# Water Supply Line - Front Entry Way



## Rotate (Mar 7, 2011)

This is a 30 year old house in League City, water was leaking from a pipe under the slab near the front entry way. Contractor dug through the concrete and tunneled under slab to make the repair. He was then unable to bring the new line up through the slab and behind the wall (as it was originally) so he brought the new line up through the concrete OUTSIDE the front door. They made a hole in the brick to plumb the line back in to the interior wall where it connects with the rest of the plumbing.

I have 2 questions

1) Would this pass inspection? 

2) Does anyone have a idea on concealing this without it looking like a major eye sore? Contractor can not find matching brick, and wants to build some sort of "shelf" or "column" to hide the pipe with a different colored stone or brick.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

I can't answer #1 for you but can give you a suggestion on #2.

That brick looks like the brick I used on my Lake House addition (search here in the DIY forum to see it). My brick wasn't made anymore, so I combined two different colors to come close but my lighter brick looks just like yours. Basically go to one of the brick yards with one of the bricks that was removed and find something close. 

I would do a little step out with the bricks to hide it...you may hollow out the bottom brick so it fits around the pipe instead of sticking out into the door way.


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## Rotate (Mar 7, 2011)

Great idea's GT, especially hollowing the brick out!

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## hoosierplugger (May 24, 2004)

What about removing the brick entirely from the return (to the front door). Case out the front door with some wider casing/trim. Keep the removed brick as spares.


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## Rotate (Mar 7, 2011)

That's another great idea! I'm trying to find similar brick at the moment, if I can't find a close match that may very well be the solution. Thanks for the thought!


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## agonzales1981 (Jun 12, 2008)

Both great ideas above, shoulda called a real plumber lol


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## misbhavn (Nov 19, 2010)

Okay, so I gotta ask...is this a normal solution for this type of repair? It seems to me since they were already removing concrete and bricks that they could have removed a small section of the slab and brought the pipe up in that cavity so that it could be concealed inside the original wall once the bricks were replaced. Personally, I would not have been happy with this solution, but maybe this is standard operating procedure.


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## On The Hook (Feb 24, 2009)

Why did they not cut the grout from the bricks so they could be reused instead of using a hammer to break them out? A simple vibrating tool would have done that in short order, and you wouldn't be looking for new bricks. While it may get you functioning, that is a hack job, and is very poorly done. I hope you didn't pay them for that work. Sorry to see you have to deal with such issues. There are almost always better options than the way this was done.

Was this don by a licensed contractor? What did they charge you?


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## Rotate (Mar 7, 2011)

Should have definitely called a real plumber AJ!!

I agree it turned out to be a real hack job - worst part is that it was done by a neighbor who is apparently a contractor and takes care of this sort of thing "all the time"

Why they didn't save the bricks for re-use blows my mind - probably lazy and in a rush.


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