Caulking Yarn - Plumbing?

[timjh0]

Hi,

I need to reseal a Plastic to clay soil joint. The OSMA site calls for caulking yarn:

4S.107)

Any ideas what I can use or where I can get something suitable .... would nylon rope do?

I'm guessing Plumbers Mait would do for the non-setting mastic.

Thanks for your help,

Tim.

[John Rumm]

(Joint 4S.107)

IIUC, when you have a plastic pipe mating with a wideish collar on a iron or clay pipe, you use the yarn to form a block so that your mastic or mortar does not fall down inside the pipe. You wind it around the end of the smaller pipe that is inserted into the collar to put a fatter section on it.

The picture on the OSMA site seems to show a mastic bead at the very end of the pipe, with the caulking applied a little further up - but the purpose seems the same - to form a stop for the mortar used to finish and flaunch the job.

I would have thought so - I would expect traditionally they would have used putty or nothing (relying on the mortar alone to make the seal)

[Cicero]

(Joint 4S.107)

=========================================

Sisal string (or possibly hemp) was often used for this type of job. Boss White or putty was worked into the strands of the string to make something like a pig tail. This impregnated string was then wrapped around a joint to make it water-proof. You can often find such a joint on old taps before fibre washers became common.

I think your proposed combination of nylon rope / Plumber's Mait would do the same job.

Cic.

[timjh0]

Thanks guys, so sisal would possibly be better, if not som old nylon rope.

Cheers.

[timjh0]

PS It was a Mortar only joint which had failed... and that was burried in the floor screed :(

[Cicero]

=========================================

I don't think that you would have much trouble with nylon rope strands (maybe a bit kinked) but sisal is known to work. The main thing is to work the putty or whatever into the strands so that they form a composite seal of a suitable thickness.

Cic.

[Andy Dingley]

Hemp, sisal or most easily jute (just garden string) will do. I'd expect nylon or polyester to be poor, as it's a smooth fibre and so your compound won't stick to it. If you have to use synthetic, use polypropylene. It's a "hairy" yarn and it's the cheaper and more common fibre anyway. The only genuine Nylon rope I have around the place is towropes and I'm not using them, they cost proper money to make!