Help with broken pipe under bathroom sink

First of all my plumbing knowledge from a 1-10 is a zero!!! Any help in getting this fixed would be wonderful so I don't have to call someone. My friend broke it trying to get a ring he dropped down it. It's an old apartment in a bathroom that's rarely used so I don't need anything fancy....just enough to get the job done. I'll post a few pics so you can see what happened. Thank you in advance.

cast iron pipe broke off at the floor? if you have 1 1/2" of "good" pipe above the floor
your in business. cut pipe off even/square using a cixpl no hub band replace pipe

Two more photos

Oh, Boy.

That doesn't look anything like fun.

From your pictures, that looks to be a badly corroded copper drain pipe. The first attempt would be to carefully trim it back to square with a Dremel, and use a Fernco coupling on that.

Should I call a plumber to do this? If so can I get a general idea on what a plumber might charge to fix this? I'm not handy. Or this this something someone with the right parts/equipment can fix? If so what EXACTLY do I need. If anyone can explain this in the most layman terms, I would appreciate it.

Can you confirm that it is in fact copper pipe?

The best and most permanent fix, and the one I would really want to perform if I were tasked with such a repair, is to open the wall and replace the drain arm back to the stack. Anything else is a temporary fix. Once a metallic drain pipe has corroded to that point, it is only a matter of time before it fails elsewhere.

It is copper. I doubt I would have the money to pay someone to tear open a wall and fix it the right way like you describe. Is there something I can do for a "cheap" fix? I realize it's not the right way to go but this bathroom doesn't get much use so any ideas to just get by for now would be great.

you see the ring left on the wall by the escheon [sp] you can safely cut inside that ring. to do your work. and use the eschtion to cover hole. cut the wall, then let us see what you have in there.

i agree with phishfood, gotta be replaced

JJ311 said:

It is copper. I doubt I would have the money to pay someone to tear open a wall and fix it the right way like you describe. Is there something I can do for a "cheap" fix? I realize it's not the right way to go but this bathroom doesn't get much use so any ideas to just get by for now would be great.

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The only other option I can give you I already mentioned in post #4.

Thank you both.

Well I'm not a professional but I've done a fair bit of plumbing. Most of that on low rent units that often require quick fixes. I also defer to the pros here, it needs to be done right.

Now that said, if you don't care that somewhere in that line it's probably corroded and about ready to start leaking into the wall cavity, then you could give yourself a bit of time by cutting it off square, running a new trap and drain line into what is left (obviously it needs to be slightly smaller) and epoxying the joint. It will work but it won't be serviceable after that.

The good news is that your friend did it so he should get the bill?

First what you doo is get a flat tip screw driver and a hammer. chip out just a little bit more tile around the hole to get a better look at what's inside the wall. chip off like 1/8" or less at a time. The copper is often screwed into a cast iron tapped santee. I have a thred here somewhere showinh how to fix. but you might need a 1-1/2"pipe tape. A lot of repair plumbers don't have one but if you know what to ask when you call you can find one that does.

If the hole drain line is DWV Copper the you will probably end up opening the wall to fix. what's on the other side of the wall?

I'll go look for my thread on this

JJ311 said:

Should I call a plumber to do this?
.

Click to expand...

Found the thread but it wasn't mine.
Here's a link to it.

Mr_David said:

Replacing a copper trap arm .

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In your 3rd picture..
Chip out some tile and you might be able to use a rubber coupling to grab onto the pipe inside the wall.
I don't use those but many others who have been there before me have.