for water. Sewer problems are way messier and more costly.

To lp from yesterday: unless your line was replaced within the last two decades, it is lead and may or may not be leaching lead into your drinking water. All lines were built using lead pipes until very recently.

All from bitter, brutal experience.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 5, 2006 9:26 AM

Thanks for the info Anon. Can you purchase lead testing kits for your tap water easily or do you have to hire someone to do it?

Posted by: lp at October 5, 2006 11:02 AM

Anonymous at 9:26 AM: which company did you use? And were they any good?

Posted by: Ackwards at October 6, 2006 11:31 AM

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