ahomeowner
New Member
Hi, new member here.
How do I remove a 1/2" galvanized pipe from an enclosed wall without doing anything to the wall?
The house, built in 1956, has copper supply lines everywhere, except for the last few inches to the toilets. Earlier this year, I removed some short sections of galvanized pipe from the washer and basement toilet supply lines because they were easily accessible. Both had threaded galvanized nipples coming out of 90's pictured below. I replaced the nipples and 90's with copper (soldered by me) and compression fittings. All good still today.
But I have two remaining toilets on the main floor that have copper going up from the basement and galvanized coming out of the wall. Consequently, the bowls get rust rings on them every few weeks. I'm tired of cleaning that, so I'd like to remove the galvanized and put in copper. But the joints are in walls with Sheetrock on both sides, and to make it even more fun, one wall is tiled.
So, I have no access to the joints without cutting up the walls, which I really don't want to do.
How can I remove the 4 to 6 inch long galvanized pipes without tearing up the wall?
The basement toilet and washer supply lines had 90 degree fittings like this, so I suspect the same exist for these two toilets:
The 90's are anchored to something inside the walls; when I pull on the valves, the pipe doesn't move.
This is the tiled wall:
My thinking is to sweat a threaded copper fitting on to a ~6" copper nipple and thread that into the 90 inside the wall, then use compression fittings for the valve.
How do I remove a 1/2" galvanized pipe from an enclosed wall without doing anything to the wall?
The house, built in 1956, has copper supply lines everywhere, except for the last few inches to the toilets. Earlier this year, I removed some short sections of galvanized pipe from the washer and basement toilet supply lines because they were easily accessible. Both had threaded galvanized nipples coming out of 90's pictured below. I replaced the nipples and 90's with copper (soldered by me) and compression fittings. All good still today.
But I have two remaining toilets on the main floor that have copper going up from the basement and galvanized coming out of the wall. Consequently, the bowls get rust rings on them every few weeks. I'm tired of cleaning that, so I'd like to remove the galvanized and put in copper. But the joints are in walls with Sheetrock on both sides, and to make it even more fun, one wall is tiled.
So, I have no access to the joints without cutting up the walls, which I really don't want to do.
How can I remove the 4 to 6 inch long galvanized pipes without tearing up the wall?
The basement toilet and washer supply lines had 90 degree fittings like this, so I suspect the same exist for these two toilets:
The 90's are anchored to something inside the walls; when I pull on the valves, the pipe doesn't move.
This is the tiled wall:
My thinking is to sweat a threaded copper fitting on to a ~6" copper nipple and thread that into the 90 inside the wall, then use compression fittings for the valve.
