HerHusband wrote:
I never knew that you could use lead and oakum with PVC pipe.
On ask this Old House they were attaching a new PVC drain pipe
to the existing cast iron where it went through the foundation.
They cleaned out the old lead and oakum, inserted the PVC fitting,
stuffed in the oakum and poured in the lead. They said they had
to wait at least a half hour for the PVC to cool before continuing
the work.

As to fittings made for that purpose, I can invison a female elbow,
whatever, emerging at the level of a concrete floor, where the
outlined approach would work and where it would be a bitch to tear it
all out and put in a Fernco.

Code or not, I doubt many people have lead and oakum available these days,
or the skill to use them. I know I wouldn't attempt something like that.

On TOH it looked like there was probably an inch of pipe behind the hub
that was still sticking out of the concrete. If I was in that same
situation, I would use a small angle grinder with a cutting wheel to cut
off the hub. Then I would drill and/or chisel the concrete back enough that
I could use a commonly available Fernco coupling on the iron pipe.


Watch the video here, starting around 19:30

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/v...782908,00.html

There is no straight pipe exposed to attach a Fernco to. In addition (no
pun intended) it's a rubble stone foundation. I doubt you could easily
chisel the rock out to expose enough pipe for a Fernco.

Of course, if you want the easy way of handling it, you could use a Fernco
donut:

http://www.fernco.com/plumbing/donuts-o-rings/donuts

That's what I used to upgrade the shower in my basement. The original
"base" was the slab itself with a hole cut in it. A kitchen sink strainer
was then dropped in the hole to prevent stuff from falling in. I jack
hammered the floor, removed the cast iron back to the wye and use a Fernco
donut to accept the PVC.

However, i don't know if Fernco makes a donut that is not also a reducer.
You will note they lead in what appears to be a 4" pipe to keep the size
consistent with the cast iron. I don't think you'd want to reduce the main
drain down to anything less than 4". I don't know if you are even allowed
to.

If Fernco makes a donut for that connection, I agree that that would work
also.


There's usually more than one way to get a job done...

Of course, getting it done right matters also.


Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com