This post is a bit long, so go grab a cup of tea and settle in….
Every homeowner will tell you there are a few things no one wants to deal with but plumbing problems are probably at the top of the list. Throw into the mix a house that is about a hundred years old, with long-ago grandfathered pipes and fittings plus a host of not-likely-to-code DIY repairs and renovations and you have a veritable nightmare in the making.
We’ve been having problems with our tub draining poorly for a few months. We got a little reprieve last month after plunging, two rounds of drain-cleaner, hot water purges, and elbow grease. I tried to open the trap clear-out but it seemed pretty much stuck solid, so we just crossed our fingers.
Drain:Before
Then on Friday it just plain wasn’t draining at all. Six hours post-shower (on restricted flow, no less) and the tub was still full of water. I went back to the clear-out hammering on the pipe wrench arm and then suddenly water was flowing. In two places. Neither of which was the clear-out because it was still jammed.
The jolt had done two things: it broke a soldered seal on one of the elbows leading to the trap and it had snapped a brass compression nut holding the drainpipe to the tee — the nut had corroded pretty severely over the years and it was as brittle as clay.
At this point, I was dejected. I felt like none of my plumbing skills could be either summoned or trusted. In fact I had an all out meltdown on Saturday, that was only made worse by once again trying to use the Windows8 machine, but that is another blog post.
Hubby started studying DIY videos and decided we could still try to replace the existing garbage with ABS. We went to Home Depot this morning and grabbed everything we thought we might need, went to friends’ for their open house then came back to tackle the task.
broken cross-hairs
Hour one: remove the existing drain pieces. You know the piece that threads from the top of the tub into the drain housing below? There’s a special tool you can use to remove it, or you can use pliers, handle down, in the cross-hairs to turn. I have one of the special tools but after a few turns, CRACK! The cross-hairs split off. Commence cursing. However, the half turn tore that part of the drain away from the tee, so we were on our way. Sort of.
Rest of hour one and hour two: try to clear out the trap. This was the whole reason for the exercise. I’m not going to go into the gory details. Shawn wore the worst of this task though — very literally.
Hour three: researching how to remove the tub drain without the cross-hairs. Naturally there is a special tool for that too. It costs $80 and is not in stock. I left to pick up kiddo who was at a friend’s, thinking we would have to cry uncle and call in a professional.
Drain vs. Dremel
On our return, Shawn exclaimed, “HAH!! Someone needs to pay me $80!” Turns out a Dremel tool defeated that particular plumbing piece very handily. With that, kiddo and I made dinner while Shawn finished deconstructing the old and preparing the new downstairs.
Hours four and five: notching the wood that supported the old, smaller tubing, fighting to remove brass fitting from the cast trap, further attempts at clearing the trap (while some was cleared earlier, it was clear there was more to come — once the brass fitting was out, this task was easier). Pulled out more gunk — even gave the wet/dry vac a shot.
Drain:After
Hour six: let’s just finish this thing. Measuring. Checking. Math. Cutting. Checking. More math. Fun with angles. Then finally, trying to figure out how to get the last pieces in place. Measure twice. Cut once. Fiddle, check, then deep breath and GLUE.
ABS glue sets in 30 seconds. No takebacks! Happily, we got it all together and in place. It looks great but we just have to wait for the silicon seals in the tub to set before we give it a proper test.
Then we can take back the “just-in-case” parts we bought but didn’t need!
Now we need a good night’s sleep… we’ve earned it.