Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

[Lily left the valley]

I meant to write this before midnight our time, but we've now been at Beebe for four years!

(My brain is so tired right now, I've counted the years a few times because posting. It's been that kind of brain fog lately.)

[phil]

I tried putting too many potato peels down my garbage disposer once and the result was a plug, then the line filled up, then any leak that the pipe had became a more serious issue since then the pipe was full of sewage. If there is a pinhole near the top of the line but the line isn't becoming full then it can go unnoticed. If the line then plugs and fills up, then you have a monster on your hands.

I guess there was just not much pressure or maybe the pipe was not that full. I had already replaced most of the line with plastic and thank god it had enough hangers because the drain got extra heavy when it filled up. I made the mistake of trying to use draino and then when I had to stand under the pipe with a big bin while removing the plug from the cleanout and put it back when the bin filled. It was pretty horrible especially since I had added draino. and here I was standing under it with a bin mostly full of water trying to screw the cleanout plug back in without getting draino in my eyes so i could go dump it and return to get the rest of it out of the pipe. I think the technical term is a conundrum

If you or sean could handle it you might be able to hack out a section and replace it with plastic , and add a cleanout. The more length you change the better. you can probably use a rubber boot with hose clamps to join the plastic to the iron to break the job into sections.

old iron is quieter, with plastic you hear the drain more. when I removed a lot of that old iron pipe it was caked with a clay like substance which had reduced the diameter to an inch or so. It's often easier to just cut any bad stuff out and replace it than tangle with unscrewing it. I saw some places where the threaded portion of the old iron pipe had weakened to the point it couldn't be used anyway. the plastic fittings and pipe are cheap.

I recently had to tangle with the bathtub drain and I replaced the super heavy old trap with a plastic one that can be easily taken apart. I still have some other sewer lines that I would like to take out , maybe re route outside. the toilet stack joins into that and that is super heavy so it pretty much has to be cut out in sections to remove it. Id put plastic pipe in the same place for the vent but it could go outside when it reaches the basement ceiling rather than being an eyesore.

maybe some want to preserve all the old piping but I think if you change it out to plastic in sections it makes it easier to cut out and replace any part. cutting the plastic pipe and gluing the fittings together is really easy. cutting iron pipe to specific lengths and threading it, then screwing it together is more difficult
If you put lots of easy to reach cleanouts you can clear any clogs without more disassembly.

if you have any holes in the line they may be allowing sewer fumes to get into the house. at minimum I'd wrap them up or something to close the pinholes to prevent the sewer gasses from coming up through them. something I found which was really mickey mouse and definitely temporary but worked was to clean the pipe put epoxy on the outside followed by wrapping it with aluminum duct sealing tape. later you can just saw the pipe and remove it , replace with plastic. I dont blame you for not wanting to play wiht the sewer pipe yourself. a plumber could replace that whole run in short order, he'd just cut the iron pipe out and replace it. I had a plumber who helped install my sewer outside have a quick look he figured he could re plumb the drains in a day and pointed out that I could remove a lot of that ugly old pipe from my basement and just box it in outside against the house.

I started running some pex water lines and I mean to replace more since a lot of that old copper is also very thin and just worn out. my plan is to replace all the water feed with pex. That will eliminate all the old shutoffs which are stiff and hard to close, with new ones. for now I at least installed a pressure regulator so it isnt; at street pressure. I dialed the pressure way down so I can;t have skin peeling showers anymore. no one complained so its running at only about 10 PSI but still sufficient for now, I just dont trust that old copper to hold a lot of pressure because I know it is thin and ready to have an issue so running at a low pressure is a temporary measure to hopefully prevent a burst.

[Lily left the valley]

Thank you! I did get it up on the wall for now, but have yet to clean out all the bottles I've been gathering to have a somewhat matching set of all Wagner bottles. Most of them still have their original labels, but we don't use some of the spice/combos that were popular at one point. I've been debating if I should type up all the label backs and make a post of them here or on my old house blog just in case there's someone who really really wants to period-perfect their own Wagner spice cabinet, but has lost some of the labels along the way.

If you don't mind a smaller open style rack, I still have the one I inherited from my folks. Same bottle style, just not an official Wagner set. Let me know if you're interested, and I can take a picture of it.

I'd love to see it, thanks!

Sorry this took so long! Some of them have shaker tops.

[Lily left the valley]

{snip}If you or sean could handle it

The last time I did plumbing work with Sean, I got my nose cracked open because he told me something was secure and it wasn't--nope. Besides, his schedule also makes trying to get any work done near impossible. He's still working 6 days a week (which is still better than 7), and he is near useless on Sundays because he's so worn out. No way will he be up for something major like a sewer replumb.

Before we bought the place, someone already did a portion of the vertical just above where it goes undergound and it is PVC there, and there is a cleanout already. Part of the headache is some sinks have both their old traps plus a U below the sink. Some don't. The good news is the kitchen and downstairs bath are right next to each other, and the second floor bath is directly above the first--so the total area the plumbing runs within the house is fairly contained as far as the non heat plumbing is concerned. We have to replace at least what I can see in the cellar because there is evidence of pin holes forming or already weeping all over, which is why we're probably going to also crack open the walls to do all of it. As I've mentioned numerous times, the water here is not treated as it should be, and is known for eating pipes. It's one of the reasons the plumbers try to insist on using plastics.

if you have any holes in the line they may be allowing sewer fumes to get into the house. at minimum I'd wrap them up or something to close the pinholes to prevent the sewer gasses from coming up through them.

I thought I had posted a pic long ago of the Drunken Weasel level plumbing that was done before we bought the house. They apparently didn't know how to use PVC epoxy because except for the patched in PVC on the main stack, ALL of the PVC joints in later swap outs are taped, and obviously at different points in time because the tapes are different colors and widths. And the tape also hasn't held well, hence my wanting to get this done as soon as we can swing it. I have swapped out some bits just under sinks and such, but haven't touched the main stack.

Because we pretty much know the whole thing should probably just be a done-in-one deal, that's why I want to hire it out.

[mjt]

Because we pretty much know the whole thing should probably just be a done-in-one deal, that's why I want to hire it out.

Sometimes hiring it out is the right approach. To me, this looks like one of those times.

On our house I did some things myself and others we hired out. We used a lot of factors to decide on a case by case basis. Time, money, expertise, desire, commitment, and others all played a role. And just because I *could* do something doesn't mean I *did*.

[phil]

replacing plastic pipe goes fast, gluing new parts together is dead easy. yes a plumber could speed things up but there is also an economic cost.
Patching like that is mickey mouse but if you did that to stop sewer fumes for a while to defer the cost, I think the pipe will just be cut out during a "real" repair anyway.
I'd break it into manageable sections and just start replacing pipe but I hate hiring people, so If I can handle it, I do.

If I cant' figure it out that's what you guys are for

[Lily left the valley]

I have seen this bench, and now I want to figure out how to make something similar. Floor Manager agrees. *adds to the project folder*


More info about this 1938 bench from the Helene Koerting Fischer home. Love hidden storage furniture.

[Gothichome]

Lily, some pretty fancy carpentry happening here.

[Lily left the valley]

Lily, some pretty fancy carpentry happening here.

Part of why I love it so! Also, will give me a good push next winter to get the shop in order. I doubt I'll be able to do more than sketch out some possible plans for it then, but any push to get the shop organized, I'll still take.

Right now my brain is already being overtaken by the garden, although we still have bits of snow in the most heavily shaded areas.

[Lily left the valley]

Phil's post about wood in my garden post reminded me of something: our town has a program for Home Owners to help with the cost of hazardous remediation. It apparently is treated like a loan and "held" via a lien on the home, but if you don't move for 15 years, the loan is forgiven. So we may be closer to removing the asbestos siding sooner than I despaired. It won't be this year, but I will be looking into the program more this year so I understand how it works and what we'll still need up front. I do know the work absolutely positively must be done by contractors. Yet if we're getting a huge knock down in price with the quasi loan---I'm fine with that!