Can I cap these and add a cleanout?

[jessb_55]

My bathroom sink has been draining a bit slow and I snaked it by removing the P Trap and but unfortunately got to a point where I couldn't get the auger to go any further and looking at the piping in the basement I thought maybe I was getting to a bend that I just couldn't make a turn. So I thought I'd look for a cleanout in the basement and it seemed as though the pipe went straight down from the bathroom inside the laundry room wall but then branched out from the wall into my laundry room then went into the floor and about a foot off the floor there with a double T with a cleanout on both sides....GREAT right, well after spending a decent amount of time trying to get the stuck galvanized cleanout off I went to snake it and here the pipe below that T is basically full of metal flakes, etc. So I obviously thought okay this seems odd as nothing was obviously going through that pipe plus nothing was wet at all.

So I went looking through some old renovation photos from before that wall was added and found that the pipe from the bathroom actually goes straight down through the wall into the basement floor and for some reason there is this branch off it that comes into the laundry room that appears to no longer be used. I had forgotten I had cut a little door with the thought of leaving some access to the stack cleanout in the wall so I was able to lay on the basement floor and take an upward photo inside the wall to see the pipes come together.

So my questions are:

1) What do we think this old pipe was used for?
2) I was wondering if I could cut atleast some of it out and make a cleanout. My thought was to cut on the vertical pipe and add a cap at the double T and then replace the elbow with a straight fitting and/or some type of cleanout to add an easily accessible cleanout assuming a snake would be able make the 90 degree turn down after about 1.5 feet.

Here are some pics that hopefully help explain what I'm dealing with. Obviously I don't want to open a can of worms here but if it wouldn't be all that hard or expensive to do I would think it would sure be worth it plus it would even be nice to even gain some of that physical space in the laundry room back as well. The one pic is from the basement bathroom when we had to cut some of the wall out because of the city sewer backed up into our basement.

 

[Reach4]

Uploading pictures is not currently working, and not just for you.

I had a copper drain pipe from the kitchen that went to a santee for basement laundry, and then continued straight down into the basement floor. I cut out maybe a 7 inch piece of vertical pipe with a saw. I pushed a Brasscraft drain bladder, on the end of a garden hose, down past the santee to about where the hidden bend was. I applied water pressure, and that cleared the backup sufficiently. I suspect the bend was not long sweep.

I put the cut-out section of pipe back with two couplings. I should have used shielded, but the unshielded worked. Yes, I could have put in a cleanout, but just having a removable section I think worked better for introducing the drain bladder on a fairly-stiff garden hose.

Maybe 6 to 10 years later, I pulled that section, and cleared the path again.

 

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[jessb_55]

thanks for the information and what a bummer on the pics not working as i feel like it's really hard to explain my situation without pics....

 

[Jeff H Young]

i cant quite follow your story but cutting a pipe and adding a cleanout is something most of us have done capping off unused pipes is done as well

 

[Jeff H Young]

i cant quite follow your story but cutting a pipe and adding a cleanout is something most of us have done capping off unused pipes is done as well

 

[jessb_55]

i cant quite follow your story but cutting a pipe and adding a cleanout is something most of us have done capping off unused pipes is done as well

Thanks, and I realize that but it's not something I've ever done and feel a bit anxious about it being I don't know what the line into the floor that is full of garbage is/was for? and Also, didn't want to to screw up venting or if this would even be a feasible spot for a cleanout.

I really wish you could see the pics....

 

[jessb_55]

trying pics again...

bummer no go and don't see where i can delete messages

 

[Reach4]

You can edit but not delete.

You can upload to someplace else, and insert a link.

You can put pictured onto a Google Drive, and make a public link to the file.

 

[jessb_55]

well I was actually able to get the pipe going into the floor cleaned out and I realize now that that line is a venting line and isn't involved with venting the upstairs bathroom at all so guess I'm just going to leave it as is.