Hi,
I live in a condo (built in '68 if it matters). I am having a back flow test done for the entire building and was told the water will be shutoff entirely. My question is, during that time can I have my plumber come and fix my bathroom shutoff valve? The building will make me use their plumbers and pay a maintenance guy to come open the door. I understand the need for "approved" building workers, but I'm a painter by trade and my plumber will trade work with me, he's fully licenced and I really can't afford to sink more money in to this condo. Thanks for all your help (hopefully) and thanks for answering questions about such a grey area to many.
Macd

repairing a shutoff valve does not require a plumbing permit in MA. whatever your condo agreement says about hiring someone to work on the building will determine who you hire.

Hey thanks for response. I know I don't need a permit, but I wanted to make sure I wouldn't mess up their test. The building will let me get my own plumber (I own the place also) , they just make it very difficult to schedule anyone but "their guys", I believe they get a finder fee. And they continue to tell me when their guys could do it, and how easy they are. And then scheduling the maintenance guy becomes too much. It's been broken for three months, and they dont seem to care....not that I do either, barely use it. Thanks again for the response, hope you can help somemore.
MacD

how can it mess up their test?
it is no different than flushing the toilet while the water is off.
so, unless they specifically warn you to use no water, open no faucets nor flush any toilets, you are good to go..
i might shut of the water main to my condo during the valve repair. just want to make sure the water doesn't come back on with an open pipe.

Thank you so much, I wasn't really sure how the backflow test worked or what it was testing. My guy was talking about using a "push fitting", he said it would be quick, I'm gonna see if I can get the main shut off too (if they are here already they can't said no). But are these push fitting any good, he said they are great, sounds a little diy to me. I would rather him do it right than fast, I don't want to waste my chance to actually have the water shutoff. Thanks again
MacD



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once the old valve is removed, a push fitting would take about 5 seconds to install and a compression stop would take about 45 seconds.
tell the plumber to use a 1/4 turn compression stop.
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IF he has a "main shutoff valve" for his condo, he would not have to schedule a system shutdown, or wait until the backflow test is going on, to do the maintenance in his unit. As long as he can complete the repair while it is shut down there should be no problem. The problem would be if they turn the water back on while he is in the middle of the repair with no way to turn the water back off.

Part of the answer would depend on WHICH push on valve he used. There are some that I always remove when I find them, but I never install them.