Piedmont Plumbers of Columbia

Robbie J.

Piedmont did all the plumbing for my house, a new build. After some time in the house, we noticed that we had some water damage in the cabinets underneath the four bathroom sinks (two in the master bath, two in the guest bath) due to leaking from underneath the faucet. Over the course of two service visits that did not resolve the issue, Piedmont claimed that the leaking was due to a defective faucet: first they claimed it was a problem with the cartridge, and then, after installing a new cartridge, they claimed it was the entire faucet. However, it is unlikely that all four of my bathroom sinks were defective. In the meantime I was in contact with the faucet manufacturer, Delta, to receive new parts. Delta, understandably, claimed that the problem was an installation issue and not a defective product. So, I received a second opinion from a licensed contractor, who determined that the faucets had not been installed correctly due to the exclusion of silicone. This allowed water to penetrate the gasket, leak into the lower cabinet, rust the bottom base of the faucet and stain the countertop (see attached photo). It was obvious to the contractor too that silicone wasn't applied during installation and that things weren't tightened correctly because it was easy to disassemble the faucet; he was able to use his hands (rather than a wrench) to loosen the assembly. When I shared this with Piedmont, they said that they do not use silicone and that the fault is therefore not on their end. However, this runs contrary to Delta's instructions for installation, which clearly show the application of silicone to the areas in question. Piedmont also told me they would not replace my faucets, whose bases are rusted due to the leaking, because they are not required to use silicone. It certainly seems that they do not want to take responsibility for taking shortcuts in the installation process. However, I would like Piedmont resolves the situation by installing new replacement faucets properly, rather than trying to pass the blame to me or to Delta.