Plumbing issue achieved. What gremlin cut my pipe?

I'll say this much. I'm highly grateful that it was a drain leak and not a supply leak. Working up a bypass for an under-slab break is not a pain I want to revisit.

 

What's that smell?

Nice work, but yeah..........this is probably my last "house" at 66 now until 75 or whatever (condo or some such after that) - and yeah this house is plastic all the way to the septic tank..........

 

You should leave the section of pipe you cut out inside the wall, so that the next guy will understand "why". I don't know if it's possible, but maybe the original fitting was a bad casting? Maybe an air pocket in that spot (if such a thing can happen)??

 

I believe you are correct. Probably quite thin there to start.

 

Yeah... I did a search after I posted earlier. It appears there are a number of things that can result in casting defects....

https://www.intouch-quality.com/blog/21-casting-defects-and-how-to-prevent-them-in-your-products

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/...s-of-casting-defects-and-how-to-prevent-them/

 

@Rock Lobster ... How did you end up cutting the pipe? Did you buy (or rent) the expensive tool? Or did you find another way? It appears that your cuts are pretty clean, so I'm thinking you probably used the special tool?

 

Nope. Just my big ugly discount saw, a new carbide blade, and a tall pour to steady the hand.

 

If it was my place, I would take a close look at the copper. Whomever sweated them didn’t know what they were doing. And is the leak(trail of green/blue corrosion) from a joint or in the middle of the pipe?

I would put a nice HVAC wall vent right over your existing hole so that I could keep an eye on it and your repair.

 

IMHO, it looks like a power drain router cable cut that channel. It appears somebody really went to town and spent some quality time to get that amount of material removed!

 

Hahahaha

holy poop!

 

Wow... you did a good job! Must have been the "tall pour"...

 

those carbide blades are no joke. diablo also makes a cast iron carbide blade that cuts a little longer than that, but not much better.

 

The drama continues. The wife reports that a part of the living room is continuing to be squishy.

"Damnit woman! Stop noticing things!" I holler.

Back to troubleshooting phase. Another leak appears.







The holy fuck? Someone in this house needs a reminder to not put chainsaws down the disposal.





This is stupid anyway. Who in the hell has a copper drain pipe?


"Save that. Imma goin to make a wind chime." - wife.

Screw that inch and a quarter copper. I'm shoving the longest 1.5 down the wall that I can fit, and I don't care if it begs me to back out. The more it resists, the harder I hit it with the mallet.



Oh yeah, take that good slathering of dope, it'll make the insertion easier.




I really didn't like where this union ended up, but this literally was the longest I could possibly make that pipe without taking out the cabinets (note the scrape marks on the far wall), and the 2" isn't clearing another compromised stud.


Well shit. I guess drywall repair starts tomorrow instead.

 

I think the house was a meth lab before you, but they were subbing in molten plutonium.

 

Just a thought...too much PVC glue can potentially soften PVC over time. The trick is to try and keep it in the joints. Also snug and a little more when tightening plumbing is ideal. Too tight and leaks can develop.

I wouldn't. Funny enough at my last house the builders left an empty beer can and chip bag behind the drywall. Found that when the tub leaked.

 

My plan is that on the living room side, the drywall of course is going to be replaced. On the kitchen side... I pulled all the wallboard that's strictly on the bottom shelf of the cabinets. Rather than replace that, I bought a sheet of 1/4" decorative plywood, and I'm going to friction-fit panels in each cabinet.

That makes it easy to pull and get a flashlight on things if I need to, or, if I really need to hide small items from The Man, I have plenty of space to do so.

 

that almost looks like it froze and burst. but doesn't make sense as a drain line-- drains are never full enough for the water to freeze and expand enough


my first thought at seeing the uprights coming out of the ground that have multiple couplings in them is the same thing. looks like a patch job. either the sink was moved around, or there was a freeze and break. but both pipes being cut roughly in the same spots would indicate a more likely chance that it was a previous remodel.

copper drain pipes can be commonplace, depending on the local codes. the richer side of the city with the retired bankers and previous hedge fund managers, those cities require cast or copper for all drain lines, and will fail pvc anywhere in the system...

 

After 20 years of very obvious blemishes, I finally stumbled across the perfect ingredient for seamlessly blending wall texture.


The secret is four beers. No more, no less.

 

Hate to say "for next time" but HD will rent a cast iron chain cutter tool somethingorother (scientific name, sure). Used it when I cut my main stack at the basement and replaced everything above. IIRC it just keeps tightening until it snaps the cast iron. Just make sure you have a second set of hands or some spare taco parts to catch what will be potentially a shit ton of weight (pun not intended). I feel your pain with this, glad you got it sorted though

 

I feel the pain with it, too. Our last house had original cast iron/copper plumbing and it was getting in rough shape (built in 1951) thank God we were able to sell it last year and move into a house built in 2005. Our old house still had some original cloth wire with 2 prong receptacles and screw in fuses. I don't miss it one bit.