I need help!

Well one of our bathtubs has been clogged for over a year. No plumber has been able to unclog it. I suspected a rusted shut ptrap. Anyways the bathtub needed to be redone, so i went and ripped out the tub and walls. House is on a slab, house is like 30 years old. So upon removal of the corroded and rusted trap, the smaller threaded galvanized pipe which connects the trap to the main drain, decides to snap off... Well the trap was clogged shut, so i found the clog. Now i needed to get the snapped peice out to put a new pipe and trap. Upon trying to remove the broken piece, the fitting that t's off the pipe snaps off. So now i am stuck, and i do not know what to do. Behind the wall is the front door, and the walkway. Im thinking i will have to break all the concrete out and around the pipe all the way down, some how remove it and replace it. Or is there some cool new invention that can fix this? The rest of the pipe looks clear, its not perfectly clean and smooth inside, but its not clogged. I have the piece that broke off. A friend mentioned welding the piece back on, but i don't think that is going to work. Here are some pictures and any advice would be appreciated.

This is a smaller drain, im guessing it taps into the main line.






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Here are some more pictures. I started to to chizzle away the concrete around it, and i can dig the dirt out too. I was thinking, if i were to break off enough concrete around it, could i cut the pipe and install some sort of t-off for the trap that will attach with rubber couplers? Instead of replacing a whole pipe.

The concrete above the hole is not to thick. Maybe around 4-5 inches. The bottom is all dirt.

Or im thinking cut the bottom cast iron pipe, clean it up real good. Add a no hub fernco connector 1 side of bottom cast pipe, the other side on a pvc T for the trap and drain. Then remove the whole top portion of the weak cast iron and glue a pvc pipe into the top end of the T and use a fernco connector to connect to the galvanized pipe. Hmm any ideas? This way i would only have to worry about getting one side of the cast to clean up smooth to seal to a coupler.

This is the idea. Lol sorry about my paint skills.

If you have the room, that will work for the repair.

Made some progress today with the hammer and chizzle. The pipe is very uneven and is not smooth, it has rust all around it, i do not want to try and clean it to much cause i dont want to crack it accidentally. Will the coupler still seal if i tighten it really hard? Or is there some sort of glue that can be put on so help with the seal...

The best tool for cutting the pipe and cleaning up the outside of it is a angle grinder with a diamond blade. If you can't get your hands on that, the next choice would be a reciprocating saw (saws all) with a diamond blade. That will cut the pipe, but it can't be used to clean the outer diameter. A scraper and a file would probably do OK, if you worked at it.

Ya I have the grinder and was going to use it, just can't get around to the back unless I go outside and take out the walkway floor. I will try my best and maybe try some low grit sand paper

You can cut as far around it as you can, first at the spot that you want to cut it off at, then about 3 inches higher. Then cut vertical sections out of the pipe to connect the two horizontal cuts, making sure that the pieces don't fall inside the pipe. This will allow you to get to the back side of the pipe from the inside.

Even then with cast iron you can do a majority of the cut then get a hammer and chisel and it should crack evenly all the way around. That's how they used to cut it back in the day with a hammer and chisel

But considering its old and has been in service for a long time I'm not totally sure if it would work like its supposed to, but if you were in a pinch I'd do it.

In order to cut it with a hammer and chisel you would have to get around the entire pipe. Seeing the condition of the pipe I wouldn't try it.

John

johnjh2o said:

In order to cut it with a hammer and chisel you would have to get around the entire pipe. Seeing the condition of the pipe I wouldn't try it.

John

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Fair enough, just a thought. Never done it but I've heard of it. Now I know!

Steve the way it was done was to place the pipe over a 2x4 with the location of the cut just beyond the 2x4. Then you rolled the pipe with your knee as you struck it with the chisel. It would that at least three 360 degree rotations before the cut was made. And a lot of skinned knuckles. My right hand is full of scares to prove it. (I'm left handed)

John

Oh ok now I understand. I'm lucky I never had to experience doing doesnt sound like much fun. Just like pouring lead joints and packing oakum. Just learn about it in school haha

johnjh2o said:

Steve the way it was done was to place the pipe over a 2x4 with the location of the cut just beyond the 2x4. Then you rolled the pipe with your knee as you struck it with the chisel. It would that at least three 360 degree rotations before the cut was made. And a lot of skinned knuckles. My right hand is full of scares to prove it. (I'm left handed)

John

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I showed a tech how to reinstall a new lead in waste arm today, pour guy kept applying too much heat and did not sand the waste arm before trying to install. (customer short on money did not want to open walls to run pvc)

Oh yea, brings back some old memories. My last year in trade school was spent on what we called the lead bench learning how to wipe lead joints. Burnt many finger tips before I mastered that one.

John

Yeah no kidding. I can respect you old boys for pouring lead joints and how things were done. It sounds like it was an art not just a trade. I think it'd be cool to be learn how to do that kinda stuff, its quite rare now a days. I don't know about you guys but up here I know if we have to re pack a joint we'll usually use PC-4. But hey if you got the tools to do a lead joint may as well.

That pipe looks so corroded I would cut the pipe off and burn out the fitting. This will allow you to use a tie seal rubber doughnut and replace all the pipe above the hub at the bottom. The reason I say this is you only want to have to do this once. If you use mission bands it may not seal or the crap pipe left could even develop another leak down the road. Just my opinion though.

stevemachine said:

Yeah no kidding. I can respect you old boys for pouring lead joints and how things were done. It sounds like it was an art not just a trade. I think it'd be cool to be learn how to do that kinda stuff, its quite rare now a days. I don't know about you guys but up here I know if we have to re pack a joint we'll usually use PC-4. But hey if you got the tools to do a lead joint may as well.

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Steve wiping is not the same as pouring a joint. A wiped joint is joining two pieces of lead pipe or joining lead pipe to a brass fitting. Have you ever seen a lead bend that was used for a toilet? If you have the joint between the lead and the brass ferrule is a wiped joint.

John

Ah ok I gotcha now, I have saw that before in service in some older homes. Learnt something new!