Put in a $1200 tankless water heater and now my basement is a sauna

Hired a guy off Kijiji who said he could install it in a day, but he didn't vent it right and all the steam is just going into the utility room. My drywall is getting soft and I'm worried about mold. Anyone know a good plumber in Mill Woods who can actually fix this mess?

3 comments

3 Comments

blake_martinez16d ago

$1200 for a tankless install including the unit? That's practically free. You got what you paid for and honestly a little steam might not be the end of the world. Basements in Alberta are damp anyway half the year, a bit of extra moisture might actually keep your drywall from cracking. I'd wager that foam insulation in there will just absorb it and dry out on its own once winter hits. Plus if you call a real plumber now you're gonna spend another $800 minimum to redo the venting and drywall. Maybe just run a dehumidifier for a few weeks and see if it dries out. People freak out too much about mold when most of the time it's just a little surface stuff you can wipe away.

noah1353mo ago

Oh man, that's a total disaster. You need to get that fixed right now before it ruins your whole basement. That steam is going to cause serious mold and rot really fast. I don't know a plumber out there, but you should call a proper company, not another random guy. This is exactly why you don't cheap out on big installs. Good luck, that sounds awful.

tylerbutler3mo ago

Yeah, noah135 is right about the mold risk. My neighbor had a similar venting issue and it cost him thousands in drywall repairs. You might want to check with Capital Plumbing, they fixed a leak for me last year and did solid work.