water leak

Dig up the pipe and fix it.

If you're in a co-op or condo, it's not your problem. Plumbing inside the walls is taken care of by the building.

That kind of leak is one of the reasons why builders keep wet-over-wet as much as possible, and buildings prohibit wet-over-dry alterations.

Is it by any chance part of your "66% savings with no GC" reno?

Midtowner,

How do you know its a pipe embedded in concrete that is leaking? If it is there really is not much you can do but rip up the floor, fix the pipe and then repair the floor. Leaks generally do not come from a pipe imbedded in concrete

Is there any way the leak can be fixed by going into the ceiling in the neighbor's apartment? As NWT said, it's the coop or condos responsibility to fix this plumbing problem, and it might make sense to ask which is the easiest, and least costly way to do it.

NWT, what about *damage resulting* from co-op owned plumbing to the unit? You said "plumbing inside the walls is covered".....but what about, say, peeling paint, damaged sheetrock, etc, as a *result of* the internal plumbing?

Most proprietary leases, and I guess condo docs, say the co-op/condo is responsible for restoring things in a bare-bones sort of way. E.g., patching the plaster but not painting. Anything beyond the basics, the two owners work out with their insurers.

E.g., many years ago we had plaster damage from a leak upstairs. The building did a slap-dash landlord-looking fix, then the neighbor's insurer gave us money to tart that up and restore things.

Then a few years ago the building had to tear up a bathroom floor to replace a pipe, and redid the floor tile with some generic not-period-appropriate stuff. We could've negotiated for a real restoration, I guess, but didn't bother.

>>If you're in a co-op or condo, it's not your problem. Plumbing inside the walls is taken care of by the building.<<

Not always. If you (or any previous shareholders) altered the plumbing in any way from the original then you, as the current shareholder, are responsible for any repairs if the pipes leak or break. We've just found this out the hard way.

Lucy--to answer your question--normally the co-op is responsible to repair damage to your apartment resulting from a leak inside the wall but technically only to the 'skin' of the wall.

bramstar, good point. I can't remember if our alteration agreement says that, but I'd bet it does. The ones I've seen at www.offeringplanet.com all have language like that.

Just arrived in NYC to fix the problem. I'll see the leak tomorrow. Quite a bit of investigating to do.

Primer. The neighbor underneath had the same problem last year. Because it's the same spot he assumes it's the same problem. The pipe connects two radiators under a fire door.when we turn the heat on the leak increases: makes sense to assume it's from there.
Renovations are more than year ago except for a soundproof door installed 6 months ago. Why would there be such a lag if it's renovation induced.?

It could have been leaking for a while and it takes time for the water to penetrate the slab

What happened: floor nail hit pipe and stayed there. One year later corrosion leads to water leak.
We had to exposed the pipe( break floor, subfloor and concrete).
Fixed
$1500

sometimes you take a leak

sometimes the leak takes you...

for $1500

leave the seat up