Faulty pipe leaves a wet, costly mess

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A Rio Rancho homeowner is now forced to shell out nearly $7,000 because of faulty piping that the manufacturer knew was bad.

The faulty polybutylene pipe problems have been plaguing homeowners across the nation.

Shell Oil manufactured the pipes from 1978 until 1995. In the early 80's, the company and millions of homeowners later learned the pipes easily degraded and leaked.

The pipe maker has been forced to reimburse people for many of them, after a 1995 class action lawsuit was settled and Shell was ordered to pay for re-piping millions of homes.

However, the deadline to file a claim expired this May, leaving Sonia Hodshire with a $7,000 bill to have her home re-piped.

It was last week when Hodshire found out the hard way that it was too late to file suit against the pipes' manufacturer.

“I drove home, I saw water running out of my driveway and I had thought that I had left a hose on,” Hodshire said.

But when Hodshire walked through her front door, she found herself standing in a pool of water.

“My coffee table was overturned, my sofas had water up to the cushions,” Hodshire said.

The main water pipe into her home had ruptured, ruining almost everything inside.

“My baby’s pictures, unfortunately I had them in the closet of my bedroom,” Hodshire said.

Her plumber, Brandon Nicholson, blames faulty polybutylene pipes.

“Basically the pipe breaks down under ground, it gets cracks all over the place and many, many leaks,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson said he thinks the suit should still be active.

"I think it should go until everybody is been fixed,” he said.

Homes throughout Rio Rancho still have polybutylene pipes; Nicholson still believes they will rupture. He's already re-piped five homes with polybutylene this year.