This was an acceptable repair, apparently

[JohnArmer]

When building a new porch at the back of our house in the summer, we discovered that the underground soil pipe was damaged and had some of it replaced with plastic. I'm just getting ready to do the rest - the section from where the above ground stack goes into the ground to the new plastic bit further downstream.

I've dug down and around and apparently someone previously thought this was acceptable:

That's a yoghurt pot that has been pressed into service to direct the flow of the contents of the soil pipe into the clay below ground pipe which has been replaced and doesn't quite line up. The collar has been broken off (the right angle angle bit itself has just been butted up the clay further along). This was all cemented over so you couldn't see what was going on, but there's quite a bit of liquid not going into the drains. The whole lot is coming out and will be replaced with plastic.

I'm quite pleased to have got the top bit of the cast iron soil pipe down in one piece and am going to press all of it back into service. There's a hole in the section that is above the roof, but being as how this is vent only, I'm going to have a go at repairing it - probably with a bit of copper epoxied over. Has anyone got any suggestions for cleaning up rusty cast iron soil pipe and repainting? Should I just Smoothrite the whole lot?

 

[Feltwell]

It's frightening what folks will do. Lucky that hasn't washed soil away from under the wall and caused subsidence.

Anyway..... If the soil pipe is really rusty then an wire cup brush in an angle grinder followed by Hammerite Smooth is as good as most I think. You can get 2 pack epoxy coatings that last a very long time indeed, but I've been pleased with what Hammerite does. If you've got a compressor then a needle scabbler works really well on rusty metal, but it's LOUD - to put it mildly! It will shift rust that a wire brush can't though, sometimes the wire brush will just polish it if it's really well stuck.

Repairing pipe - old post below on my repairing a cast iron "boot" with JB Weld (for some reason the pictures have gone very blurry?) - anyhow, that was from 2012, and it's held up fine since then.

https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13366&hilit=shoe

 

[Flyfisher]

:shock: :shock: :shock:

And of course any resulting 'rising damp' problems would likely have been 'fixed' by further desecrating the wall at significant expense! :roll:

Anyway, that's a good find and it's always good, I think, to find and fix a 'real' problem rather than just having to guess what might be happening.

But now knowing the sort of craftsmanship applied in the past, I'd be curious about the connections to those other pipes in the photo!

 

[88v8]

.....there's quite a bit of liquid not going into the drains.

Good place to grow rhubarb

 

[paulc]

Had a drain that had been blocked back in the dim & distant past by privit roots and assorted muck. Rather than lift the clay pipe out and clean it, the "helpful" neighbour had cut the top half of the pipe off. This was then "repaired" with an old washing up liquid bottle, a bit of string, and a slathering of cement. Now that I am now the owner, the offending privit hedge has gone (much of it was dead), the drain dug up, and the broken section of pipe replaced.

In the kitchen extension that had been built around 1975, there is a pot gully for the sink to drain in to. Rather than using a proper sealing plate and rubber bung, the builder (and I'm being generous in calling him that) routed the waste pipe into the square pot, popped a few bits of scrap wood & brick over the gap, and then screeded the floor. Suffice to say, when the drain eventually got blocked, the concrete floor got soaking wet. I didn't find this little delight until 2016 when I refitted the kitchen.

 

[JohnArmer]

Thanks for the replies. I'll use paint stripper and a wire brush attachment in the first instance.

:shock: :shock: :shock:
But now knowing the sort of craftsmanship applied in the past, I'd be curious about the connections to those other pipes in the photo!

All the pipes are being replaced while I'm at it, with gullies rather than just having the pipes disappearing into the ground (except the soil pipe of course!)

 

[Flyfisher]

Good plan. I'd do the same. In fact I have done the same with all our surface water drainage - though I didn't encounter yoghurt pots!

It all ends up being invisible with nothing to show for all the work but it does mean not having to worry during downpours about where the water is going.

 

[Feltwell]

TBH I wouldn't bother with the paint stripper - just wire brush it with an angle grinder and cup brush - if the paint is stuck well enough to resist that then it'll do fine as a base to paint over, especially after the wire brush has scratched it to give a key! That's what I've done here with no ill effects.

 

[JohnArmer]

TBH I wouldn't bother with the paint stripper - just wire brush it with an angle grinder and cup brush - if the paint is stuck well enough to resist that then it'll do fine as a base to paint over, especially after the wire brush has scratched it to give a key! That's what I've done here with no ill effects.

Thanks, you've saved me extra work. How many coats of Smoothrite did you use? I expect it'll be 3 or more.

 

[Feltwell]

2 is usually enough - it's quite gloopy stuff, it goes on thick. Cheap brushes are OK, forget about cleaning them, wrap them in clingfilm between coats.

Trick is getting round the back of pipes, that's where they tend to rot, due to lack of paint I think! Bits of thin cardboard up against the wall help a lot to protect the wall whilst you get the brush in there.