Plumbing

Well I am able to check one thing off of Kris's Honey Do list.  After some discussion late last week, I decided to finally try and fix the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

I had a pretty good idea what needed to be fixed on it.  The last time I had the trap off to fix a clog, I noticed some serious rust deposits in the pipe going into the main line.  So my plan was to replace the pipe altogether and start fresh.  The problem was to do that, I needed to cut a hole in the wall to get access to the pipe.  I really didn't want to do that, but I figured it wouldn't get better unless I did. 

So after cutting the hole, I found some very interesting things.  First, the elbow joints that we in the wall were put at some weird angled, and they look like they were in there first, and the wall was built around it, because I couldn't unthread the elbows due to the placement of the studs.  I don't know how that would actually be replaced short of breaking out a torch and cutting it out. 

Then the chrome pipe going into the elbow was not threaded in, it was a press fit into the elbow.  I think the person who put it in place may have actually even used some loctite to seal it, because it was a bear to get it out.  But once I got it pulled, and got in there I was able to chisel away some of the gunk and deposits in the pipe to clear it.  Then I ran to Home Depot and spent about $20 on new drain pipes.  once I got home, it only took about 30 minutes to put back together.

I still have a hole that needs to be patched up under the vanity, but that can get fixed later.  Right now at least I have a working drain.

Down The Drain

For the last couple of months we have had a slow drain in the bathroom downstairs.  It is something that happens from time to time and I usually just put some drain opener down the pipes and it will clear up.  The last couple of times it didn’t really help much though.  The last time, I took a snake and ran it down the drain first, but I didn’t get anything out, so next was the Liquid Plumber.  It was supposed to sit for 15 minutes and then get rinsed down with hot water.  I let it sit for almost 30 minutes and then rinsed it, but it didn’t clear out.  In fact, it backed up into the sink.

I tried snaking things again but didn’t have any luck.  I let it sit overnight, and by the time I got up, the sink had drained, but it is still draining slower than I think it should.  I think the problem is that the pipes need to be replaced.  I don’t think it would be all that difficult to do since the main, black drain pipe, is right below so there wouldn’t be that much of a replacement length needed.  What would be needed however is ripping a hole in the wall to do it.  That is what I really don’t want to do.  If I do it, it will start an entire remodel of the downstairs power room, which will be much more of an issue than I am currently prepared to undertake.  Plus, there are other, more pressing issues that need to get done.  So for now we’ll deal with it, but don’t be surprised to see something about me taking a sledgehammer to the wall if I just can’t take it anymore.