Replacing the water supply riser in the apartment, if the management company and neighbors are against it

assets/from_origin/upload/resize_cache/iblock/68d/600_450_2/68da1a5f338194c07317731019906f5d.jpg From this article you will learn:

• Is the water supply riser in the apartment the property of the management company?
• At whose expense should the water supply riser in the apartment be replaced?
• What tools are needed to replace the water supply riser in an apartment?
• Is it possible to replace the water supply riser at the same time as the sewer riser in the apartment?

Unfortunately, in older housing stock, breakdowns of the water supply system occur quite often. Such a problem requires a solution, but the usual methods (for example, installing a pipeline from modern materials inside the apartment or buying new plumbing) are not suitable. In such a situation, only replacing the water supply riser in the apartment will help. Our article will tell you where to start if you encounter such a problem.

The main reasons for replacing the water supply riser in an apartment

There are two cases when it is necessary to change water supply pipes located vertically in the house. We are talking about the end of service life and a complete reconstruction of the bathroom.

The replacement of a water supply riser in an apartment is influenced by a combination of external circumstances. There are several types of this process:

• planned (occurs when the riser is heavily worn);
• emergency (there is a pipe leak or other damage).

Water supply pipes installed in the old stock are made of cast iron or galvanized metal. These materials are known to corrode over time, which means that after some time the structure will require replacement.

The wear and tear of the water supply riser is most pronounced in the interfloor ceilings. As a result, the joining of old and new pipes must be carried out not in the ceilings, but in adjacent bathrooms above or below the floor where the replacement is being made. The service life of metal structures should be about 25 years, but in practice this period is much shorter. If such pipes are used for 40 years, their condition will become truly emergency.

Sometimes it is discovered that the service life has expired, but visually it seems that the pipes of the water supply system are still in excellent condition. However, even in this case, the pipes must be replaced, since the main operational load falls on their internal part. If you continue to use the structure, at some point it may simply burst, resulting in a leak that will cause serious damage to both you and your neighbors. In some cases, the water supply riser in an apartment is replaced during major repairs. Today, pipes are placed inside walls, which can make it difficult to reach them in the event of an accident.

Is the management company obliged to replace the water supply riser in the apartment?

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation obliges management companies to regularly replace common building equipment and repair the house. Funds for these activities are taken from the monthly contributions of residents.

The management company, in accordance with the standards for maintenance of apartment buildings, must pay for such work as:

• care and repair of common property intended to ensure the full functioning of the house;
• communications maintenance;
• planned repairs;
• repairs in emergency cases caused by the fault of the management company.

Summarizing the above, we find that the management company must pay for all repairs and maintenance of common property (provided that it is owned by this house).

The management company must independently pay for the replacement of such elements of communication systems as:

• gas supply pipes;
• water supply pipes (up to pipes intended for distributing water inside the apartment);
• heating system (except for cases where the residents themselves repaired or changed the radiators/pipes);
• pipes for drainage (before connecting with the pipes of the apartment);
• ventilation;
• power supply

The homeowner makes contributions to the management company’s account every month, thereby forming a fund of funds intended for repair work and maintenance of common house equipment. Homeowners do not have to pay for the replacement of the sewer system themselves and have the right to demand compensation for all expenses incurred in connection with the replacement of the water supply riser in the apartment.

What is a water riser? This is a vertical section of pipeline with a shut-off valve located at the base. The water pipeline is a common property, so its replacement should be paid exclusively by the management company (housing department or housing office), without charging any additional fees from residents.

The owner of the apartment is only required to submit an application addressed to the head of the HOA, describing the essence of the problem that has arisen. However, if the house is not on the balance sheet of the housing office, repairs to common property must be paid for by the residents.

Everything that is located on the riser section up to the first shut-off valve also applies to common property. If there is no shut-off device up to the mixer, then this area should be considered as part of the common property.

Water supply risers are equipped with taps, which are necessary in order to be able to shut off the water. Reinstallation of these taps is carried out simultaneously with the replacement of the pipeline.

In cases where the tenant has started a major overhaul, plans to carry out redevelopment with a hidden pipeline, or plans to move the water supply riser to another location, the owner of the apartment pays all expenses himself.

The home owner must obtain permission to carry out redevelopment from the management company if common property will be involved in the work process. Specialists should be invited and work should begin only after receiving such permission.

Who should change pipes, including sewer pipes, and when?

All common property must be repaired by the management company, which is charged by the residents with the obligation to monitor the condition of the common property. The ability to place control in the hands of the management company is enshrined in Art. 161 part 2. clause 3 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, and, as a rule, most residents of apartment buildings in Russia have a separate organization that manages their communal affairs.

Repair and replacement of sewer and water pipes will be carried out by employees of the management company, homeowners association, housing and communal services or other repair organizations at the request of the apartment owners and with the help of an act that indicates that some part of the pipe requires replacement. They are also responsible for repairs according to plan or for eliminating the consequences of an accident that was caused by their connivance.

Capital repairs of pipes of management companies/homeowners' associations are also required to be carried out within the prescribed period, but it can be done ahead of schedule at the request of the housing council.

From the video you will learn at whose expense the pipes in the apartment should be updated:

At whose expense is the replacement of the water supply riser in the apartment carried out?

In cases where it is necessary to replace the water supply riser in an apartment, you must first submit an application to the Criminal Code addressed to its director.

However, even before this, it is recommended to call a plumber to your home, who will inspect the equipment and draw up an appropriate report, indicating the degree of wear and tear, any damage, and also give a conclusion that replacing the water supply riser in the apartment is an objective necessity.

There is no generally accepted form for such a statement; the main thing is to indicate the reason for replacing the water supply pipes in the apartment.

At the end of the application, it is necessary to clearly formulate the requirement for repairs or replacement of the water supply riser in the apartment. You should also put the current date and signature under the text. The application must be drawn up in two copies, one of which is provided to the management company, and the other remains with the tenant.

In order for your application to be considered as quickly as possible, you must pay all utilities regularly.

After the management company positively resolves the issue regarding your application, its employees should discuss with you the date and time of repair or replacement of the water supply riser in the apartment. Employees of the management company or a contractor hired by it take part in the repair work.

Recommended articles on this topic:

• Renovation of a combined bathroom in Khrushchev
• Stages of renovation in an apartment
• Apartment renovation services

The owner of the apartment must ensure free access for specialists to elements of the water supply system.

Another important question: what is the cost of replacing the water supply riser in an apartment?

In theory, everything looks simple: the tenant does not have to pay for the replacement of elements of the water supply system right up to the first connections.

However, in reality the situation may develop somewhat differently: the Criminal Code, having received your application and studied it, will put you in a queue of others awaiting a decision. It is worth noting that the waiting period can last for years.

There are two main options for further developments:

1. Wait until there is an accident in the water supply system of the house, which could result in flooding of the entire entrance. This will prompt the housing department to carry out repairs (usually the management company replaces the water supply riser only during major repairs). It happens that under such circumstances, repairs are carried out partially, and the newly installed equipment fails within a year.
2. Hold a meeting of residents to discuss organizing the replacement of the water supply riser at your own expense (the total cost of the work is about 3-5 thousand rubles).

Summarizing the above, we find that in order to replace the water supply riser in an apartment, it is necessary to adhere to a certain algorithm of actions. First, you should submit an application (see above) to the Criminal Code. Secondly, it is important to indicate a serious reason for replacing the equipment, and also attach visual evidence of the situation to the application (photos, expert opinion).

Involvement of third parties

It is better when such work is performed by a specialized organization.

In this case:

• an agreement is concluded
• deadlines are specified,
• cost of work,
• procedure for payment for work and access to premises,
• warranty obligations.

If the house is serviced by the management company, then it can conclude such an agreement to carry out the work, leaving control over it.

The owners can also make the calculation through the Managing Authority, but this will require a decision of the General Meeting or an advance payment to the settlement account of the Managing Authority before the start of work.

You can select a contractor via the Internet or advertisements in print publications. Before concluding an agreement, it is necessary to check the details and registration of the company with the tax authorities.

Important! It is better to make advance payment by bank transfer. The final calculation must be completed after all work has been completed and the water supply system has been tested.

What documents will be required to work with a contractor?

Apartment owners must confirm their right to the premises. To do this, it is enough to show the original certificate of registration of ownership and your passport. There is no need to submit any copies, much less original documents. The contract only contains the certificate number and the date of its issue.

If the house is serviced by the building authority, then approval of the work and access to the basement will be required. This can be done by a simple written request, both on behalf of the owner and the contractor, with reference to the concluded agreement.

How to replace a water supply riser in an apartment

Water supply risers are located in bathrooms at a short distance from the wall. A shut-off valve must be placed on the riser, which is necessary to shut off the water supply.

When repairing water supply pipes, it is recommended to replace the entire span at once, but this is not always possible. In this case, you need to replace at least the section of the riser between the floor and the ceiling. It is impossible to replace only a small section of pipe that has rusted.

When replacing water supply structures in an apartment building, it is necessary to notify other residents about the time of the work. You will also need to contact neighbors living directly above and below you for permission to carry out work on their property if necessary, since the new structures will go through the floors.

Neighbors have the right to refuse, in this case you will have to work only within the confines of your apartment - in the area from floor to ceiling in the bathroom. It is very important that free access is provided to the pipe joining points. This will allow you to quickly fix a leak if it occurs.

Take the test

The housing department is obliged to replace the water supply riser in the apartment as requested in your application, if you have drawn up the document correctly and provided serious facts that comply with the law as evidence. Otherwise, you have the right to request a written refusal from the management company, which will contain the reasons for such a decision.

If you do not agree with the decision made, then you should write another statement - to the prosecutor's office. It is worth adding to the paper all the documents related to this problem that you have in your hands. Also, according to the law, it is possible to replace the water supply riser in an apartment without the appropriate permission, while work to replace the equipment must be authorized by the owner of the property.

Stage No. 1 – selection of materials.

After agreeing on all the nuances with the management company and neighbors, you can begin drawing up a diagram. This is necessary in order to find out the specifics of the pipeline layout in the bathroom, as well as find out how much materials you will need.

To replace the water supply riser in an apartment you will need:

• polypropylene pipes D 25 mm (or 32 mm);
• fittings of the appropriate diameter;
• metal clamps;
• silicone sealant.

To install a vertical pipeline, you should choose pipes of the same diameter as those of the elements that are to be replaced.

To connect parts of the structure, expansion joints D 25 mm (or 32 mm) and couplings are used, and transition collars are used to connect plastic and steel pipes to each other.

In the old housing stock, VGP steel pipes were used to supply gas, water and heat to apartments, so it is easier and more expedient to choose structural elements made of the same material when replacing equipment.

You also need to plan the final design of the riser - decide whether you will do heat and sound insulation, what the box will look like.

In addition, it is worth preparing protective equipment: heat-protective gloves, construction glasses, a respirator and a hat.

You may also need several plastic outlets with a diameter of 10 cm and an angle of 45 ° C. They are used in cases of displacement or alignment of a vertical pipeline. Another necessary tool is a soldering iron with different-sized Teflon nozzles - it is needed for welding polypropylene pipes.

As a rule, the management company replaces the water supply riser on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. At this time, most people are at work, and therefore they will not experience discomfort in connection with the work.

You cannot block the riser on your own; to do this, you should contact a specialist. Typically, the entire process of replacing the water supply riser in an apartment takes from half an hour to an hour. However, excessive haste may cause you to miss some important nuances.

You can make it easier to replace cast iron pipes by using a pipe cutter. This tool is equipped with cutting rollers/rollers, resulting in smooth edges at the cut site.

Stage No. 2 - dismantling old pipes.

The work associated with dismantling a vertical pipeline from a water-gas steel pipe is one of the most difficult in the plumbing industry. These operations can only be performed correctly by experienced specialists who know how to handle power tools. Also, when working, you should strictly adhere to labor protection requirements.

The quality of the installation of the new one depends on whether the old pipeline was disassembled correctly.

First of all, you should shut off the riser and drain the water. This should be handled by a housing office employee. If you try to do this yourself, you will receive an administrative fine.

Next, using a grinder or pipe cutter, you should dismantle the old structures. For this purpose, make 2 horizontal cuts (10–15 cm long), which converge at the edge of the pipe adjacent to the wall. To avoid subsidence of the upper part of the pipe, the initial cuts are not made completely.

To remove the cut section, you can make additional vertical cuts or drive in wedges. A section of pipe is cut from above to a calculated height, which is equal to the length of the shaped part intended for pressing during installation. The specialist must ensure that the cut plane is perpendicular to the internal axis of the pipe.

To make this operation easier, it is recommended to use masking tape: you should glue it in an even ring (the beginning and end must match exactly).

To remove the lower part of the pipe, carefully loosen it. The main thing is that the bell remains intact. Then the solution should be hollowed out around the perimeter. Armed with a wedge or crowbar, they take out the cut off parts.

Previously, joining of cast iron pipes was carried out using one of the following methods:

• through the use of sand-cement mortar for caulking seams;
• using sulfur for filling.

You can clean the pipe from hardened cement mortar by picking at the surface of the seam with a screwdriver. The easiest way to remove sulfur is by burning it off: to do this, you need to heat the parts of the water supply riser structure with a soldering iron. In order to control the draft in the riser, you should place a metal or asbestos-cement shield on top of the pipe. Having warmed up the riser, you can easily disassemble it at the joints.

You can remove the parts obtained after cutting the pipe using a screwdriver. If any elements are stuck, they are knocked out with a hammer. In the resulting free space, markings are made for clips intended for fixing pipes in the wall at the distribution points.

Stage No. 3 – installation of a new pipeline.

At this stage, they cut pipes to the required length. To do this, use a hacksaw or scissors for cutting polypropylene. At the junctions of structural parts, marks are made to indicate the connection point.

You should pay attention to what material your neighbors' water supply risers are made of. If they are metal, then you should analyze whether their condition allows threading from the end side. You can make cutting easier by lubricating the end of the pipe with machine oil.

Taking a grinder with a grinding disc, you should trim and remove the conical chamfer from the cut of the pipe along the entire perimeter. Sometimes the existing metal pipe may seem unreliable. In this case, to avoid the risk of damage, you should simply take the finished thread (5-7 turns) and weld it. An alternative solution could be to join the parts using a collet coupling, to which, in turn, attach an adapter coupling with a thread suitable for mounting plastic pipes.

When installing the pipes, apply little force when tightening. This effect is created artificially by placing linen winding at the joints and coating them with investment paste. Before placing the adapter on the cast iron pipe, sealant is applied to the joint.

It is much easier to connect two plastic elements - the joints are first cleaned and degreased with an alcohol composition.

To weld polypropylene pipes to each other, you need a welding iron with a Teflon nozzle. Welding occurs at a temperature of approximately 250 °C. Both the fitting and the end of the pipe should be placed on the heated device to the full depth of the nozzle. After this, the structural parts must heat up properly, and only after that they are removed and joined to each other.

Cost of work

The price of the work depends on the type of piping, the scope of work and the materials used. In the standard case described above, for large cities in the central part of Russia, the cost starts from 3,000 rubles for 1 riser and 1 floor.

This is the cost excluding materials, but including the cost of dismantling pipes. Costs for materials can range from 1,000 rubles, without shut-off valves, and up to 2,000 rubles with taps.

Table with costs:

Reference! In total, replacing a hot water riser can cost from 4,000 to 6,000 rubles per apartment.

The nuances of connecting to a water supply network

Where the junction of the vertical water supply riser with the apartment wiring will be located, install a tee with parameters 32/20/32 or 25/20/25 (depending on the pipe diameters used). To make it easier to install this tee, liquid soap is applied to its end. Parts of the structure are soldered. If you want to install a heated towel rail in the bathroom, then 2 more tees are installed on the riser.

Keep in mind that it is best to connect tees by soldering rather than using couplings.

After the shut-off valve is installed, it is worth checking for leaks. If everything is fine, then the connected elements are attached to the wall. For this purpose, marks should already be made on the wall for drilling holes for the clips. The distance between the fasteners should be approximately 1–1.5 m.

You can run water through the riser at least an hour after the pipes have been joined. It is also worth remembering the need to ensure proper waterproofing and sound insulation. For this purpose, the places where the pipes cross the floors must be concreted throughout the entire thickness. However, finishing work (including this one) should be carried out only after you have checked the strength of the structure.

What are the requirements for the basements of apartment buildings?

It is prohibited to make warehouses in the basement containing flammable materials, toxic substances or explosive objects. It is also not allowed to make utility warehouses if the entrance is equipped from public staircases.

To reduce noise from equipment in underground areas, it is necessary to make sound insulation, convert vibration-based pumps, make vibration inserts on the pressure pipeline and install a fixed support at a distance of one meter from the external walls.

Replacing the water supply riser in an apartment if the neighbors are against it

We have already said that before starting work on replacing the water supply riser in an apartment, it is worth agreeing with the neighbors living below and above you. The best option is if the riser is replaced in the entire entrance at once. This approach will allow you to do everything as efficiently as possible.

However, in life it is not always possible to find mutual understanding with neighbors. Many people are not ready to start unplanned repairs. If you find yourself in such a situation, you will simply have to connect some part of your internal riser to the common riser.

Immediately before starting to replace the water supply riser in the apartment, you should turn off the water and notify the neighbors about this. To reduce the discomfort and dissatisfaction of other residents to a minimum, try to organize work to replace structural elements in the middle of the working day, when most of your neighbors will be at work.

Management specialists, if they are the ones who are responsible for replacing equipment, often encounter a different kind of problem - many neighbors refuse to let workers into their apartment. If you find yourself in such a situation, you can go to court or change the section of the common riser only in your apartment. If you follow the first path, the resolution of the issue may take up to several months. The second method does not guarantee 100% quality. However, you will still have to choose some way to solve the problem.

Department of Housing and Utilities

(approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on June 05, 2021) The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation clarified the differences in the classification of violations of the management company of an apartment building. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation provides for the owners of residential premises in an apartment building the right to send applications to the management organization

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The Ministry of Economic Development proposes to add two preferential years to medium-sized businesses that have become large. Companies or individual entrepreneurs will be able to retain the status of a medium-sized enterprise and the right to state support, even if the income or average number of employees exceeds the established limits. The Ministry of Economic Development submitted a project on this for anti-corruption examination.

Replacing the water supply riser in an apartment: do it yourself or call a team

Pros and cons of turning to specialists to replace the water supply riser in an apartment:

• you will save energy, time and nerves;
• almost 100% guarantee of excellent results;
• Hiring a craftsman or a team will not be cheap.

Advantages and disadvantages of replacing a water supply riser with your own hands:

• saving money;
• significant investment of time and effort;
• quality results are not guaranteed.

Thus, it is obvious that when choosing a method for replacing the water supply riser in an apartment, the price factor can play a determining role.

Before replacing equipment, you should calculate the cost of consumables, as well as the tools necessary for the work. For example, special devices will be required for cutting polypropylene pipes. Taking into account the purchase of a set of tools, changing the water supply riser on your own will not be cheaper than doing it by hiring specialists.