Any contractors or plumbers on here?

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

We're replacing the tub in our hall bathroom and I need to replace the drain for it. The house was built in the early 60's and the pipes are copper. Normally I would break out the torch to pull things apart, but it looks like everything is glued together. I wanted to pull the whole thing from the wall, but I'm not sure how it's attached. It looks like theres a collar attaching the drain pipe to the wall pipe, but my pipe wrench wouldn't budge it. Granted I didn't push too hard for fear of breaking something. Is it just a matter of leverage or am I going to need to get creative for replacing the pipe?

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

Only problem i see is the height of the tailpiece in relation to the tub drain height. Its high. One way to get around this is to buy a tub with a drain over the floor or a raised bed tub. This allows the drain assembly to be above the subfloor which seems to be your best bet without seeing where the tailpiece goes. Ideally i would cut off as close to the sanitary tee as possible to leave as much copper in place as you can. We usually install the entire drain assembly/overflow first. Then set the tub. Clean up that area better so i we can see where the pipe goes and if there is anymore depth you can pick up so U could install a standard tub.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

Wait, is the tailpiece already broke off? Blurry pic in that area.

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

joshcarp81 said:
Wait, is the tailpiece already broke off? Blurry pic in that area.

Yeah, it's broken. That's why I need to replace it. The pipe in the wall is set into the slab. That's my main reason for worrying about breaking something. I'll try to get a pic further back after work today. It's actually not that high. There's a relief cut into the slab for that pipe to run. It had a basic steel tub originally. It was rusted through so that's one of the reasons we had to do this.

SID297 · May 15, 2019

They don't build them like they used to.

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

SID297 said:
They don't build them like they used to.

That can be good and bad. I could've done without the cement mud wall.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

Thank god they dont build em like they used to. Same thing with build quality on older homes as well. Unbelievable some of the crap i get into on older homes. Not to say new ones are perfect but inspections by good building departments go a long way.

If the pipe coming out of the slab will be. a vertical pipe then. Does it come up and go into a sanitary tee first branch towards the tub and continue vertically for a vent?. If so is any pipe still sticking out of the sanitary tee? If so you will just need a no hub band from whatever(copper or cast iron to whatever type of tub drain assembly you get. Be sure it is a no hub band (stainless band around rubber piece) and not just a standard fernco( just the rubber piece with no stainless band.

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

joshcarp81 said:
Thank god they dont build em like they used to. Same thing with build quality on older homes as well. Unbelievable some of the crap i get into on older homes. Not to say new ones are perfect but inspections by good building departments go a long way.

If the pipe coming out of the slab will be. a vertical pipe then. Does it come up and go into a sanitary tee first branch towards the tub and continue vertically for a vent?. If so is any pipe still sticking out of the sanitary tee? If so you will just need a no hub band from whatever(copper or cast iron to whatever type of tub drain assembly you get. Be sure it is a no hub band (stainless band around rubber piece) and not just a standard fernco( just the rubber piece with no stainless band.

Unfortunately I have no idea what you're talking about. The pipe pointing up was where the lever for the drain stopper was connected. I believe that's also the overflow portion. The piece sticking out horizontally was connected to the drain inside the tub. I'm assuming the sanitary tee you're talking about is where those two pipes are joined. I wanted to remove the whole piece, including the P trap, from the wall so I could repair it and check the fit with the new tub before dropping it in.

I'll take a couple pics from further away when I get home. I thought I had one, but apparently I didn't take it like I thought I did.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

The most important pic is of the area the pipe broke off.

lOOKnGO · May 15, 2019

The copper and or brass street 90 is going into a cast pipe. It was old school leaded in with lead and oakum. You can clean it out and put rubber in place of the lead. It's a job.

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

joshcarp81 said:
The most important pic is of the area the pipe broke off.

Does this help?

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

lOOKnGO said:
The copper and or brass street 90 is going into a cast pipe. It was old school leaded in with lead and oakum. You can clean it out and put rubber in place of the lead. It's a job.

As long as I can get it apart I'd be happy.

lOOKnGO · May 15, 2019

The 90 going up into the cast iron underneath the floor is not going to spin-off. it's actually leaded into a bushing that was leaded into the cast iron, the only way to get that out is to brake off the brass 90 then take a cold chisel to get the lead out. It is best to have a pro do it.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

If the brass trap is still in good shape, like i said earlier 1 1/2 no hub band right onto that stub thats left and attach new plumbing to it.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

Same thing with overflow. Then just use a toe tap pop up drain or a lift and turn.

csm1320 · May 15, 2019

Assuming the copper vent in that wall is still solid, and with the small amount of concrete in that spot, I would break out the concrete, tie on to cast iron that is left with a banded no hub, with a new PVC sanitary tee and then tie onto that copper vent with a pvc/ copper banded no hub. Also if access permits on the other side if that wall install a clean out tee above your sanitary tee.

lOOKnGO · May 15, 2019

Those latest pics show the easiest route to try first is my earlier suggestion. I would cut it off right at the cast connection, then turn the sawsall into the cast hub and make three cuts into the the oakum. A cold chisel will do the rest. Trying to make a connection down the line is a much risker proposition, mainly due to exterior moisture around the main drain pipe.

01yellercobra · May 15, 2019

I might end up calling a pro. I got the pipes down to the P trap out. Some measuring shows the new tub is about an inch to the left of the current connection. So things need to be moved around and I'm not sure I want to try that. I'm decent at sweating copper, but this might be a little out of my league.

joshcarp81 · May 15, 2019

Good idea. Some times you gotta know when to tap out!
Kudos for getting this far.

shurur · May 16, 2019

The problem with letting a plumber in is that they see old work and want to replace it all to make more work and money for themselves all in the name of "bringing it up to code." and/or something being a "safety issue."..

I'd rather handle it myself, learn new skills, buy more tools!!....and save MY hard earned money.

I renovated a 100+ yo 4 unit rental property myself.
It was worth learning to do things myself, and fun cutting out the professionals.

Any contractors or plumbers on here?

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