:confused: I searched the questions and couldn't find anything that answered my question so here goes... My husband and I just purchased our first home :) It's a townhouse style home but with condo association by law rules and regulations. It is around 9 years of age. We had the home properly inspected and the inspector found some issues one being that the powder room sink plumbing did not have a p-trap installed allowing sewer gases to escape into the home. Needless to say my husband and I wanted the problem fixed before we moved in as it is a health/ safety related issue and I already have health issues to begin with. The homeowner and her real estate agent gave us a really hard time about this (I can't tell you the stress they both caused me and my husband) but it got repaired. On settlement day during the walk through the kitchen sink faucet shot water out everywhere. That was taken care of and replaced. I promise I am getting to the point really soon. We did the rest of our walk through checked all of the agreed upon repairs etc. etc. and completed the deal. We have lived here for almost 3 months and just got to cleaning the main hallbath. (We had cleaned and been using the masterbath only as I am not well and can only manage so many tasks and this house was completely filthy... I mean beyond filth and unacceptable in my eyes. Just to give you an idea it was 2 teenage boys bathroom my husband scrubbed and cleaned it because I couldn't... there was urine caked on everything it was utterly disgusting! ) Okay, so after my husband scoured and sanitized everything I decided to take my first bath and low and behold... the hot and cold water knob is backwards! The hot is cold and the cold is hot. It is one single knob. I thought maybe it was just backwards but our garbage disposal unit broke down and since I had the plumber there I asked if he would take a look at the problem and he said that the pipes were done wrong and that it wasn't just the knob (which I already thought was the case) I am concerned because one can easily get confused in that situation and I'm afraid someone may burn or hurt themselves, a small child, elderly etc. Not only that but I feel that the house was not truly represented. It was not on the sellers disclosure that it was backwards or worked improperly. Otherwise we would have requested to have it fixed or given her less money. So my question(s) are #1-What happens when someone doesn't disclose a problem that she clearly knew about (I know the bathroom was filthy but she had to have cleaned/used the faucet at some point in the 4 years that she lived here and indeed knew about it) #2- Is it the Inspectors fault for not finding this as well? I know that he tested the water flow and looked at things but he did not find this either. #3- I have no idea how much this would cost to repair but I know it would involve removing the whole bathtub unit (it's plastic :( ) I know that this should have never passed inspection to begin with but that's no help to me. At this point I am just wondering what if anything I can do to have this fixed or to be compensated as it was never disclosed or who is even at fault the previous homeowner or the inspector? It wasn't a "hidden" defect. If anyone could help me out or has any answers to my questions I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much! :) P.s.- With the other plumbing issue we had shouldn't the inspector have recommended that a plumber come and check the rest of the house?We have had to replace all of the showerheads too because they were leaking. (I know that's not as big of a deal but money is tight for us! Thanks again friends :) )

1. Depends on the wording of your sale agreement, If you signed off on the home inspection, there is normally little you can do.

2. If the electric was not on, or on long enough to have hot water, and it was a minor issue he may have not noticed. Some things get missed even in a home inspection.

3. Normally there is a access point to the tub plubing from the opposite wall , and it should be a minor thing to change it.

And after living there 3 months I doubt there is little you can do.

This is just something from my personal experience to think about. If you have the kind of knob I'm thinking about (one big knob that goes from cold on one side to hot on the other... is there a separate control for how strong the flow is?)... I had a shower like that once. And, like you, the hot was cold and cold was hot. But after using it for a while, it suddenly switched. I found out that there is a set screw in the knob, and if that gets loose, then it can "skip" over the flat that it sets on and switch how the water gets adjusted. Periodically tightening the screw fixed the problem until the condo got repiped.

Now, there is another consideration if yours is actually a piping problem. And that is, who owns those pipes? In my association, the unit owner was responsible for any exposed plumbing, but the HOA owned the pipes inside the walls. In which case, this would be an HOA problem to fix. But to get them to do that, you will probably need something from a plumber saying that it is in fact a piping problem. I don't know if your condo divvies up ownership that way or not, but it's worth looking through the purchase agreement.

And finally, if this is not a bathroom you plan on using often, and you just don't have the money to fix it now, the easy temporary solution is to find someway of relabeling the knob, so that you can remember that the hot and cold are flipped. Something like colored magnets might work, or stickers.

I'm going to add something to this.

Had a Speakman single valve shower control. Clockwise was warmer. Marked accordingly HOT/Cold and RED and Blue. I liked this way.

Got an ADA complient commercial single lever. Counter-clockwise is warmer. Appropriately marked, although not very well Hot and Cold.

So both were labeled correctly, yet act differently.

If it's a knob thing, maybe someone replaced it with the wrong substitute.

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Originally Posted by CWakaCL

:confused: I searched the questions and couldn't find anything that answered my question so here goes... My husband and I just purchased our first home :) It's a townhouse style home but with condo association by law rules and regulations. It is around 9 years of age. We had the home properly inspected and the inspector found some issues one being that the powder room sink plumbing did not have a p-trap installed allowing sewer gases to escape into the home. Needless to say my husband and I wanted the problem fixed before we moved in as it is a health/ safety related issue and I already have health issues to begin with. The homeowner and her real estate agent gave us a really hard time about this (I can't tell you the stress they both caused me and my husband) but it got repaired. On settlement day during the walk thru the kitchen sink faucet shot water out everywhere. That was taken care of and replaced. I promise I am getting to the point really soon. We did the rest of our walk through checked all of the agreed upon repairs etc. etc. and completed the deal. We have lived here for almost 3 months and just got to cleaning the main hallbath. (We had cleaned and been using the masterbath only as I am not well and can only manage so many tasks and this house was completely filthy...I mean beyond filth and unacceptable in my eyes. Just to give you an idea it was 2 teenage boys bathroom my husband scrubbed and cleaned it because I couldn't... there was urine caked on everything it was utterly disgusting!!) Okay, so after my husband scoured and sanitized everything I decided to take my first bath and low and behold....the hot and cold water knob is backwards! The hot is cold and the cold is hot. It is one single knob. I thought maybe it was just backwards but our garbage disposal unit broke down and since I had the plumber there I asked if he would take a look at the problem and he said that the pipes were done wrong and that it wasn't just the knob (which I already thought was the case) I am concerned because one can easily get confused in that situation and I'm afraid someone may burn or hurt themselves, a small child, elderly etc. Not only that but I feel that the house was not truly represented. It was not on the sellers disclosure that it was backwards or worked improperly. Otherwise we would have requested to have it fixed or given her less money. So my question(s) are #1-What happens when someone doesn't disclose a problem that she clearly knew about (I know the bathroom was filthy but she had to have cleaned/used the faucet at some point in the 4 years that she lived here and indeed knew about it) #2- Is it the Inspectors fault for not finding this as well? I know that he tested the water flow and looked at things but he did not find this either. #3- I have no idea how much this would cost to repair but I know it would involve removing the whole bathtub unit (it's plastic :( ) I know that this should have never passed inspection to begin with but that's no help to me. At this point I am just wondering what if anything I can do to have this fixed or to be compensated as it was never disclosed or who is even at fault the previous homeowner or the inspector? It wasn't a "hidden" defect. If anyone could help me out or has any answers to my questions I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much!! :) P.s.- With the other plumbing issue we had shouldn't the inspector have recommended that a plumber come and check the rest of the house?We have had to replace all of the showerheads too because they were leaking. (I know that's not as big of a deal but money is tight for us! Thanks again friends :) )

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OK firstly, sorry to hear of your troubles, yo you state the toilet was so bad, I'm not sure if this was this case, as you would have complained and got it cleaned, this I'm sure of, mayeb you were just pissed off, and didn't notice how bad the toilet was?
As for the inspector, he liable , very much so he failed in his inspection , he failed to notice, a mis plumbed bath tub ? What the hell was he doing , looking out the window at that time? Just because the inspector didn't pick up on this, the home owner should have , disclosed it , showheads are minor issues, un screw. Re screw , done deal
But inspectors are human ,and over look things, OK , but I would sue the home owner, for inyention with hold information that couldm hurt ,damage ,or other wize indanger your life,
Gettign burnt is nice , I work all the time with home inspections, and real estate agents, I know how your feel...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CWakaCL

:confused: I searched the questions and couldn't find anything that answered my question so here goes... My husband and I just purchased our first home :) It's a townhouse style home but with condo association by law rules and regulations. It is around 9 years of age. We had the home properly inspected and the inspector found some issues one being that the powder room sink plumbing did not have a p-trap installed allowing sewer gases to escape into the home. Needless to say my husband and I wanted the problem fixed before we moved in as it is a health/ safety related issue and I already have health issues to begin with. The homeowner and her real estate agent gave us a really hard time about this (I can't tell you the stress they both caused me and my husband) but it got repaired. On settlement day during the walk thru the kitchen sink faucet shot water out everywhere. That was taken care of and replaced. I promise I am getting to the point really soon. We did the rest of our walk through checked all of the agreed upon repairs etc. etc. and completed the deal. We have lived here for almost 3 months and just got to cleaning the main hallbath. (We had cleaned and been using the masterbath only as I am not well and can only manage so many tasks and this house was completely filthy...I mean beyond filth and unacceptable in my eyes. Just to give you an idea it was 2 teenage boys bathroom my husband scrubbed and cleaned it because I couldn't... there was urine caked on everything it was utterly disgusting!!) Okay, so after my husband scoured and sanitized everything I decided to take my first bath and low and behold....the hot and cold water knob is backwards! The hot is cold and the cold is hot. It is one single knob. I thought maybe it was just backwards but our garbage disposal unit broke down and since I had the plumber there I asked if he would take a look at the problem and he said that the pipes were done wrong and that it wasn't just the knob (which I already thought was the case) I am concerned because one can easily get confused in that situation and I'm afraid someone may burn or hurt themselves, a small child, elderly etc. Not only that but I feel that the house was not truly represented. It was not on the sellers disclosure that it was backwards or worked improperly. Otherwise we would have requested to have it fixed or given her less money. So my question(s) are #1-What happens when someone doesn't disclose a problem that she clearly knew about (I know the bathroom was filthy but she had to have cleaned/used the faucet at some point in the 4 years that she lived here and indeed knew about it) #2- Is it the Inspectors fault for not finding this as well? I know that he tested the water flow and looked at things but he did not find this either. #3- I have no idea how much this would cost to repair but I know it would involve removing the whole bathtub unit (it's plastic :( ) I know that this should have never passed inspection to begin with but that's no help to me. At this point I am just wondering what if anything I can do to have this fixed or to be compensated as it was never disclosed or who is even at fault the previous homeowner or the inspector? It wasn't a "hidden" defect. If anyone could help me out or has any answers to my questions I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much!! :) P.s.- With the other plumbing issue we had shouldn't the inspector have recommended that a plumber come and check the rest of the house?We have had to replace all of the showerheads too because they were leaking. (I know that's not as big of a deal but money is tight for us! Thanks again friends :) )

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OK firstly, sorry to hear of your troubles, yo you state the toilet was so bad, I'm not sure if this was this case, as you would have complained and got it cleaned, this I'm sure of, mayeb you were just pissed off, and didn't notice how bad the toilet was?
As for the inspector, he liable , very much so he failed in his inspection , he failed to notice, a mis plumbed bath tub ? What the hell was he doing , looking out the window at that time? Just because the inspector didn't pick up on this, the home owner should have , disclosed it , showheads are minor issues, un screw. Re screw , done deal
But inspectors are human ,and over look things, OK , but I would sue the home owner, for intention with holding information that couldm hurt ,damage ,or other wize indanger your life,
Gettign burnt is nice , I work all the time with home inspections, and real estate agents, I know how your feel...