Question for SewerRatz

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

So i have a question that I thought you could answer since your a chicago plumber and i assume are familiar with type of building i'm describing it's a early 1900s three story brick building with the first floor being a storefront and the top two floors apts it's on halsted in the bridgeport neighborhood and my question is about the original plumbing setup right now there's a 6" sewer line that runs the perimeter of the basement wall and goes straight into the sewer but the original line that ran under the floor went a slightly detoured route instead of going straight into the sewer it goes into a 4' deep pit in the floor and from another pipe so does the floor drain/storm water drain line and then they both went out a third pipe which was the city sewer which is now plugged and the pit is now used as a sump pit with a sump pump and the only water that goes into it now is just storm water from around the building and the bsmnt floor drains. I was in the basement of another building and it had the same setup as ours (theirs was still in use too

) which would lead me to believe that most of the bldgs on the block were done that way. Im guessing you or someone else on here has seen this kind of setup before and might have an idea why it was done this way.

thanks for any answers in advance.
Jonathan

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

The pit you are describing was a catch basin. The kitchen sinks, laundry, and floor drains as well as the storm water drained into the catch basin, there was a trap on the outlet pipe which headed back into the building sewer out front then into the city sewer system. Over the years people have repiped the sink line direct into the sewer and discontinued the catch basins, trouble was they had a hard time rerouting the storm water. So they turned it into a sump pit.

What part of Halsted? I grew up over by Archer and Troop, and went to grade school at St Barbra's on Troop.

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

what was the whole point of the catch basin setup? do you know? you didn't mention the toilets draining into the basin did they go straight into the sewer?

the place is 3327 s. halsted the building is also where my mom's store is.

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

Catch basins where there to catch grease and detergents from the laundry and the kitchen sinks. The water closets went out the other pipe, only time you would get raw sewerage in the catch basin is when the building sewer backed up. Which is when you called a drain cleaner to unclog the system then he would flush out the catch basin to get rid of the raw sewerage.

There where two reasons they wanted to catch the grease and detergents, first to keep the grease from accumulating in the sewer pipes and clogging the mains, secondly was back in the day laundry soap used to have large amounts of lye in them and they did not want the lye to get to sewer system since it kills of the bacteria needed at the treatment plants. So laundry soaps where made in a powder form, the powder is clay that has been treated with the lye and other agents used to clean your cloths. The clay would build up in the catch basins along with the grease. These needed to be cleaned yearly, there used to be guys that knocked on the doors informing the people they are in the area cleaning catch basins. People used to get upset if no one showed up on their door step asking if they wanted their catch basin cleaned. Nowadays if I tried to knock on doors telling them I am in the area to clean catch basins, the older people would great me with open arms but the younger crowd would call the police.

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

gusherb94 said:
what was the whole point of the catch basin setup? do you know? you didn't mention the toilets draining into the basin did they go straight into the sewer?

the place is 3327 s. halsted the building is also where my mom's store is.

If your mom's store is what I think it is, my daughter would spend all day there buying up stuff.

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

SewerRatz said:
Catch basins where there to catch grease and detergents from the laundry and the kitchen sinks. The water closets went out the other pipe, only time you would get raw sewerage in the catch basin is when the building sewer backed up. Which is when you called a drain cleaner to unclog the system then he would flush out the catch basin to get rid of the raw sewerage.

There where two reasons they wanted to catch the grease and detergents, first to keep the grease from accumulating in the sewer pipes and clogging the mains, secondly was back in the day laundry soap used to have large amounts of lye in them and they did not want the lye to get to sewer system since it kills of the bacteria needed at the treatment plants. So laundry soaps where made in a powder form, the powder is clay that has been treated with the lye and other agents used to clean your cloths. The clay would build up in the catch basins along with the grease. These needed to be cleaned yearly, there used to be guys that knocked on the doors informing the people they are in the area cleaning catch basins. People used to get upset if no one showed up on their door step asking if they wanted their catch basin cleaned. Nowadays if I tried to knock on doors telling them I am in the area to clean catch basins, the older people would great me with open arms but the younger crowd would call the police.[/QUOTE

Did they ever pipe the toilets into the catch basin? I'm pretty sure the toilets in the building went into the basin too as under each toilet stack is a patch in the floor and one of the toilet stacks which is now abandoned is still connected to the old line in the floor, i would say the line above the floor is only about 50 years old which i would guess is when they disconnected the old basin system.
i'm sure you would love some pics of what i'm talking about which i'll be able to get on thursday if you want.

Thanks for explaining to me about the old plumbing setup in our building, I'm determined to find out all the history to this building, it's amazing how mysterious a simple 3 story building can be

Jonathan

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

SewerRatz said:
If your mom's store is what I think it is, my daughter would spend all day there buying up stuff.

what do you think it is?

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

Nope the water closets never went into the catch basins, they drained out of the house thought the building drain. The catch basins received waste only from the sink lines, then the outlet of the catch basin either tied into the building drain under the building or out into the building sewer outside.

Here is a little terminology for you.

"Catch Basin or Interceptor": A device designed and installed to separate and retain hazardous or undesirable matter from normal waste and permit normal sewage or liquid waste to discharge into the drainage system. Interceptors may be designed to remove gas, oil, sand, grit and grease.

"Building Drain": That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building (house) sewer. The building drain's developed length terminates 5 feet outside the building foundation wall.

"Building Sewer": That part of the horizontal piping of a drainage system which extends from the end of the building drain, receives the discharge of the building drain and conveys it to a public sanitary sewer or private sewage disposal system. The building sewer commences 5 feet outside the building foundation wall.

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

gusherb94 said:
what do you think it is?

A store called Augustine's Spiritual Goods , my daughter really gets into that stuff.

Redwood · Mar 31, 2009

Like this one?

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

SewerRatz said:
A store called Augustine's Spiritual Goods , my daughter really gets into that stuff.

yeap that's it, have you been there?

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

Redwood said:
Like this one?

yeah. i'm gonna post pictures on thursday.

SewerRatz · Mar 31, 2009

gusherb94 said:
yeap that's it, have you been there?

Never been in the shop, walked and driven by it many times. Next time I am down there to get me some Ricobene's Steak sandwhich I will stop on in.

Gusherb94 · Mar 31, 2009

SewerRatz said:
Never been in the shop, walked and driven by it many times. Next time I am down there to get me some Ricobene's Steak sandwhich I will stop on in.

Cool, if you ever do stop in i'm often there on thursday. I like Ricobenes I haven't been there in a looong time though.

hj · Apr 1, 2009

pit

The idea of a grease trap/catch basin was to retain stuff, and the last thing you would want to do is retain the output of a toilet, which is why they were NEVER connected to grease traps. BUT, they also did a good job of catching almost everything that was ground up by a garbage disposer. One housing project, on the South side, had the grease trap in the utility room and we had to pull the baffle cleanout on them and let the water run through because they would fill up with lettuce and tomato grindings.

I was working at a job at 39th and Stony Island one time. I had to park the truck across the street, so I put my hand, and some power, tools in the cab. Everytime we went out of the building we looked over at the truck to be sure no one had broken into the back of it. When we left that evening, we found they had broken the passenger window and cleaned out the cab by "duck walking" behind the parked cars. I had a couple of other interesting experiences in that area also.

SewerRatz · Apr 1, 2009

hj said:
The idea of a grease trap/catch basin was to retain stuff, and the last thing you would want to do is retain the output of a toilet, which is why they were NEVER connected to grease traps. BUT, they also did a good job of catching almost everything that was ground up by a garbage disposer. One housing project, on the South side, had the grease trap in the utility room and we had to pull the baffle cleanout on them and let the water run through because they would fill up with lettuce and tomato grindings.

I was working at a job at 39th and Stony Island one time. I had to park the truck across the street, so I put my hand, and some power, tools in the cab. Everytime we went out of the building we looked over at the truck to be sure no one had broken into the back of it. When we left that evening, we found they had broken the passenger window and cleaned out the cab by "duck walking" behind the parked cars. I had a couple of other interesting experiences in that area also.

My father knew a guy at Dombrowski & Holmes that worked out of a pick up truck. The guy stopped at a red light and some punks grabbed the Spartan 100 and ran off. He jumped out of the truck to chase after them another punk jumped into the truck and drove off. Heh, I remember my dad when he subcontracted for George Holmes, used to go hang out at the shop when I was a little kid with my dad. Shesh that was forever ago.

Gusherb94 · Apr 1, 2009

SewerRatz said:
The pit you are describing was a catch basin. The kitchen sinks, laundry, and floor drains as well as the storm water drained into the catch basin, there was a trap on the outlet pipe which headed back into the building sewer out front then into the city sewer system. Over the years people have repiped the sink line direct into the sewer and discontinued the catch basins, trouble was they had a hard time rerouting the storm water. So they turned it into a sump pit.

What part of Halsted? I grew up over by Archer and Troop, and went to grade school at St Barbra's on Troop.

I just talked to my mom and Archer and troop is around where my great aunt&uncle used to live and their kids went to St Barbras too. Most of my mom's family is from bridgeport.

SewerRatz · Apr 1, 2009

We need to hook up one day, maybe go get a steak sandwich or something.

Gusherb94 · Apr 1, 2009

SewerRatz said:
We need to hook up one day, maybe go get a steak sandwich or something.

yeah that would be awesome!

For all we know we've probably walked past each other a ton of times by now. lol

SewerRatz · Apr 1, 2009

gusherb94 said:
yeah that would be awesome!

For all we know we've probably walked past each other a ton of times by now. lol

You ever go to see Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind? I used to go see them every weekend back when they where at Stage Left theater. Went after I hung out at medusas for a bit.

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