Old cast iron DWV problems

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bbsux

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I am doing some work in my 1910ish house in its second floor bathroom. I currently has a Cast iron DWV pipe that is probably 4 inch or bigger. the problem is that while the house is settling -- the DWV is not. Luckily its settling straight down. So on the second floor where the vent has a horizontal section before heading up to the attic and the vent has already past the point where the settling can be hidden (IE: the pipe joints are above the floor joists).

I never noticed before because it was covered by the tub, but when we took it out to replace it we were shocked at the amount it sticks up...

It travels from basement to the second floor then goes horizontal and y's off to the second floor toilet and goes up to the attic. I assume they did this to stay hidden in a wall stud, if so, why didn't they simply line up the two walls when they built it so it wouldn't have to go horizontal at all???? Strange planning...

My first instinct it to start in the attic and replace the entire thing in sections with PVC. But that could be VERY time consuming and/or expensive not to mention dangerous. But as a first project could I simply cut out the horizontal section and Y and replace it with PVC, (this will eliminate the old joints pushing up the floor)? Will the Cast iron above it be too heavy even with weight supporters to the studs? Will I want to replace the rest to the basement with PVC eventually? Thanks....
 

Redwood

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I'd say you want to get a structural engineer to investigate this settling.
Sounds like it's well beyond the norm...

That said some codes do prohibit cast on top of PVC for the reason you cited.
Check your local code.
 

Nate R

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Strange planning? It may have been built w/o the thought of having a bathroom.

My street and thus our house didn't get plumbing until 1930 or 31. The house was built around 1922. There was no planning for the bathroom or plumbing in our house at all. They had to run the stack through a stair to make it work in our 900 SF house.
 

hj

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offset walls

Offset walls are not "strange planning". We have to deal with it every day, because architects are more concerned with how the rooms look than how the plumbing is going to be installed.
 

bbsux

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I'd say you want to get a structural engineer to investigate this settling.
Sounds like it's well beyond the norm...

That said some codes do prohibit cast on top of PVC for the reason you cited.
Check your local code.

Well considering we are talking 100 years of settling and it probably only settled 2 or 3 inches (just enough for the huge cast iron joints to bow up the floor), I think that reasonable. They had a claw tub there and I bet they put in the surround tub that I took out when they saw the bulge in the floor. They repaired the foundation in the 70's and it hasn't cracked since... I'm hoping the settling is over but PVC is so much easier to work with....

I agree that they may not have even had plumbing when they built the house -- It would explain a few things...

Think I can handle this DIY?

Thanks
 

bbsux

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Offset walls are not "strange planning". We have to deal with it every day, because architects are more concerned with how the rooms look than how the plumbing is going to be installed.

Tell me about it. I call it "functionally challenged". The architects don't have to crawl around and work that area is why they design stuff like that.
 

Redwood

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I would still want it looked at.
That is a lot of settling!
Rotted sill and needing a bunch of jacking is not out of the realm of possibilities...
 

bbsux

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I would still want it looked at.
That is a lot of settling!
Rotted sill and needing a bunch of jacking is not out of the realm of possibilities...

Oh yeah there is a jack under that part of the house that had to have put in in the 70's. I actually have planned to get 4 more jacks to shore up other sections of the house.

Sill looks good... I checked that myself... I think the foundation was crap then they fixed it in the 70's, replacing a lot of it with newer blocks. I doubt it has settled much since...
 

Southern Man

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Oh yeah there is a jack under that part of the house that had to have put in in the 70's. I actually have planned to get 4 more jacks to shore up other sections of the house.

Sill looks good... I checked that myself... I think the foundation was crap then they fixed it in the 70's, replacing a lot of it with newer blocks. I doubt it has settled much since...
Sometimes houses of that era never had foundations. They use to start with a row of brick 90 degrees below the base course to make a little footer with a 4" overhang on both sides. If you have poor grading and poorly maintained downspouts (or worse- no gutters) it a surprise to see it standing at all.

Aside from that a lot of settling occurs due to the wood studs shrinking. Even on a newer house you are likely to see up to 1/2" per floor, accumulating over the height, so on the upper floors the settlement relative to iron pipe would be significant.
 

bbsux

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Sometimes houses of that era never had foundations. They use to start with a row of brick 90 degrees below the base course to make a little footer with a 4" overhang on both sides. If you have poor grading and poorly maintained downspouts (or worse- no gutters) it a surprise to see it standing at all.

Aside from that a lot of settling occurs due to the wood studs shrinking. Even on a newer house you are likely to see up to 1/2" per floor, accumulating over the height, so on the upper floors the settlement relative to iron pipe would be significant.

That would make sense... They did have a furnace (coal I think) down there but took it out at sometime and added on two rooms on the first floor and may have extended the basement (it still not finished).
 

Southern Man

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The shrinking studs phenomenon is a very common problem here since a lot of homes use brick veneer. Windows are fastened to the wood framing but the sills rest on the brick, which does not shrink. A lot of times the frame pulls out from the lintel above it, and sometimes the sill gets compressed to the point that it has starts to drain towards the interior.
 
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