tie into clay

[srosen.remodel]

Hello. I hired a plumber for a new second-story bathroom in single-family home in Chicago. There is no existing stack in this part of the house. Plumber said he would locate 6" clay under slab, tie in 4" cast iron with rubber boots, tie PVC into cast iron above the slab, and run 3" PVC to second floor. He was the only Plumber (got 4 bids) that said he would not use camera to locate clay under slab because he was "100% sure" where it was. He was wrong. He dug more than expected and finally found 4" clay. He then cracked the top of the 4" clay pipe and tied cast iron in with a 90 degree elbow from the top and patched with hydraulic cement. Does this seem right to you? I would think, at the very least, he needed a 4" "Y" to direct the waste in some other direction other than down.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. He already covered up the work with dirt before I got a chance to look at it and I had to dig it up to reveal this situation.

Desperate,

Steve

 

[Lakee911]

Doesn't seem right to me. He would need to use a Y there.

Jason

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Patrick88]

I agree with Lakee911. You need to have him fix it. I have seen what happens with that type of set up. The cast shifts a bit and sinks into the clay. When you get a back up and the rooter guys try and clear it they will be hitting the cast iron and could have major problems.

 

[hj]

connection

This was not a "plumber". It was a hack/handyman. You cannot make a connection to a clay pipe by knocking a hole in it, sticking a fitting into the hole, and then "sealing" it with hydraulic cement. I am not sure if a camera/detection device was necessary, because there are cheaper ways to locate the sewer. But breaking concrete until you find it is not the cheapest way. However, since he would have had to get to the sewer anyway, that concrete would still have had to be removed so there was no loss there. I am not sure about the ones who said they would connect to a 6" clay line either, however, because they should have known that the 6" was never extended into the house, and was seldom even ran to the building, even when the city provided a 6" connection at the property line.