Broken soil stack

[Blackcatgas]

Thank you for all the replies.

WHIPES said that i will have to chop out the branch that may go into the house. If you look at the photo's the clay pipe out of the wall is ok, it's the bit in the middle of the cast iron soil stack that's cracked,which i was tols by the Homeserve person was a clay bracnch with cement fibres over the collar joins.
He also said that there looked like a crack on the branch from the collar to the verticle part of the branch but was not sure.
If WIPES says i have i chop out the pipe from inside the house i will hace a big problem as i the wc is closed coupled and tiled around the cistern and pipe going out of the house and laminate flooring around the base of the pan so not very easy at all is it.
Can i just leave the pipe out of the house there and replace the rest in plastic as it is in the photo's which i think will be easeir.
Vince

Hmmm looks like aspestos to me.
Yes you can join onto the existing pipe with a rubber fernco type coupler.however I think that the pipe could also be aspestos which can look like cast iron and you dont really want to be cutting into it.
Is it actually leaking? it be tempted to just repair it with some resin and glass fibre matting (P40 kit from Halfords) once this has set just paint it over with black paint.
TBH Vincent

 

[WHPES]

It will not be a clay branch if it is above ground but will almost certainly be asbestos. As stated by VERY careful. Bodge repair as stated above may work for a while.

You will struggle to get the stack off without damaging the branch as it will be very brittle by now. May be possible to join with a rubber coupling. I would suggest getting a pro to do it.

Shouldn't be too hard to pull the WC off to get at the pipe. Do you have a couple of spare tiles?

 

[1vincent]

Had a plumber pal have a look at the weekend.
He nearly fell off his ladder laughing when he saw what job the Homeserve chap did to it.
He said the cast iron was i a bad way will need replacing as it is loose in 2 places where the brackets go into the wall and he thinks that the weight of the stack is pushing on the branch and as there is already a crack there it wont be long before it is all cracked.
My mate wont do the work as he doesnt touch cast iron at all.
I will be doing the lot over Easter and what i would like to know is can you buy a 30/45 degree branch like the one i have in the photos as i will keep the pipe out of the wall and use a fernco connector from cast to plastic then a short bit to the branch and above and under the branch will be plastic
Also the cast at the mo goes into a plastic collar which is 4-6 inches above ground and then cemented in.Should i cut the cast 6 inches above that and use a fernco connector from plastic to cast or will i be best to take it all out and use plastic to clay/plastic to the underground part.
I will hire a cast pipe cutter as i will need to take the bits to the tip as i only have a small car.Has anybody used a pipe cutter before and will it be easier that way.
Sorry for the long post.

 

[Blackcatgas]

Id try leave a stub of at least 3" sticking out of the ground and connect the fernco onto that, if you start trying to remove stuff below that it might become a nightmare for you as if its clay drain below groung it is so easy to crack. dont bother with a mechanical pipe cutter, use a 9" angle grinder with a metal cutting wheel on it., remove the pipe in small sections starting from the top, if it is cast it is very very heavy stuff, Ive had one collapse because it was so rusty and I was being hasty in removing it, It could kill you at worst or damage your patio at best.
Also I know youve looked at it, and your mates looked at it and I dont mean to go on like a stuck record but just double check that ist isnt aspestos fibre reinforced cement, with paint on it looks identical to cast, you dont want to be zipping through that with an angle grinder.

 

[WHPES]

Use a fridge magnet to check if it's cast iron or asbestos. Bear in mind different sections may be in different materials.

 

[1vincent]

Thanks for the reply Blackcatgas.
I did use a magnet and the pipes are cast apart from the pipe out of the wall which is clay and the branch that is cracked i am not sure if it's clay or asbestos.
I think i will have to use pipe cutters at the bottom part of the soil pipe as i will not be able to get an angle grinder in there because of the gate/fence is 2/3 inches from the pipe.
I think using frenco coupling at the bottom is a good idea too. I will have to get the right sized angle branch for the clay pipe out of the wall to connect to soil pipe. Do you know how to measure this angle properly as i can't see any numbers on the old branch.
Vince

 

[WHPES]

Clay pipes are only used underground. It will be asbestos.

 

[ecowarm]

Had a plumber pal have a look at the weekend.
He nearly fell off his ladder laughing when he saw what job the Homeserve chap did to it.
He said the cast iron was i a bad way will need replacing as it is loose in 2 places where the brackets go into the wall and he thinks that the weight of the stack is pushing on the branch and as there is already a crack there it wont be long before it is all cracked.
My mate wont do the work as he doesnt touch cast iron at all.
I will be doing the lot over Easter and what i would like to know is can you buy a 30/45 degree branch like the one i have in the photos as i will keep the pipe out of the wall and use a fernco connector from cast to plastic then a short bit to the branch and above and under the branch will be plastic
Also the cast at the mo goes into a plastic collar which is 4-6 inches above ground and then cemented in.Should i cut the cast 6 inches above that and use a fernco connector from plastic to cast or will i be best to take it all out and use plastic to clay/plastic to the underground part.
I will hire a cast pipe cutter as i will need to take the bits to the tip as i only have a small car.Has anybody used a pipe cutter before and will it be easier that way.
Sorry for the long post.

You have plastic comming out of the ground, connect to that.

When taking down the old stack, start at the top.

Don't start at the bottom with a pipe cutter, you'll have the whole lot down on your head!

The bend out the wall is either aspestos or could be lead I can't tell from the photo, you could connect to this as suggested but do it right and take out the cistern/pan and replace it all.

You dont have to worry about getting a fitting with the same angle then.

Eco

 

[Plouasne]

The stack below the branch is cast iron, the branch is asbestos and the pipe above the branch looks to be asbestos, what I would do in this case would be to leave the cast iron in place, renew the branch, the bent pan connector and the rest of the pipe work in PVC

 

[1vincent]

In reply to ecowarm.

If WIPES says i have i chop out the pipe from inside the house i will have a big problem as i the wc is closed coupled and tiled around the cistern and pipe going out of the house and laminate flooring around the base of the pan so not very easy at all is it

+
Also the cast at the mo goes into a plastic collar which is 4-6 inches above ground and then cemented in.Should i cut the cast 6 inches above that and use a fernco connector from plastic to cast or will i be best to take it all out and use plastic to clay/plastic to the underground partWhat i mean is if i replace the pipe inside the WC will be hard as the pan has flooring around it and tiles around close coupled cistern so floor will have to come up and redo a few tiles plus the misses will say re-decorate the bathroom if your going to do all that mess.
As for the plastic collar,cast goes into collar at 4-6 inches off floor level and then cemented around cast in the collar that goes underground.
I don't know how the cast is joined in the collar(rubber connector/cast to clay) as it is cemented and i don't want to break the cement around the cast in case i do more damage.
I really want to leave the clay pipe as it is from the toilet and redo the whole stack in plastic.
Vince