We have gutted our 1930s small master bathroom (shower only). The plumber who we have known for a long time was surprised to see that the toilet waste pipes were steel and not cast iron so said that he would not replace the pipe from the flange to the stack (pic attached). Because of the difficulty of doing this he also does not want to mess with the 2" galvanized waste pipe that comes from thge shower and lavatory basin in case he cracks something. Therfore his plan for the waste pipe is to replace the traps and the t-junction pipe from the basin leaving the 8' length of 2" as is. There has never been a leak of any kind in this bathroom (miracle), lead pan was intact and the floor and wall joists are dry as a bone but we are hesitant not to change out all the pipes we can now it is all open as if there were a leak in the future we would have to break up expensive tile as getting to these pipes from the plastered ceiling below would be difficult. The person building the mud shower does not want to get involved directly but has said that he would do all the pipes. Is there really a risk of the toilet pipes (sorry don't know the correct term for these 4" ones cracking if the plumber removes the 2" waste line back to the join or near enough to it? A quick reply would be much appreciated as this work is slated to be done in the next day or so. By the way the shower drain line which has been snaked out once in our 40 years in the house did not work that well but it may be mostly the trap - we will see. Many thanks.
Plumber Leery about changing waste pipes in shower room
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Master Plumber Mark
Sensitivity trainer and plumber of mens souls
that is mean
that is pretty mean....
it appears as though it will have to be taken out way back in the wall somewhere... which could turn into an large nasty demo project..
you probably have a durham steel stack also buried in the wall and it could turn into a large can of worms.....
it probably would be better to change it all, or at least the 2 inch line to the shower...
I would get some other estimates on doing this cause it
could actually be the hardest part of this whole re-model...
in theory, you could end up tearing out the whole steel stack all the way down to the basement...
that is pretty mean....
it appears as though it will have to be taken out way back in the wall somewhere... which could turn into an large nasty demo project..
you probably have a durham steel stack also buried in the wall and it could turn into a large can of worms.....
it probably would be better to change it all, or at least the 2 inch line to the shower...
I would get some other estimates on doing this cause it
could actually be the hardest part of this whole re-model...
in theory, you could end up tearing out the whole steel stack all the way down to the basement...
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Thanks very much for the quick reply. The 4" joins the main stack just behind that wall which borders the corridor bathroom so only a short distance. We are hiring him on an hourly basis so he won't be stuck with any extra cost. I just wondered whether he was being overly nervous - he has 35 years experience and has been a great plumber to date doing the things my DIY husband could not do. I think our instinct is to risk that the stack gets damaged. What I can't really evaluate is what the condition of the 2" pipes are likely to be after over 79 years in terms of flow.
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Hi Mark and Mrs T,
I'll step in to see if this might help Mark and the other plumbers to understand the situation a bit better.
My concern is that the 2" galvanized pipe is sludged up on the inside, especially at the san tee for the lavy, in the trap for the shower, and possibly along the length of pipe running toward the connection to the toilet. I don't have quite the number years of experience that the plumber has, but almost all we do is remodel kitchens and baths in houses 50+ years old, and we so frequently see the galvanized stuff in such bad condition that I thought it would be a no-brainer that it would get torn out and replaced.
I understand the plumber's concern about fighting with the 4" stuff going back to the stack, but I thought for sure he would want to run new 2" all the way from there back to the shower and the lavy.
This bathroom going back in is going to get a mud floor, mud shower floor and curb, and mud on the walls. Other areas will get three coat plaster. It seems the time to do all of this is now and not risk having to tear out any plaster from below because pipe goes bad in the next however many years.
BTW, for professional interest to the plumbers, this was only the third lead pan liner I have torn out that was intact. All the others we have torn out over the years have been compromised at the connection to the clamping drain.
Do the plumbers here at the forum think there is much chance that nearly 80 year old 2" galvanized pipe is still running clean and clear on the inside?
.
I'll step in to see if this might help Mark and the other plumbers to understand the situation a bit better.
My concern is that the 2" galvanized pipe is sludged up on the inside, especially at the san tee for the lavy, in the trap for the shower, and possibly along the length of pipe running toward the connection to the toilet. I don't have quite the number years of experience that the plumber has, but almost all we do is remodel kitchens and baths in houses 50+ years old, and we so frequently see the galvanized stuff in such bad condition that I thought it would be a no-brainer that it would get torn out and replaced.
I understand the plumber's concern about fighting with the 4" stuff going back to the stack, but I thought for sure he would want to run new 2" all the way from there back to the shower and the lavy.
This bathroom going back in is going to get a mud floor, mud shower floor and curb, and mud on the walls. Other areas will get three coat plaster. It seems the time to do all of this is now and not risk having to tear out any plaster from below because pipe goes bad in the next however many years.
BTW, for professional interest to the plumbers, this was only the third lead pan liner I have torn out that was intact. All the others we have torn out over the years have been compromised at the connection to the clamping drain.
Do the plumbers here at the forum think there is much chance that nearly 80 year old 2" galvanized pipe is still running clean and clear on the inside?
.
hj
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Until you remove the trap and actually see the inside of the pipe there is no way to determine its condition. At this point, and until then, my feeling is to leave it alone.
Until you remove the trap and actually see the inside of the pipe there is no way to determine its condition. At this point, and until then, my feeling is to leave it alone.
End of story. The plumber decided with a bit of encouragement from us to cut back to the stack so we will have all new pipes and a toilet flange as well. As you will see from the pics the pipes were well crudded. What may have influenced him was that when he looked under the wall (where the pipes are that you saw in my first pic) which joins the corridor bathroom he
saw that there was a pool of water under the tub so a chunk of the kitchen ceiling under that is now down and you can see the source of the leak from pic 3. Ironically the leak is at a place where the kitchen contractor's plumber did a repair when the kitchen contractor 5 years ago, with the ceiling down, saw rusty pipes. That plumber joined copper to the galvanized with no dielectric it seems but our plumber says it may have been on the way to leaking anyway. Our plumber explained his system (I may have this a bit garbled): he uses a male fitting and another piece of steel so that the join is steel to steel. I understand the principle but don't quite understand. Does that make sense?
Anyway thanks to you all we agreed on how much of the piping to take out in our 9 by 4 "master" bath - ALL. Lets hope the stack survives it.
saw that there was a pool of water under the tub so a chunk of the kitchen ceiling under that is now down and you can see the source of the leak from pic 3. Ironically the leak is at a place where the kitchen contractor's plumber did a repair when the kitchen contractor 5 years ago, with the ceiling down, saw rusty pipes. That plumber joined copper to the galvanized with no dielectric it seems but our plumber says it may have been on the way to leaking anyway. Our plumber explained his system (I may have this a bit garbled): he uses a male fitting and another piece of steel so that the join is steel to steel. I understand the principle but don't quite understand. Does that make sense?
Anyway thanks to you all we agreed on how much of the piping to take out in our 9 by 4 "master" bath - ALL. Lets hope the stack survives it.
