At the time it was built, the plumber who installed the master bedroom toilet cut the hole in the floor that's used for the drain in a decidedly non-circular manner. This resulted in the flange used to couple the toilet and the floor being held down by one screw, instead of the traditional four.

Over the years, after numerous sit-downs, the toilet eventually wobbled enough so that the wax seal between the toilet and the drain cracked. It's important to note that this wobble would not have occurred had the flange been properly secured.

Well, once the seal cracked, the toilet started to leak, very very slowly. Over probably 6-9 months, small amounts of sewage escaped the drain into the wood of the floor, and down onto the drywall ceiling of the room below.

3 weeks ago, the first bit of wetness became visible in the ceiling of the family room. Naturally being a fairly handy guy I took it upon myself to determine the problem by sawing out a chunk of my ceiling. A quick call to the plumber later and my toilet is sitting in my garage, and I have a hole in my ceiling. the wood floor around where the toilet sat is rotted through and will need to be replaced along with a chunk of the ceiling.

Of course, since this isn't 'accidental', it's not covered by my insurance. The company that built the house wasn't too excited to help me either, but they did give me the name of the plumbing company that did the initial install. I've been 'talking' with the plumbing company for the last 2 weeks and seem to be getting nowhere. The person I was 'working with' there, all of a sudden, doesn't work for them anymore.

My dilemma is this: I haven't fixed anything yet because I wanted to preserve the proof that the cause was the initial install and hopefully have someone pay for the repairs since it is an obvious improper installation. It doesn't look like anyone's going to step up to the plate though. What are my options?

I am pretty positive this is the place I used:
http://www.worldlawdirect.com/

I can't be 100%, I don't have the e-mails kicking around any more.

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This is where I go to find out handy hints for home repairs. There are people from all over the place that post there but it's not overly crowded. Posters have a lot of knowledge about local codes, etc. Someone there might be able to point you in the right direction. Worth a few mins to register and post a question.

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However, I feel naive in thinking it will help if anything goes wrong short of the house collapsing!

Considering the cost, it would be worth it to retain a laway for a few hours to craft a letter.

Declare War.

seriously though, I got nothing.

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“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”