Marke Burke Plumbing and Heating

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Got home late Tues evening, quite sick. Just wanted hot soak in tub and then bed. Turned on water?tub wasn?t draining. We have a little hand plunger and I tried to free clog. This was relatively frequent issue in our house. Suddently, my wife screamed from kitchen below that the ceiling was leaking. Turned off water. Wife went to get Liquid plumber while I investigated. I turned off hose to toilet so I could remove top to get better view into tiny access space behind head of tub. Flushed the toilet and disconnected hose. Hose shutoff valve was faulty -- now I had hose blasting water all over the place under high pressure and no way to shut it off. Ran to basement and shut off master water to entire house. Knew I was looking at $20,000 bathroom re-do. Called Mark Burke Plumbing and Heating. This was around 10 p.m. They were at our door at 8:30 next morning. Spotted multiple problems immediately - every joint along entire drainage chain from tub. Horribly tight cramped space to work in?they had to reach several feet thru 1'x1' access panel and down at least another foot. Old drainage pipes had joints sealed with gaskets and putty backwards and they had all finally just given way. (Previous plumber evidently relied on it lasting long enough for him to skip town with his winnings.) They could only turn fittings about 5 degrees at a time. Extremely tough working conditions. But they got it done and got it all correctly done with all new piping. I was never going to allow this bathroom to give me grief again. Asked them to fix everything else we had issues with: 1. rust coming out of bathtub faucet first time you turned it on every day: they replaced cast-iron bushing connection to spout with brass one and new spout. 2. hairline fracture running up side of toilet from johnny bolts, across drainage pipe area and slightly higher. No evidence of leakage, but we were worried about it. They replaced cracked toilet with same but taller model (wife and I are both tall and love new seating arrangement). Then asked them to check out our little problem in the basement... Last segment of cast-iron sewerage pipe going down through cement foundation and our to city sewer line was held together with duct-tape... This little problem had been a niggling worry for a long time... a sink hole had formed at city sewerage connection point in the street in front of our the previous year. City dug, said it was their problem and fixed it. But we were pretty sure our duct-taped pipe had to have been contributing and dreaded $20,000 to $40,000 excavation and plumbing replacement from our pipe all the way to sewer line under street... They tackled that the next day. They cut and replaced pipe segment with new pvc pipe, with access point midway to clear clogs if they ever happened. They had to chip through cement foundation floor about a foot to reach next pipe--the monster heavy-duty pipe that connects to city sewerage line. They thoroughly examined that pipe with nifty camera on a hose device and pronounced it safe and sound before connecting new replacement segment to it. They also put a cap on another drainage pipe under foundation floor a few feet away--said they were surprised we'd never had any critters come up through sewer...yuck! Tested everything--we ran water like crazy from bathroom sink and tub--not a speck of leakage anywhere! Mark Burke Plumbing and Heating is a family spin-off from Burke and Sons Plumbing and Heating. I'd used them years earlier and was happy with their work. Mark's company is just as good, if not better. Dedicated, persistent, ethical, answered any and every question (and my wife had a zillion of them!), considerate, professional, and quality-oriented. Employee Mark P. (not Mark Burke himself, though he came for part of first day, too) did most of the work and he was a pleasure to deal with. He explained everything he saw, everything he did and why he did it. My wife and I are already scheming and planning. We want them back as soon as we can to put in a sump pump, and to replace 100-year-old faucets and handles to basement utility sink and washing machine. Oh, and a platform to rest the washer and drier on so we can get them off the bricks they "walk off" every few weeks. Wife has plans for expansion off kitchen with small bathroom and I think she and Mark already have it all figured out how they'll do it. I'm a 56 year old software Quality Assurance professional. Quality, whether of product or service, is THE most important thing to me and my professional life. Mark Burke's company, and Mark P. in particular, met or exceeded my every expectation. First class outfit. Do not hesitate to call them. Oh, and my $20,000 bathroom nightmare and $40,000 basement excavation super-nightmare? $1300, including new throne!