On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:37:56 -0600, "DanG" wrote:

Do not plan on any reuse of the tile.

I was afeared ...

If you really do want to
put up with a lot of dust and mess, you could saw the opening with
a dry diamond blade on a circular saw or grinder. This could
possibly give you a piece to reinstall with caulk at the
perimeter. The amount of dust is tremendous.

The dust issue occurred to me. Hulluva mess.

I think your time would be better served to plan on a decorative
cap of some type. Wainscoat? Metal cover? I can't envision a
circumstance with the tile wall exposed. I would guess it to be
under the cabinet, behind the refrigerator or some other
appliance. The drain pipe will be about 18" off the floor.

I shoulda mentioned, it's all behind the gas range. Still,
I need to put something substantial in the hole.

Perhaps you can pinpoint the intersection of cast iron and sink
drain.

I can get purty close measuring wall to stack in basement,
wall to point in kitchen, height from floor.

At this point you could possibly cut a circular hole to

I've not worked with a tile cutter and I don't have one ...

access the pipe with another hole at the sink,

About 4" of the copper drain are already exposed under the sink.

though it will be
difficult to route the pipe out of and into the studs.

Copper drain is 30' long or so. Centers are 16". OD of
PVC would be greater than OD of copper? I guess maybe they
reamed 2+" holes in the studs?

The
circular hole(s) could be capped with a blank escutcheon. This
still means dust unless you go to the expense and mess of a wet
diamond cut.

I'm mostly worried about a plan to fix right now.

Would love to be able to securely mount a substantial removable
cover instead of hassling tile replacement, but I got nooooo idea
what's available. Suppose maybe I could custom cut/fashion one from
wood.

Thanks,
Puddin'

"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
news

'allo,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, original kitchen.

I need to remove maybe 2 sq. feet of the wall to replace a
corroded drain pipe. Wall is ceramic tile in front of
traditional
plaster on steel lath. After repair of drain, I need to repair
wall. Never worked with tile before.

How to do it?

It occurred to me that I *might* be able to cut thru both grout
and plaster/lath and remove a square without destroying the tile
(if I can come up with the right saw apparati). Might this be
practical? If so, how might one *replace* the removed square,
permanently mounting it back in the wall?

Or do I bark up the wrong tree? :-)

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Cheers,
Puddin'

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...