Mike and Tobey came to replace our waste and overflow trap from our tub drain and sink and toilet. It took them all day and Mike asked if he could come back the next day to finish. I was pleased that he left everything functioning, but was willing to take the extra time to finish things correctly the next day. Unfortunately after the first day, I noticed that the tub to shower middle knob was loose. We did not have any problems with that knob previously and the part is only a couple years old. The second day he said that it was cracked and would need to be replaced.
On the other hand, the tub and sink are draining very well now.
We had a stubborn leak in our flower bed that someone else had tried to fix a couple times unsuccessfully. They fixed that for us.
They also installed a water hammer arrester. It seemed to work, but the next day I still noticed a water hammer when he took a look at our sprinklers. He said as long as it doesn't happen all the time, it's fine. I hope that is true.
He looked at our water heater and told us that we should change our single wall vent to a double wall vent and that it was a big safety issue. We followed his advice and scheduled that service. When it was time for that service, only the assistant showed up to do the work. I believed the price quoted me was for a technician to do the work. I'm not familiar with the price of the parts, but $545 seemed high for a couple hours of assistant's work. I also have more confidence when a technician is present. The assistant did let me know when he was leaving that one of the technician's was sick so he was covering. I think they were trying to keep the appointment, but I would have preferred to reschedule with a technician. The assistant's work seemed to be good, but I don't have the expertise to judge. I'm sure they would have rescheduled if I said something when the assistant arrived alone or if they knew the assistant couldn't handle the job.
When we had the Gas Company check our water heater after the work was done, they told us that a single wall vent is fine and that we still had a single wall vent from the water heater to the top of the cabinet. Even if a single-wall vent is touching something, as long as there are no signs of combustion they continue service. I felt like we paid a lot for work that really didn't need to be done after we already invested a large amount of money for the bathroom pipes, sprinkler leak, and water hammer arrester and that we should have contacted the Gas Company to get their input before we scheduled that suggested service. But, George took the time to call and explain that the information from the Gas Company was wrong and that the work was done to bring the water heater to California Building Code.
I was hoping the tub to shower knob would be a quick fix, but when the technician took a look at it when he returned to change the water heater vent, he said that the entire set may need to be replaced. It could have been coincidence that the knob broke the same day that they did the service. It works, but it's disappointing that it's not in the same condition as before the work was done.
Everyone is very friendly. The technician's strengths are their patience and willingness to clearly explain and give options. They are willing to call when they are on the way.
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