Shelbycobra427
New Member
First off, I just wanted to say that this site has been a great wealth of information to me. It's been invaluable on the several plumbing projects I've done myself and I really appreciate the time of the professionals who provide their insight and share their experience.
Background:
The main waste lines in the crawlspace of my (early 1970s) house are cast iron. A couple of months ago, I realized there's a ~15' section of 3" cast that's showing signs of corrosion/leaking on the top of the pipe. I had my usual plumber come out a couple of months ago and he ballparked me at ~$1500-$1800 to replace all of the cast in my crawlspace. It was a little steeper than I was hoping, but not having worked with CI before and knowing how heavy it can be, I know I didn't want to take the job on (no time and a little nervous as I haven't worked with CI before) and I felt it was pretty fair. When he sent the formal quote, however, the final number was ~$3500 with the biggest bulk of it (~$2600) to actually pipe in the PVC. I was really scratching my head on that, since the cost to remove the old CI and the surcharge to work in the crawlspace (quote was itemized) were much more reasonable. The quote included approximately 30 ft of 4", 50 ft of 3" and 30 ft of 2" schedule 40 PVC, so this ends up being ~$24/linear foot. When I emailed him back just to make sure the quote was accurate, he assured me it was, but did offer to knock ~$500 off since I've been a good repeat customer. To me the pricing sounds like they are busy and/or didn't want the work.
I really didn't want to spend that kind of money without a 2nd quote and unfortunately didn't have him
separately quote just the 3" line that really needs replacing, so I mulled over what to do during the holidays. I got a recommendation on a different plumber from my neighbor who had just had a very positive experience. He came out today and quoted me ~$1800 to replace everything or ~$350 just to replace the section that needs it (including pulling the toilet in the 1st floor 1/2 bath to replace all the way to the closet flange. His quote was based on using schedule 30 PVC and non-banded ferncos, but he was willing to use schedule 40 and/or banded no-hub connectors if I wanted -- he would just add in the cost for the more expensive materials).
He talked about how he leaves everything up to code (referring to replacing my softener discharge connection with a properly air-gapped one), yet was planning on using the regular Fernco couplers with no band to connect existing plumbing (mostly existing copper lines from sinks & bathrooms on 2nd story) to the new PVC as well as the PVC to the existing cast-iron line before it exits the foundation. Everything I've read on here suggests that the non-banded fernco couplings are really only allowed in buried connections. Is that correct, or is it something that varies by state (I'm in Michigan in case it matters).
Given the choice, would you spend the extra ~$300 or so to go from schedule 30 to schedule 40? The pipes are in the crawl which should make the noise difference between CI & PVC a little less noticeable, but is there value in going to the thicker sch 40 pipe?
He did say the rest of the CI appears to be in decent shape, but then again, there's no way to be sure except to cut into it. I can afford to replace all of the cast iron, but I guess I'm wondering what you pros would do if it was your house.
Now that the details are out of the way, I'll get to the questions.
1. Do you think it's worth spending an extra ~$1600 to replace all of the cast? I'm not 100% sure that it's in great shape, but it looks OK and,as my wife pointed out, we could always replace the rest later if we need to.
2. Do you think there's a benefit to requesting schedule 40 be used instead of schedule 30? He wasn't 100% sure the price difference of all of the fittings since he mostly uses schedule 30, but he was thinking about $200-$300 extra to use schedule 40. Again, I don't have a problem paying for it, but if there's little to no benefit, I don't want to waste money.
3. What's your take on the Fernco couplings? Should I trust a guy that would normally use non-banded couplings (even though he said he'll use the banded ones if I prefer)?
Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks!
Background:
The main waste lines in the crawlspace of my (early 1970s) house are cast iron. A couple of months ago, I realized there's a ~15' section of 3" cast that's showing signs of corrosion/leaking on the top of the pipe. I had my usual plumber come out a couple of months ago and he ballparked me at ~$1500-$1800 to replace all of the cast in my crawlspace. It was a little steeper than I was hoping, but not having worked with CI before and knowing how heavy it can be, I know I didn't want to take the job on (no time and a little nervous as I haven't worked with CI before) and I felt it was pretty fair. When he sent the formal quote, however, the final number was ~$3500 with the biggest bulk of it (~$2600) to actually pipe in the PVC. I was really scratching my head on that, since the cost to remove the old CI and the surcharge to work in the crawlspace (quote was itemized) were much more reasonable. The quote included approximately 30 ft of 4", 50 ft of 3" and 30 ft of 2" schedule 40 PVC, so this ends up being ~$24/linear foot. When I emailed him back just to make sure the quote was accurate, he assured me it was, but did offer to knock ~$500 off since I've been a good repeat customer. To me the pricing sounds like they are busy and/or didn't want the work.
I really didn't want to spend that kind of money without a 2nd quote and unfortunately didn't have him
separately quote just the 3" line that really needs replacing, so I mulled over what to do during the holidays. I got a recommendation on a different plumber from my neighbor who had just had a very positive experience. He came out today and quoted me ~$1800 to replace everything or ~$350 just to replace the section that needs it (including pulling the toilet in the 1st floor 1/2 bath to replace all the way to the closet flange. His quote was based on using schedule 30 PVC and non-banded ferncos, but he was willing to use schedule 40 and/or banded no-hub connectors if I wanted -- he would just add in the cost for the more expensive materials).
He talked about how he leaves everything up to code (referring to replacing my softener discharge connection with a properly air-gapped one), yet was planning on using the regular Fernco couplers with no band to connect existing plumbing (mostly existing copper lines from sinks & bathrooms on 2nd story) to the new PVC as well as the PVC to the existing cast-iron line before it exits the foundation. Everything I've read on here suggests that the non-banded fernco couplings are really only allowed in buried connections. Is that correct, or is it something that varies by state (I'm in Michigan in case it matters).
Given the choice, would you spend the extra ~$300 or so to go from schedule 30 to schedule 40? The pipes are in the crawl which should make the noise difference between CI & PVC a little less noticeable, but is there value in going to the thicker sch 40 pipe?
He did say the rest of the CI appears to be in decent shape, but then again, there's no way to be sure except to cut into it. I can afford to replace all of the cast iron, but I guess I'm wondering what you pros would do if it was your house.
Now that the details are out of the way, I'll get to the questions.
1. Do you think it's worth spending an extra ~$1600 to replace all of the cast? I'm not 100% sure that it's in great shape, but it looks OK and,as my wife pointed out, we could always replace the rest later if we need to.
2. Do you think there's a benefit to requesting schedule 40 be used instead of schedule 30? He wasn't 100% sure the price difference of all of the fittings since he mostly uses schedule 30, but he was thinking about $200-$300 extra to use schedule 40. Again, I don't have a problem paying for it, but if there's little to no benefit, I don't want to waste money.
3. What's your take on the Fernco couplings? Should I trust a guy that would normally use non-banded couplings (even though he said he'll use the banded ones if I prefer)?
Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks!