I recently contracted with a local company to have all of my downspouts buried, with solid PVC running underground, all the way to the driveway or street.
It was a very difficult dig due to the solid clay in this area, so it was not something I was willing to tackle solo. Indeed, it took several men 3 days to complete the necessary digging. The job was recently "completed" and four of the nine downspouts have water sitting in the pipe where the downspout connects to the PVC pipe. Anywhere from 1/2" to 1" of water is standing in the pipes. After two days of no rain, the water is still sitting there.
There is plenty of "downhill grade" to work with, but unfortunately, they started laying the pipe from the driveway first, working their way back to the gutter and gluing the pipe as they went. By the time they got back to the downspout, they essentially had no slope left in the trench they had dug, so the final 5-10 feet of the pipe is running uphill, causing an inch of water to pool in the pipe.
I get the feeling the contractor is going to fight me on this and say that the job is done and I'm just being picky. Fortunately, I have not paid anything for the job yet, so I currently have control of the situation.
So here are my questions:
1) Is 1/4" to 1" of water in the drainage pipe a large issue? I would think it would end up mildewing, stinking, possibly attracting bugs, causing potential freezing issues in the winter, etc... but maybe it's not really that big of a deal. Am I being picky? If not, how would you respond when the contractor claims "It's no big deal"?
2) What chance would I stand in small claims court if he were to take it that far? Nowhere is it explicitly defined in any agreement that "there must not be any water sitting in the drainage pipes". It is pretty common sense to me, and I have never heard of anyone explicitly outlining something like this is a contract. Is this "grievous" enough of an error, or would a judge look at this and claim that yes, they completed the job and are due the full amount? I know this depends on the judge, but just searching for opinions on the matter and trying to decide how far to take this.
It was a very difficult dig due to the solid clay in this area, so it was not something I was willing to tackle solo. Indeed, it took several men 3 days to complete the necessary digging. The job was recently "completed" and four of the nine downspouts have water sitting in the pipe where the downspout connects to the PVC pipe. Anywhere from 1/2" to 1" of water is standing in the pipes. After two days of no rain, the water is still sitting there.
There is plenty of "downhill grade" to work with, but unfortunately, they started laying the pipe from the driveway first, working their way back to the gutter and gluing the pipe as they went. By the time they got back to the downspout, they essentially had no slope left in the trench they had dug, so the final 5-10 feet of the pipe is running uphill, causing an inch of water to pool in the pipe.
I get the feeling the contractor is going to fight me on this and say that the job is done and I'm just being picky. Fortunately, I have not paid anything for the job yet, so I currently have control of the situation.
So here are my questions:
1) Is 1/4" to 1" of water in the drainage pipe a large issue? I would think it would end up mildewing, stinking, possibly attracting bugs, causing potential freezing issues in the winter, etc... but maybe it's not really that big of a deal. Am I being picky? If not, how would you respond when the contractor claims "It's no big deal"?
2) What chance would I stand in small claims court if he were to take it that far? Nowhere is it explicitly defined in any agreement that "there must not be any water sitting in the drainage pipes". It is pretty common sense to me, and I have never heard of anyone explicitly outlining something like this is a contract. Is this "grievous" enough of an error, or would a judge look at this and claim that yes, they completed the job and are due the full amount? I know this depends on the judge, but just searching for opinions on the matter and trying to decide how far to take this.