When we did our renovation we replaced all our black iron sewer pipes with new PVC.
Lucky for us, our house is elevated on 3 blocks with a crawlspace throughout .
What about the homes that are on slab? What are the most economical options for them?
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WWPD
Replies
Why would you replace C.I. ? It's still the weapon of choice for commercial installations. Granted it's not DIY friendly for home owners.
Commonest problem I have seen in C.I. is roots at a seperated joint-- Outside the slab.
I dunno about others, but ours was so corroded (built up) that not much would pass through its lengths, and ours also cracked. I know of others that have had theirs crack as well. The ones I have seen removed were pretty bad shape to say the least.
Anyhow, what would the unfortunate homeowner do if it was determined they had to replace the pipe under their slab?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWPD
Jackhammer or Tunneling? Pick your poison. Sewer cameras are relitively cheap now to isolate a problem for a spot fix if needed compared to a whole R&R.
Couple of months ago I paid $275 for a Saturday call out for a camara with pipe locator and 4 hrs. labor.
Rental property about 30 yrs. old-- all the C.I. looked decent. But I had been running a snake and sewer jetter for about 3 hrs. before the camara got there. I even got a VHS tape to watch at home.
We ended up replacing most of our cast iron, at least the part where the slab was ripped up. It was almost worn through in some places, and the 2" line was completely full of lint. The inside surface was so rough, that even if cleaned out, the lint would stick to it again. I wanted to keep the CI stack, because it was so much quieter. It's only the laundry room, so the noise from the stack isn't too annoying. Jackhammer is probably best in an old house, our slab was only 2" thick, and it wasn't a good pour either.
I had a funky/musty smell in my house that came and went. While renovating the bathroom I got in the crawlspace and found that the CI had split on what looked like a seam for about 6'. Never noticed it because it started where the pipe went into the ground and out under the foundation. It was on the top so nothing was gushing out, just (vapor.) No jack hammer needed- just a sawed off shovel and a sawsall. Still a tough job.
I dunno about others, but ours was so corroded (built up) that not much would pass through its lengths, and ours also cracked. Much to my dismay I had to replace the cast iron pipe in my sons house circa 1945. Maybe the quality of the iron was poor but the end result was a total replacement from foundation on up. It started as a small amount of seepage through a cracked elbow. The plan was to cut the section and replace with PVC. I couldn't cut the pipe with anything without having big chunks fall out next to the cut. We ended up running a new stack up through a closet chase and replacing all the drains. Lucky for us it was during a major remodel so the place was pretty much gutted. I have no idea what one could do if it were beneath the slab. My guess is if it wasn't disturbed or full of roots it would stay together and function as intended.
Depends on what problems they are experiencing.
I have seen rotted CI pipe beneath slabs, and there is no real economical way to fix that problem. Same problem outside the foundation line is some dirt work and PVC replacement.
Dave
Not exactly the answer you may be looking for, but this was last month's adventure.
Adding a bathroom in a basement in a house built in 1906. Knocked out part of the slab to access the sewer pipe. Plumber cuts into 6" vitreous pipe and finds 3" of standing water and sewage.
Opened the cleanout and it was clear. So we busted out another 4 feet of floor to find that the original pipe had a section installed uphill. (hacks operated 100 years ago too!!!!)
"as long as we are only a few feet from the cleanout, let's bust out the floor to it, and around it, and replace the whole mess."
So my guess is that your answer starts with a jackhammer.
Bowz