Gass Plumbing

Called Gass Plumbing on Tuesday evening. Water heater leaking. Was given option to purchase my own heater or have them pick one up for me. To expedite the process I went ahead and picked up a new heater. They said they would be there at 9:00 am the next morning to replace the heater for me. They showed up promptly at 9:00 and began work immediately. They were done by 10:15. Replaced all fittings and inlet valve as well as water heater. Very satisfied with the professionalism of the workers and quality of the work. Showed up on time and had all necessary tools and parts to complete the job.

Great.. On time, polite, fair price

I had an emergency with a water leak under my kitchen sink. With the holidays I couldn't find a plumber. I went and googled plumbers in Texas City and was blessed to find Gass Plumbing. Dale was at my house in about 40 minutes and got my sink fixed perfectly. He's professional, works clean, is upfront and honest about the work and the price. You'll be pleased you hired him!!

I bought a 1980's style, two-story patio home a couple of months ago in Texas City, TX. I intend to make a few improvements before I move out of my leased condo later this Fall and move over to this house. I leave the ultities (electricity, gas and water) on in the house so I can work over there more easily. In early July 2011 about 5:30 in the evening on a Friday my next door neighbor at the house rushed to my condo to tell me there was a water leak along the garage foundation; so much water that it was oozing into the street! I immediately went to the house and tried to turn off the water at the main house shut-off valve inside the garage. No go, the valve was "stripped" and just spun in my hand. So, I turned the water off at the valve out at the meter, which was on the City's side. Hoping I could maybe get a plumber out Saturday, I called a few plumbers' phone numbers and found Gass Plumbing in Texas City still answering their phone Friday evening. I discussed the problem with the owner. He said I would likely need a new water valve in the garage and suggested the broken one be replaced with quarter-turn ball valve. He said he would need to locate the leak and would get someone to the house the following Monday to look at the problem. Monday became Friday before he had anyone free to come look at the problem - but he did keep me appraised of his crew's unavailability. (No problem on my part since the house is empty and just sitting there waiting for me to work on it). Anyhow, the two-man crew he finally sent over was due to be there at 8:00 AM Friday morning, which turned into 10:00 AM before they got there, after they begged off til later . When they showed up, I really thought things were going to be OK because the crew leader (older brother to the other guy) said they would figure out where the leak was before they gave me an estimate of the repair cost. Good deal. So they turned on the water at the meter, and when the leak started again, they dug down next to the garage foundation looking for it. Turns out it was where someone decided to join the 1" copper water piping from the house to the 1" PVC from the meter - and was down underneath a concrete "overpour" for the garage foundation. Apparently the dry Texas Summer caused the foundation to shift a bit, and cracked the knuckle. They also acertained that the shut-off valve in the garage really was stripped and wouldn't operate. At this point I asked what they thought it would take money-wise to repair my line and valve. Older bro called someone and then told me it would be "between 2 and 3" which I took as "hundred". I told them to go ahead. So, they cut about a 5' section of the the PVC pipe running to the house away from the copper house piping and removed it from the ground. Then, they removed the brass valve in the garage and off they went to Galveston to get parts. When they returned (in OK travel time) they had a "fabbed-up" piece of PVC to join to the straight run from the meter, then make a 90 deg. turn through an attached PVC elbow, whiich join to another short run of PVC going toward the house. I was walking near the work hole, and saw a new ball valve lying on the ground near the hole, and (foolish me) thought it was the valve for the garage. Since I was showing a hurricane shutter contractor around the house at the time, I walked away from the Gass Plumbing crew, sure that they were doing the job right. After the other contractor left, I returned to the plumbing hole, and older bro told me the parts were joined together and they had used quick set cement so it wouldnt take long to have everything working again. I looked around, and when I didn't see the ball valve that had been lying there, I asked where it was, and older bro said it was in the hole! I asked why and he said he needed a union piece to join the PVC to the copper and the parts store didn't have the right size female to female piece, but did have a ball valve with two female ends, so he installed that inline to join the copper to the PVC. I said something like, I wonder who will dig that up in a hundred years and try to figure out who the d*** fool was that buried a ball valve two feet down in the ground right next to the house? Both of them thought that was funny. It may surprise you that I don't appreciate paying for a valve that should have been just a regular brass union. Of course, these guys already had the thing cemented in, so what objection could I make? If they cut it back out, it would have shortened my copper run even more. But, wait, there's more!. So, they go into the garage to try replacing the top (bonnet), stem, and wedge of the broken shut-off valve. The valve bonnet the store had sold them didn't fit; it didn't match the threads in the old valve body (which was welded into the copper line in the house). After much discussion, I told them to leave the old valve uninstalled, that I would take it to a local valve wholesale shop and see if I could get the correct replacement parts myself. I looked around for the old brass wedge (gate) from the broken valve that closes off the water flow, and older bro had to go to his truck to retrieve it; he had helped himself to the old brass wedge. (What does brass go for a pound now? My brass that is.) Another 'little' item: I asked them what size PVC they had fabbed, and younger bro said he "thought" it was 3/4". Really! Let's see - does that diminish the water flow through a 1" pipe by one fourth? Anyhow, by the time these guys finally had replaced the dirt in the hole to cover up their messy job, they left with a check for $325!!! They didn't even leave me the pieces of the valve they bought to replace my broken one - or the rest of the quick drying cement they bought on my nickle. To followup on my story, the local valve wholesaler did order me replacement parts for my garage valve from the actual manufacturer, but alas, the whole valve has changed a lot in 25 years, and the replacement parts don't fit 100%. So, I put the defective valve back in the valve body (without my broken-off stem and wedge) and can at least have water to the house. Nevermind that now I have to shut off the water at the meter to block in the house. Also I've noted that I really don't have the water flow I used to have at the kitchen sink before the dynamnic duo did their thing; it is diminished considerably. And, as the final huzah, since it took them so long to respond to my service request initially, all three toilets went totally dry and the rubber flappers inside the flush tanks dried out and no longer seal against the "O" rings going to tanks - so the tanks never fill and the water just keeps running. I had to shut all three water valves at the bathroom walls and now I get to replace all the toiler flappers. I still have an unresolved problem in the garage - no shutoff valve - which could be fixed by cutting out some copper piping and fabbing up a new header with a new valve, then sweating in the new pieces. But, I don't think I'll ask Bass Plumbing to do that pricey little job - or any other one for that matter!