When you move into a newly constructed home, you expect everything to work.
But since Patty Wood moved into her new D.R. Horton home in Apollo Beach, Florida, last year, she says her plumbing has had repeated problems.
“I paid a lot of money for this house. It should work,” Wood said.
Wood says she can’t flush toilet paper without clogging up the pipes.
WATCH: Florida woman says she can't flush toilet paper in her new construction home
Wood, a recently widowed senior citizen who lives alone, said her toilet troubles started three days after she moved into her new house.
“The toilets did the bluh-bluh-bluh and all the water rushed out,” she said, describing it as sounding like a poltergeist.
In the months that followed, Wood said her pipes have repeatedly been clogged by organic waste.
“I have two indoor outhouses. And that’s unacceptable in any house, let alone a brand-new house,” Wood said. “I was going to light candles, so you didn’t have to experience it. But I said, you know, they need to smell it.”
Wood is no stranger to comedy. She was known to Tampa radio listeners 25 years ago as “Peppermint Patty”, when she performed wacky stunts as part of a morning radio crew.
But she said what’s going on in her bathrooms is no laughing matter.
Wood said she called her builder, D.R. Horton, relentlessly.
Wood said D.R. Horton’s warranty department connected her with Northwest Plumbing, their plumbing vendor, which blew out the clogs in the lines with pressurized water and even used a sewer camera to inspect the pipes.
“They had a full clog block-up with that bathroom within like eight feet of the toilet. And they cleared that. They took the footage,” Wood said.
Wood said the plumbers initially blamed the clogs on toilet paper.
“First, it was, 'only use Angel Soft,' so then I said I am only using Angel Soft. So, then it was, 'only use a certain number of squares of Angel Soft,'" Wood said.
When the problem continued, a Northwest Plumbing employee emailed her, “Blockages are not as common with large families because multiple toilets being used... provides more water to move the solids.”
“I said I'm not gonna find a family to move in with me so I can flush my toilets,” Wood said.
That wasn’t the only possible explanation.
“Here's my favorite. Ranch-style homes they need longer horizontal runs, so they need more water to carry the solids,” Wood read from a Northwest Plumbing employee email.
As a precaution, Wood stopped flushing toilet paper.
“This is nonsense, the lengths that we go to,” Wood said, putting a new plastic bag in the trash can beside her hall toilet.
“That’s where the paper goes,” she said. “Several times a day.”
Patty eventually called her longtime personal plumber, Thomas Flynn, for a second opinion.
“I’ve been licensed as a master plumber for 47 years,” Flynn said.
He used to work in California, unclogging toilets of the rich and famous.
“I was the plumber for Arnold Palmer, Merv Griffin, Eva Gabor, Carol Channing, Bob and Doloris Hope,” Flynn said.
He claimed he’s never seen a problem like Wood has experienced in a brand-new home.
“It’s a continuing ongoing problem that happens over and over and over again,” Flynn said.
When asked if Wood could have caused it just by flushing toilet paper, Flynn said, “I can’t think of a way that could happen, no.”
He said the problem is likely with the pipes.
“There’s not sufficient pitch on the underground waste pipe. That’s the pipe that carries the waste from the house out to the sewer,” he said.
So, the Scripps News Group in Tampa did an experiment to test his theory.
Patty was asked to flush a black latex glove down the toilet in each bathroom.
Flynn waited at the outside cleanout to see how long it took for both gloves to pass by.
While Flynn said he would normally expect to see water flowing through the pipes in 30 to 45 seconds, it took four flushes and more than five minutes for both gloves to pass through.
“I can tell you that it doesn’t have that 2% pitch. That's about as tell-tell as it gets. I don’t need to go underground and put a level on it to tell that. Gravity speaks for itself,” Flynn said.
Flynn estimates fixing the problem could cost tens of thousands of dollars.
“To make it right, you’d have to saw cut up the floor, go down to the waste pipe and adjust it with the proper pitch. It's a huge undertaking,” he said.
The Scripps News Group in Tampa reached out to D.R. Horton.
A company spokesperson sent the following statement attributed to Frank Messina, Division President for D.R. Horton’s Tampa Division:
D.R. Horton has worked with Ms. Wood to evaluate her plumbing concerns. We and our vendor, Northwest Plumbing, have investigated this matter extensively, including performing a video camera line inspection, and we have not discovered any issues in the home’s plumbing system. We have provided guidance to Ms. Wood on how best to prevent future clogs. D.R. Horton stands behind the quality of our homes, and we encourage any homeowner with a concern about their home to contact us directly at (813)-740-9720 or TampaCustomerCare @drhorton.com.
“She’s having to put her toilet paper in a trash bag. Not a way to live. Not in 2025,” Flynn said.
Wood said she has a message for D.R. Horton.
“Back up your product. And if you’re not willing to back up your product, don’t sell it,” she said.
Northwest Plumbing did not respond to two emails and a call seeking comment.
Patty, who is a paralegal by training, recently filed a complaint against the builder and the plumbing contractor with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
This story was originally published by Adam Walser with the Scripps News Group in Tampa.
