Cast Iron Am I crazy?

[GeronimoDF]

I am finishing my 1000sf basement. Right in the middle of my renovation, my neighbors cast iron pipe drain pipe under his slab finally rotted away. We redid his whole house. Now I am thinking weather I should break up my slab and replace my cast iron before I spend a lot of money finishing the basement. What would you guys suggest? My house was built in 1962. If I am
Gonna do it, tomorrow is the day!

Dan

 

[Terry]

I have seen metal pipes in a home perforate in fifty years. Normally only on the kitchen line.
The other drains take more time to rust through.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Gary Swart]

There are concrete cutting companies that can do the nasty work on the floor quickly and cleanly. It may by possible to leave the old cast iron pipe and put in a new PVC or ABS pipe in a different trench. I really believe this is way more work than a DIY should consider. You really need a plumbing contractor on site to evaluate the job and give you an estimate for the cost.

 

[hj]

The only way to even make a good guess as to the pipe's condition is to send a video camera through it, and even that may not give any idea as to its actual condition.

 

[plumdum]

We had to recently build a new hospital, because the cast iron that was put in place in the 1970s was going bad. Cut concrete in the kitchen area and the bottom of the pipe was gone. Constant clogs down the surgery hallway.

 

[Dlarrivee]

It is your peace of mind, do what you feel is best.

I'm not sure how grunt work isn't DIY friendly... why pay someone else to haul broken concrete and pipe around?

 

[Gary Swart]

In response to dlarrivee comment regarding paying for someone else to haul broken concrete, let me point out that DIY demoing concrete is an extremely dirty job. Concrete dust will cover everything even with plastic sheet around the work area. And if the work area is across the entire room, that's a heck of lot of concrete. A profession cutting company cuts just the size trench needed, removed the debris, and does this without raising the God awful dust. Yes, I'm 76 years old and I can break a hole in concrete, but I sure wouldn't attempt to cut a trench 20 or 30 feet long and lug all of the broken concrete out of my basement and then off to the landfill.

 

[Dlarrivee]

I didn't suggest cutting it yourself. I was talking about the manual labor part.

Hire a wet saw guy, and haul out the debris yourself, it's a great way to stay in shape.

I think you're age is getting the best of you Gary.

 

[Winslow]

If you already did your neighbors house then it sounds like you can handle it. If it is within your budget then go ahead and do it. Otherwise every time you try to relax in your new basement it will nag on you when that pipe will give away. It will be much easier and cheaper to do it now than after it's finished.