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Thankfully, it's not my water pipes that burst. This is in a house I'm considering buying. But I need to have some idea of what a repair like this might cost. The first company I called was quite abrupt and nearly hung up on me. I understand they can't give any firm figures without looking at the place (which is 90 minutes from where I live), but right now I just need to know if I'm looking at a $1,000 repair, $5,000, or more.

Anyone with any experience?

This is a hundred year old home, large, full basement, which is where the pipes burst. They're fine in the rest of the house.

Any great home repair sites I could go to to start learning more about such issues?

Answering my own question?

http://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/plumbing/repair-a-water-main/

This is placing it at an average of less than a thousand. Does this sound pretty accurate?

Need more details here....

has there been any revovations done before?

How much pipe would you need to replace?

Other damages? How bad is the floor, how bad is the wall?

Do you need to do any kind of mold clean up?

Is any insullation affected, will you need to update anything while you are fixing this issue?

We just had a busted pipe in our wall, currently we are at 1100 dollars and counting to replace/repair. We still have dry wall and paint to go.

With that old of a house, and no updates, you are probably looking at plaster walls, which will need to be replaced with dry wall, the pipes might be good, but if the leak was not properly cleaned up you may have issues with your subflooring and possibly the support structures if the water sat there long enough.

then theres possible mold.

At this point, I would think high and then start ticking it down. Without much more detail its hard to say.

ETA: I read that it was a basement, so here's more info...

If all you need to do is repair some pipe and redo a wall, then around 1000 would be more accurate. Other things to consider though is if there was any mold, or if the insullation needs replaced. Insullation isnt expensive, but mold clean up can be.

[This message edited by Undefinabl3 at 11:36 AM, May 8th (Wednesday)]

Hi, thanks!

Renovations: it's one of those old 19th century buildings with a store on the bottom and owner's living quarters upstairs. There have been massive renovations to the lower level, and likely to the upstairs, too.

I think the foundation is something like 2500 or 3000 sf, so the basement would be about that size, with the pipes running through it. I have no idea how many actual feet of piping, though.

It's cement flooring down there, and was still flooded when I looked at the house. There appeared to be some mold on the walls, although not a lot. One of the walls appeared to be covered by thin wood paneling, and the others cement cinder block type walls.