Need to replace old interior cast iron sewage pipes. Any NoVa drain installation recommendations?

[Anonymous]

Mid century house. Interior cast iron main sewer pipe shows signs it's time to replace before leakage (have been monitoring since bought house). Any Northern Virginia plumbing recommendations who do careful work with cast iron and new to code installations? Need a very experienced company here, not subs. Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

FA Furr

[Anonymous]

So you need it repairs out to the street? Or just the interior?

[Anonymous]

Michael &Sons. We just had them come out to assess our sewer line. They put a camera in the pipes from the house to the street where it joins the county line. They showed us what the pipes looked like. Luckily we have about another 10 years of useful life left in our old cast iron pipes. It cost about $800 which included breaking open the 2 access points in the basement which was replaced with new pvc caps. In addition, MS mailed us a copy of the video on a CD. If we had to replace the pipes it would have been the entire system by Jack hammering the cement in the basement and digging out the pipes in the front yard and under the sidewalk up to the county line. It would have cost about $20,000.

[Anonymous]

I believe that our pipe was replaced back in the mid 80's but I don't have the date (previous owners had to replace the front door step to do it and it was indicated as being replaced in the listing). How long do those pipes last?

[Anonymous]

RotoRooter. Never thought I would recommend them, but they were highly professional, the least expensive, and did a trenchless job so the whole yard did not have to be dug out.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for all your replies. It's the interior cast iron I see needs to be replaced and don't really know the process for that. Is it usually one job for both inside and outside?

Thank you for your recommendations. I will check with them.

[Anonymous]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think your drains need replacing? There are 300 year old cast iron drains still in service in Europe. Now galvanized pipes...that's a different story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michael &Sons. We just had them come out to assess our sewer line. They put a camera in the pipes from the house to the street where it joins the county line. They showed us what the pipes looked like. Luckily we have about another 10 years of useful life left in our old cast iron pipes. It cost about $800 which included breaking open the 2 access points in the basement which was replaced with new pvc caps. In addition, MS mailed us a copy of the video on a CD. If we had to replace the pipes it would have been the entire system by Jack hammering the cement in the basement and digging out the pipes in the front yard and under the sidewalk up to the county line. It would have cost about $20,000.

That's a rip off a camera job shouldn't be more than 350. They didn't save you shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for all your replies. It's the interior cast iron I see needs to be replaced and don't really know the process for that. Is it usually one job for both inside and outside?

Thank you for your recommendations. I will check with them.

A regular plumber should be able to handle that no problem. It gets more complicated when you need to replace it all of the way out to the county sewer line. You needed someone bonded to tear up the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity, what makes you think your drains need replacing? There are 300 year old cast iron drains still in service in Europe. Now galvanized pipes…that's a different story.

There is considerable wet spots with rust buildup on the underside of the drain pipe: crusting/bubbling and pointing along good portion of the run. I see drip residues on the plastic beneath and it's worsening. Additionally there is significant rust and the pipe appears thinned, like it's corroding, in spite of tar coating. I do not see obvious cracks, and haven't looked with a mirror. It's an old pipe: if this is what it looks on the outside, I can imagine how gunked up it looks on the inside, especially bottom half. Preventive maintenance before a nasty leak.