My main sewer line clogged today for the second time in recent months. A plumber told me that I need to cut the cast iron stack in the basement and install a wye fitting and access cap. Needless to say the plumber is away for the weekend so I decided to rent a cast iron pipe cutter and a sewer auger. I wrapped stap iron around the stack below a hub and screwed it to the floor joists for the first floor. The cutter worked fine but I need to lift the stack a fraction of an inch to remove an 18″ section. This stack is extremely heavy. Does anyone have any tricks for supporting the stack and raising it just enough to remove the section. I am going to use 4″ pvc with fernco fittings. This house was built in 1914 and I don’t want to beat on the pipe with a sledge hammer.
Thanks,
Stan
Replies
Most definitely, DO NOT beat on cast iron stacks.
Moving the stack probably isn't a good idea, unless you are sure there is slack, which seems unlikely since it probably attached to a toilet.
Can you cut a second piece out (about 3" or so) to get a gap to work with?
But anyway, we found putting a riser clamp on the stack and then supporting with a couple of 2X4's was a good way to go.
Did you say a toilet on the cast iron stack
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Edited 2/25/2006 10:52 pm ET by plumbbill
Bill,
They used caulk on 50?yo cast iron stacks?
SasmT
plumbbill is talking about the type of joint they used with cast iron in the old days, lead and oakum and the lead was caulked tight, it has nothing to do with the caulk that we are familiar now-days. Info only.
Riiight
Bryan:
I made several cuts in between the section that I want to cut out. the stack makes a small bend on the second floor (lead) and serves a toilet, bathtub, and vanity. Unfortunately, the stack is also next to the foundation wall which makes for poor access. I will try bolting a couple of 2x4s around the stack and bracing with longitudinal 2x4s going to the floor. I have a joint about 60" above the floor which will be good to brace against. Thanks for your help.
Stan
You could use 2x4's in an upside down "V" --like one angled on one side and the other opposite that one and then drive the bottoms toward each other and that should lift it; otherwise you could use something like an automobile jack. As you probably know, cast iron is brittle.
I wrapped strap iron around the stack below a hub and screwed it to the floor joists for the first floor
Do you mean the steel strapping with the holes in it?
If that is what you use, you likely got some downward movement when you made you cuts. There are manufacture clamps for CI that clamp around the pipe and can be used to secure it to the joist or studs.
Don't know if HD or Lowes carries them, but if you can find one, clamp it on the vertical section of pipe and use a floor jack or bottle jack and a 2x4 to lift the pipe the 1/8" or so that you need. You might want to get two clamps and place one at the floor joist before you release the jack when your repairs are complete.
BTW if you lift it much, you might get some leaks at horizontal transitions. Lead/oakum joints don't flex much:(
Dave
those are the riser clamps I was refering too. If you walk the steps in a large office building, you'll see lots of them holding pipes and resting on the concrete floor.
You shouldn't lift the upper section of the cast iron to remove a chunk, you should make two cuts and break the chunk out without moving either section. You need to support the upper section permanently anyway, so do that and then start in on the chunk you're removing with a hammer and a punch.
Has any body had problems using a sawzall and good heavy/long blades to cut out castiron mains? That's what I use all the time with no problems. Oh ya if you don't have it supported from above you'll know whan you get to that last 1/4".
Just like now back during cast irons hey day there were different quality levels in the product. The better grade stuff will dull a metal saw blade pretty quick but will cut easily with an abrasive blade in a saw.......if you can stand the mess. Cheaper cast iron will cut with a metal blade just like you describe. The cast iron snapper is the best if you have room for it and can get ahold of one. DanT
2.55 an hour and that was a raise from my first job as a cons Laborer. So does that date me.
I caught the last of CI use so I got versed well.Still have my originall packing irons.
I have yet to find CI I can't cut with the correct blade and low speed on the sawzall. And it's not like the HD that I've been cutting is new low grade.
It's been long so maybe I ment EH instead of HD or argggg I gotta go look it up now.
Did I tell you about all the lead paint I used to eat. Ha Ha
I always called em corking irons.
I still have to pour a lead joint now & then--- as long as it's not an upside down vertical then I would be screwed.
Date yourself with this one did you use to cut C.I. pipe with a hammer & a cold chisel?
I bought a Ridgid snapper because the cast iron in my last house was virtually impossible to cut with a sawzall or anything else. Works great and it's one of the neater tools to work with. I think it was about $200, and there are times when I'll spend that much to avoid 30 minutes of agony.
I finished the job this evening but not without creating a few other problems that I had to fix. I bolted a couple of 2" x 4" pieces of lumber around the pipe just below the bell. I then built cribbing on the floor and used a hydraulic jack to slowly lift the stack a few fractions of an inch. I then installed a section of 4" pvc with a cleanout plug. The sewer auger cleared the problem quicky. Just when I thought that I was through and could go home (this is rental property), I checked the first floor and discovered a leak in the ceiling. Oddly enough, It wasn't a sewer line joint leaking or one of the lead pipes branching off the cast iron. I opened up the ceiling and found a water leak. I thought one of the copper supply lines had been disturbed. So I ran home and got my soldering tools and some pipe and stopped at Lowes to get a few copper fittings and later discovered that it wasn't the water lines leaking but the toilet tank on this stack had been disturbed. I ran back to Lowes to get new tank parts and washers and finally at 10pm the job is finished, except for repairing the ceiling that I had opened up. What a weekend. Two days fixing plumbing problems and one of the furnaces at my house quit. The next time that I have a problem with cast iron, I am calling my plumber (who happened to be enjoying himself at a lake this weekend but was kind of enough to advise me over the phone).
Thanks for everyone's help!
Stan