During the furnace project in May 2018, one of the guys from Ventwerx spotted something awry with our plumbing and brought it to my attention: a 12″ section along the top of the sewer pipe running from the master bathroom shower and toilet had rusted out.
Thankfully at the time, we only had one bidet seat in the spare half bath, so nothing but water and sometimes a bit of toilet paper went through this pipe. Still, it was something our house inspector didn’t discover when we were in escrow, as it was completely obfuscated by the old furnace ductwork. It was, however, something the previous owners would have been aware of, as they had all the bathrooms remodeled in late 2014/early 2015, and whoever did the work (which involved running new supply lines) would have certainly noticed the issue and brought it to their attention. But, like so many other problems, the POs just ignored it, as they hoped they’d be selling the place soon.
I made a call to my favorite plumbers, Able Sewer and Drain, as they handled our septic tank replacement in 2015, and most of the mobs we used for small plumbing issues since then had not instilled much confidence. The one independent plumber we do like even suggested that, for this project, we go with Able. So after the owner came out and gave me an initial estimate, it was just a matter of getting on the schedule. Soon enough, two guys arrived and got to work. They climbed under into the crawlspace where, unlike when we had the drain pipes in the south wing redone, they had oodles of space now that the old furnace ducts are gone. It’s actually roomy under the house.
It took the guys two days to run new drain lines to the three toilets, five sinks, one shower and one bathtub in the three bathrooms in the north wing. Thankfully it wasn’t very warm, and while it was dusty, they actually mentioned that it was a relatively easy workspace.
1-3. First they had to remove all the old pipes.
4-6. They brought them all up and loaded them into the truck for disposal.
7-8. Then they got busy with the new pipes, fittings and straps.
And soon enough, we had new drain pipes. The hardest area for the guys to work was under the spare and powder room baths–it’s pretty tight and they had to remove and reconnect six drains.
Lastly, a shot of the brand-new run from the master shower and toilet. Notice no gaping hole!
While this work was going on, we had a bit more plumbing work done….
