LESLIE: We’ve got Robert in Massachusetts on the line and what can we help you with today?
ROBERT: Yes, thank you. I have two questions; the first of which is I had a main drain leak in my basement and I – the main drain pipe itself I patched up with epoxy which, you know, stopped the leak; well, from leaking any further. My question is – first question is should I replace that section of the main drain that was leaking or will the epoxy hold long enough to do the job?
TOM: The epoxy will probably hold a good, long time and if it’s doing the job now I would not be in any rush to replace it. I actually used epoxy to fix a hot water radiator that was leaking a bit and that I just didn’t have the time to take the whole thing out and do it right. And I hate to admit it but that was about five years ago.
ROBERT: Oh, wow.
TOM: (chuckling) It’s still standing up just fine. So, I think epoxy is a good repair product for a plumbing drain like that.
ROBERT: I mean I noticed the epoxy, when I read the fine print, it said this epoxy, I think, was produced in California and then California state standards said that sometimes it can contribute to cancer or something.
TOM: You know, California’s got some pretty rigid …
LESLIE: Yeah.
TOM: … labeling instructions. I wouldn’t be making my home improvement …
LESLIE: I bought a souvenir at an amusement park one time and on the receipt it said, “This product contains something known to the state of California …” and I was like, “Good Lord, what do I do with this?” (Tom chuckles)
ROBERT: Hmm.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: So they’re very tough on regulations but overly so.
TOM: Yeah, I probably wouldn’t be basing my home improvement decisions based on some of those warnings; although I’m sure they’re there for a good reason. And certainly if people have certain chemical sensitivities, the labeling is very, very important. But you know, epoxy is just a good, old standard product that works really well for this kind of a plumbing problem and I think it’s going to fix you up just fine.
Robert, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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