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Mar 23, 2013
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Hi all, I have a tricky problem with a lead waste pipe coming from my bath in to the communal stack at the back of our house. As you should see in the photos the pipe is cracked between the cavity walls making access a tad difficult. The bath is an old cast iron with the original lead overflow and waste, so I don't really want to disturb this in order to pipe back the way in plastic to a new rubber bung in the down pipe. Can anyone advise on the viability of a lead repair and how to go about this. I am experienced in lead welding but not on this kind of problem. Cheers. Nick.
 

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I'd be looking to replace all the lead, but if you need a quick fix,

Cut the wiped joint off close to the cast iron (brass spigot into iron?) and use 2 flexible couplers with a short piece of plastic to join them, should give enough to allow for the angle currently on the lead;

Flexi Waste Straight Coupling 38-45mm | NoLinkingToThis
 
now your at this stage replace the lot, its obviously pulled apart under movement, so will again
 
As the guys say ,,,,, some kinda stress has caused the cleavage

Its goin' to be a ripout job
 
Silicone CT1 sealant will seal most things even on wet surfaces . If that doesn't work replace the lot with plastic. Looking at size of split your photo is showing I would replace the whole lot with plastic.
 
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Thanks guys. This prob has gone unseen for 3 years till we moved in a few months back. Luckily I have a snake cam for insurance work. The leak is on bath and shower waste so the foundations have been gettin soaked for a long time. What looks like a bulge on the wall is prob the tide mark from the rising damp caused by the leak. I think you are right to suggest renewing back to the bath in plastic. Hope I can source a 40mm bung for the cast iron down pipe. Cheers.
 
Wondered how you got that excellent close up shot of the pipe. What snake cam have you got?
 
No-one is wrong aplombiere . I think lame is aware that bricking in and pebble dashing a quick partial repair makes no sense. So like you all say... Bite the bullet and replace. Cheers.
 
Lame would like it. The guy suggested he didn't want to change the whole lot so gave an alternative . But do agree it would be better to change whole lot as stated in post. Not just giving sarky remark as lame did
 
I always try to do a decent a proper job and in never involves silicone botching, so I get incesnsed at anyone advicing someone to do so, we are supposed to be decent tradesmen not diy have a goes. if advice deserves some sarcasm then so be it, I feel its deserved
 
The house is solid 1930s . No movement. So I suspect the last have A go plumber pulled the bath away from the wall and fractured the pipe. Old cast iron bath with original lead waste and trap... So going to be a messy job converting to plastic. Bath has been restored and is mint girlfriend loves it so I got no chance replacing.
 
I agree with you lame .
but Sometimes people can't afford the best job and are happy just for a patch. I will advise customers on what's best ie replace pipe but will try and patch if that's what they ask for , even if it goes against the grain so to speak . In the end they are the ones paying.
 
I agree with you lame .
but Sometimes people can't afford the best job and are happy just for a patch. I will advise customers on what's best ie replace pipe but will try and patch if that's what they ask for , even if it goes against the grain so to speak . In the end they are the ones paying.
Sometimes it's worth telling a customer you'd prefer to do the job properly, especially if you have a reputation to uphold not to mention liability insurance.
 
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silicone it,brick it up, buy some nike air max and get running cos domanic littlewoods fast as fluff.
 
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You didn't just charge someone £260 for a gate valve did you?

I'd replace the lot from the ground up if it was me. Get rid of the cast all together.
 
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melt the old brass out of the stack and run the new plastic into it

thanks steve. so you if i follow you correctly - the down pipe has a ring of brass that the cast iron branch slots on to? So i carefully knock out the cast iron branch and apply heat to the brass, then insert plastic with a rubber bung ?
 
No TB service didn't know what u meant about the £260 gate valve until just read about it. Definitely not me. What a rip off !
 
So you need to melt out that wiped joint out and use a bit of a 50mm plastic pushfit to couple into the cast iron if you can fit it into the collar, or get rid of the carst stack altogether. (You can get a coupling from carst into the into the 50 or 110mm plastic called "trapper", so you can join carst branches into the plastic pipe too, if they are to hard to replace).
Silicone CT1 sealant will seal most things even on wet surfaces .
In that case apply gaffertape/wide PVC on top of the silicone/LSX, and keep the thing open, until a proper repair can be done. Also it would let the wall to dry out.
 
Hi Bronze tap, thanks but this is an old post. I fixed it over a year ago. Nothing wrong with the Cast Iron so we just rammed the plastic pipe in with sealant and denzo taped all round to hold it nice and firm and be double sure. I reattatched to the old lead with a 50mm coupling which was luckily the perfect size. Cheers
 

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