Originally Posted by mn_nobody
Reply With QuoteHi All:
I’m new to this board and felt compelled to reply to this post since it was my number one source for information for a similar problem.
In my case, one side of my house (upstairs bath, kitchen & laundry) kept backing up. Interestingly, these areas were being drained by a 3 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe. Of course, I assumed my problem was where the old met the new. Anyway, it happened again and I opened the cleanout in the laundry area and was surprised that I couldn’t get my de-logging device (the rubber tubes that expand…can’t remember the term at the moment) very far down the line. I started it up anyway and heard water flowing. Problem was, no water flowing when I removed the cap on the vent at the street connection. So, up under the house I go. Come to find out there is a 3 by 2 hole in the cast iron, just down line of the new to old splice.
So, I deactivated that side of the house and started my internet search. This was on Sunday the 17th.
Thanks to the info of this post I felt confident that I could handle the pipe cutter and splice in a section all the way to an area I knew to be sound (under my main downstairs bath). It was a piece of cake! The cutter was very easy to use. I rented it from the Home Dep*t in Reading, Pa and the guys there were very helpful and knowledgeable! They suggested oiling the section that I wanted to splice to for a cleaner cut. I soaked it with WD 40 and made a cut farther upstream just to make sure I was doing it right. Long story short (too late) I was so impressed with that cut and the condition of the pipe that I kept it as my splice area for my No Hub. I cut the other end and hauled about a 15 foot section (with a 90 in the middle of the run) out of the crawl space to make it easier to cut into smaller disposable chunks. Of course the new was easy. 3 inch Schedule 40 coupling to the PVC from the aforementioned areas and the no-hub where it spliced to the cast iron.
All told the job took me less than 2 hours. Cost was about $25.00 for the tool (since I had it less than four hours…would have been $32.00 for 24 hours). Materials were about $35.00.
I did not get a quote from a plumber but I would imagine it would have been no less than $500 just because of the difficulty in accessing the area and, let’s face it, plumbers are in it to make money. I don’t come cheap in my line of work either!
Sorry this is so long winded but the point I’m trying to make is that anyone with the least amount of mechanical aptitude can handle a job like this.
I do have a question to pose to the group, especially the experts. Down stream of my splice is my main bathroom which is all cast iron. The house is about 60 years old; I have every intention of replacing this at a later date just to update. Here is the question, just downstream of this bathroom is the main 4 inch that goes through the basement wall and thus to the street. I have no intention of replacing the buried part (unless I have a problem) but should I replace the four inch all the way to just before it penetrates the wall? The 3inch that I spliced into looked very healthy and I don’t think there is a need but I’d like a professional opinion. The main bathroom was recently updated and PVC was kludged into the cast iron (by the former owners) which is my impetus for replacing all of that.
Thanks for your help and thanks to everyone for the comments that helped me get this job done with such celerity.
Darryl
North Coventry, Pa.
). I am not a plumber advocating that people call other plumbers just to gin up business, nor are the many licensed professionals that come here to share their knowledge. Anytime someone on here suggests calling somebody in, it is with good reason. Sorry you had a bad experience with your local fellow.
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