We just had Roto Rooter come out who I used for my house before I moved into my wife's and there was not only a free inspection but he investigated under the house, found no issues with the pipes and said that we wouldn't have to do anything. He said he wouldn't recommend doing anything as far as replacing the pipes for certainly the next several years before we sell the house and likely long after that... the pipes are in really good shape.
He said the bump we're hearing is that the particular section of pipe under the floorboards is because the way the hanged that section, it's a little loose but that it's nothing to be concerned about. They could secure those hanging areas to be more secured to the house but it's not necessary unless the bumping noise bothers us enough in the future.
He also found the vice-gripped section and said that it was a section where they should have used a reducer elbow but instead used a reducer T-joint and just clamped & sodered shut the unused portion... the vice grips probably aren't doing anything at this point anyway.
After all that, no charge.
The guy that probably came out from the original plumber company is probably an apprentice that was over-recommending and/or trying to scam us. We'll sort that out with that company but in the end, we liked the plumber that came out today, he was knowledgeable and explained essentially everything.
