Hello, I bought an old 100+yo house and there is an addition that was built on the back of the house. Like everything else w this house, it was half-assed. The gutter was rerouted across the top of that roof. But they left the cast iron drain pipe sitting 13in above ground. I put a rock on top just so nothing of ours accidentally falls in. I despise this pipe. I try to hide it behind furniture but it needs to go. How deep would this pipe typically be? My thoughts are to tap it w a sledge hammer to loosen it enough to lift it out then I'd fill w gravel and probably lay a thin metal plate over the opening. I don't want to hire a handyman to cut it, unless my end result would leave it flush w the floor. And I'm thinking that probably wouldn't happen. If you all respond that its several feet long, then I guess I will continue to hide it. Thank you!!
That sounds like the best option. You don't want to fill it completely if it blocks something at the bottom. You can spray the foam a few inches from the top and make a seal.
Lisa. I remember you posting often when you first bought the house. You lack of being here must mean many problems solved?
It could (should) connect to a horizontal sloped pipe that is below the frost line for your area. That pipe would move the water away from the foundation and be deep enough not to freeze.
If it connects to another pipe, that's not going to work. If it's not connected to another pipe then when it used to be in use, the water was draining right next to the foundation or even under the house. That would have been a really bad situation. I'm guessing that it is connected to another pipe.
Why would think that wouldn't happen? I bet I could cut it flush. Multiple methods come to mind.
Some have suggested sealing it up with spray foam. The only issue I can see with that method is the admittedly low probability that the pipe is acting as a vent. Let's say that some other pipe intersects with that pipe underground, like another gutter. If the offending pipe is acting as a vent for that other pipe and you seal it up, things might drain a little slower.
Again, slim probability, but it's a 100 YO house, so who knows what was done way back then. Venting was (is) not always done properly, especially in older homes.
You could test it by running water down multiple drains, including gutters. Hold a smoking piece of paper (or a fire stick) over the offending pipe and see if the smoke/flame gets sucked downward.
Another suggestion: Build a cabinet around the pipe. Make it functional design feature. Something like this, with a shelf on top:
Unless doing a complete plumbing or electrical reinstall I don't blame them. Fix one problem and another comes up a day latter and you get a call back about the shoddy work you did, even though it was not something you did. Makes for a bad reputation to your business.
My son bought an older house in an older part of town a year ago. He is finding many things wrong with it. One example is the air conditiioner compressor went out and needed replacing. Something hapened and blew out some electrical stuff and even the old transformer supplying power to the house had to be replaced. It took out his cook stove and dishwasher.
It would not have been any use for me to tell him not to buy that piece of crap as his wife is the problem. She tries to duplicate a good friend of hers. The friend bought a certain car . They bought one like it about 2 years later. That model is a lemon. That friend bought an older house about 5 years ago, so that seems to be the reason my son and to buy that older house. Up to this time they had been living in rented places.
I'd certainly not shy away from buying an older home out of fear of not being able to find qualified contractors.
My daughter bought a 1920's home in a neighborhood full of 1920's homes. There are contractors going in and out all up and down the street as young folk do upgrades.
She had a main water shut-off that had a stripped stem, requiring a pair of vice-grips to operate it. I tried it once and didn't like the way it felt, so I suggested that she get it repaired/replaced. I plumb, but old main water shut-offs and galvanized pipes are beyond my confidence level.
She called a local plumber. He took one look and said "Let's leave that one alone and add a nice new ball-valve a few feet down stream. I'd rather not mess with the galvanized pipe so close to the wall. If I screw that up, we've got real problems." He put in a new shut off and secured the pipe so that operating the new shut-off doesn't cause any movement back at the original. He then tagged the original with a "Do Not Use" label. He knew how to deal with an older home.
BTW...he was a fairly young guy, not a crusty old plumber with a cigar stub clamped between his teeth. ;-)
You guys are still talking new houses. My son's last house was not built in the USA. The USA did not exist yet. There are many houses in New England from the 1700s that are still in use every day and in good condition. His was just up the street from Benedict Arnold.
Of course, they have been updated but his house still had a copper bathtub. Date unknown.
What we did is... get a fully licensed and insured plumber (important 'cuz read on...)..with lots of experience.. to..
what he did was turn off the old main valve that was inside the house , cut out a foot of pipe downstream, install a garden-hose type faucet, and then a brand new valve downstream from that.
This way, if something went wrong inside our house, we could shut the new valve and still have a usable, if difficult, water supply to get us through the next few days until a real repair was possible.
Now... the reason it was critical to have a fully licensed, etc., plumber was that...
... was that.. if the old valve inside the house went kablooey and we had to have the city shut the water down from their side out in the street...
The plumber my daughter used didn't even want to shut off the existing main. Why chance it? He had the city shut off the water at the curb. That's why I didn't install the new downstream valve myself. I didn't want to close the original valve and I'm not licensed, so I couldn't request the curb shut off.
Where I live, I could have requested the curb shut off when I wanted my main valve replaced, but I opted not to. With only about 2" of pipe coming out the wall and maybe 2" from the valve to the meter, I chose to call the experts. Good thing too. It took them quite a while to locate the correct valve, unions, etc. Angled gate valve, short nipple to meter, different size unions at each end, etc. I would have been running around town all day, if not worse.
Interesting idea and it probably wasn't a lot of extra work/expense.
I hope he used a fitting that is rated for whatever your street pressure is since it's before the PRV, assuming you have one.
I suggest that you exercise that hose bib at least annually. Having that one get stuck or start to leak would be an issue since it sounds like your original main shut off is out of commission.
BTW - any gate valve style shut-offs that you have should never be left fully open. Always close them 1/8 to 1/4 turn. That gives you some wiggle room (literally) if they get corroded and don't want to close.
I wonder why he even took that chance. It's not like the water authority was parked outside waiting to be asked. Kablooey = a lot of water. Perhaps there's a charge where you live or major wait times that make the risk worth it? My water authority has always been very responsive.
Here's a picture of the water authority guy shutting off my water:
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Apparently the cover on the valve box was rusted in place, so he had to cut the box off to get to the valve.
Folks around here get a water meter wrench at Home Depot or Walmart and turn it off themselves. My FIL turns off the water if he will be out of town overnight.
I could have and might have if I had planned to do the job. Since I didn?t want to replace the valve myself, there was no need for me to turn the water off. That?s a service my water bill covers.
Did you see the picture I posted? Cutting the valve box under the lawn under a foot of snow and in a snowstorm is something I?m glad I didn?t have to do. I brought the water authority guy a mug of coffee. He wouldn?t accept a cash tip.
P.S. When posting those long Google links, you can delete everything from the first question mark and on.
After one bad experience I've just made it a rule to never be very far from a water meter wrench.
Our local water utility doesn't seem to mind if we use it as long as we haven't been shut off. Our meter and shutoff is in a box in the yard near the curb, and it probably doesn't hurt them that i exercise it occasionally to do a minor repair.
At my previous house and the house before that, my main water shut-off valve was inside the house, very easily accessible and able to be turned by hand without any kind of wrench. At my current house, my main shut-off valve is in the box buried on the front lawn, on my side of the meter, and can easily be turned by hand. On the city side of the meter there's another valve that can also be easily turned by hand. I guess they don't use those meter wrenches here.
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