mobilehomerepair.com

I have a question. Once the repair work is done on your plumbing by a licensed plumber is it his responsibility to also repair the damage he did to the belly material if he left large gapey holes or is that the owners responsibility to fix the mess he left?? My leaks are finally fixed but the plumber left me one heck of a mess and very large holes in the belly material. Some are so large I think I can fit into them.

That is a good question. I would say that ethicly he should repair any damage he caused unless it was agreed in advance that there would be damage to make the neede repairs. I really don't know what the law states as far as this situation goes.
Mark has belly repair tape in the parts section. It is about the only thing that works on belly material. Greg

Hi,
JMO. If I had done the job it would not be complete until it was closed in or back to where it was before the repairs began.

Greg wrote:That is a good question. I would say that ethicly he should repair any damage he caused unless it was agreed in advance that there would be damage to make the neede repairs. I really don't know what the law states as far as this situation goes.
Mark has belly repair tape in the parts section. It is about the only thing that works on belly material. Greg

Won't plain duct tape work on holding up the belly material?

Thanks

Tim

Trust me duct tape will hold a lot of things, belly material is NOT one of them. Greg

What I have found is licensed plumbers don't put the insulation and underbelly back. As already mentioned, they should. I think they see it as not their job.

Sta-put or 3M heavy duty spray adhesive works best for me. You may need some additional underbelly material from the parts link above to patch in the repair. If a person is careful where they cut it when they go up in there, it is a lot easier to put back. But again, typically the plumbers around here don't care.

JD

If you use some of the spray adhesive JD mentioned, then put your duct tape on, it seems to hold. Duct tape is a lot cheaper than the belly tape and the spray glue gives it added stickum.

Thank you all for your comments, I agree, the plumber should repair what he did. There was no mention that he would not be responsible for not repairing the under belly. I guess the old adage goes don't assume anything get it in writing. I do have some of the belly tape but it won't fix the mess he made I will have to order belly material and get more insulation.

Does tuck tape hold the belly material at all?

Hi,

Sorry it does not hold, and not a good product to use under there, it dry rots very rapidly.

If you can get some of the belly patch material and use the Sta-put that JD mentioned you will have a durable, correct and long lasting patch.

Yanita

Thanks... I don't know if the proper repair tape is available locally, so I may have to order some from Mark and use Tuck tape to hold it in the meantime.

On the other hand...would you really want someone trained in plumbing to do the belly repair. He is a plumber after all, and may mess it up worse. He may have been thinking along those lines. IMO it is better to do it right the first time with proper material, than to guess and make a worse job for the second time.

Jim

Mark USUALLY ships very quickly, or should I say Lise does (when she knows about it, right Mark?) If you order from the site there should be no problem. Greg

Oh, BTW, the flexmend belly tape that Mark sells is great!

Jim

I called around and located a Mobile home parts and service store not far from my home. They carry the tape and the belly material and he gave me some instructions as to how to repair the large holes. He said to replace all missing insulation and to pull the belly material as tight as possible to match up then take 20 pound test fishing line and sew it together then put the mending tape over the sewn area and that will take care of my mess. As far as the larger gapey holes I will need to stuff the holes full then cut the belly material to fit the hole plus 6 inches past and sew around the hole and try holding the material as tight as possible when sewing the final side closed, then tape. He said I should have no problems once this is done unless I have another leak. He said hes been working in the mobile home business for 37 years and has not had a problem once with the way he told me to fix the belly. I have nothing to lose so I will let you know how it goes once I've fixes all the damage.
Thank you all for your help.