What did you do to your non g-body project today [2025 edition]

[Supercharged111]

More demo.

What an absolute Mickey Mouse job on the subfloor(s). It looks like it was shimmed for the height of the toilet flange?

I want to rip up those last 2 layers of planks, remove the flange, cut the pipe down, install modern tongue and groove subfloor, and reset the flange height where it needs to be. It was too high before and causing all the wax to squirt out. I'm assuming the rubber deal made it all better? But the toilet bolts were only finger tight and the line was loose which has been my leak all along. Before I moved back I'd been paying inept fools to find/fix this seemingly elusive leak and all that was needed was fat, dumb, unlicensed me to come along and figure it out. No wonder I never bother to hire a "professional" for anything.

 

[CopperNick]

Question here. Below that flange, when you get into the DWV pipe, is there some kind of "P" or "S" trap in the circuit? Typically such an item was installed when the original rough ins were done as a way to create a water barrier. Trapping or retaining water in a curve of the pipe created an air barrier that kept methane gas from trying to make it's way up the DWV and back into the bathroom. Sometimes if you went to use an older toilet, you'd experience that rotten eggs smell; that was the fumes travelling back up the pipe because there was no trap to hold water to block them.

Where this is all going is that, when you go to shorten that pipe so you can lower the flange to whatever height you want/need it to be, you might find yourself running immediately into that P/S trap, or some kind of 90 degree elbow with a slope on it to promote drainage downstream to the stand pipe. You could also discover that your trap or pipe is cast iron instead of ABS plastic. ABS DWV can be connected to vintage iron but the procedure is not simple and highly invasive in nature involving a special kind of pipe cutter to "crack" the pipe so that an adapter can be inserted and secured in place. It's the kind of job that can explain why plumbers get the high $$$ they ask.

It all depends on whether that bathroom was an original install for the house or an upgrade or renovation, and what the codes were at the time the original work was done. After all, ABS pipe has been around for as much as half a century or more; it is only the spec's and standards for it that get periodically updated. It might be worthwhile to do some leg work and see if that house did have a building permit pulled on it for a bathroom addition at some point in the past and if the work was ever inspected and signed off on. Again, a lot could depend on who did the original reno and how far back in time it happened. What was code then and deemed acceptable might not be allowed now.

If, as you say, you plan to replace the subfloor, it might be a useful thought to consider some kind of waterproof membrane to be installed between the new panels and the existing planks. Putting one of these in place means that any subsequent spills or overflows stay in the bathroom and don't exfiltrate down through the floor/ceiling and into the room below. 'Cause ya just never know.


Nick

 

[Supercharged111]

Question here. Below that flange, when you get into the DWV pipe, is there some kind of "P" or "S" trap in the circuit? Typically such an item was installed when the original rough ins were done as a way to create a water barrier. Trapping or retaining water in a curve of the pipe created an air barrier that kept methane gas from trying to make it's way up the DWV and back into the bathroom. Sometimes if you went to use an older toilet, you'd experience that rotten eggs smell; that was the fumes travelling back up the pipe because there was no trap to hold water to block them.

Where this is all going is that, when you go to shorten that pipe so you can lower the flange to whatever height you want/need it to be, you might find yourself running immediately into that P/S trap, or some kind of 90 degree elbow with a slope on it to promote drainage downstream to the stand pipe. You could also discover that your trap or pipe is cast iron instead of ABS plastic. ABS DWV can be connected to vintage iron but the procedure is not simple and highly invasive in nature involving a special kind of pipe cutter to "crack" the pipe so that an adapter can be inserted and secured in place. It's the kind of job that can explain why plumbers get the high $$$ they ask.

It all depends on whether that bathroom was an original install for the house or an upgrade or renovation, and what the codes were at the time the original work was done. After all, ABS pipe has been around for as much as half a century or more; it is only the spec's and standards for it that get periodically updated. It might be worthwhile to do some leg work and see if that house did have a building permit pulled on it for a bathroom addition at some point in the past and if the work was ever inspected and signed off on. Again, a lot could depend on who did the original reno and how far back in time it happened. What was code then and deemed acceptable might not be allowed now.

If, as you say, you plan to replace the subfloor, it might be a useful thought to consider some kind of waterproof membrane to be installed between the new panels and the existing planks. Putting one of these in place means that any subsequent spills or overflows stay in the bathroom and don't exfiltrate down through the floor/ceiling and into the room below. 'Cause ya just never know.


Nick

*Ninja edited with pics*

It's all iron, I'm looking at yanking it all in favor of PVC. No traps, just a 90 degree bend immediately below the toilet and then 90 degrees back into the main sewer line.

Toilet at the top, main at the bottom, sink and tub off to the sides. The straight down to the basement where the weight of the iron pipe is bearing on a PVC pipe resting on a chunk of the old iron pipe.

Couple years back we had new sewer pipes run from the basement both sides clear out to the city sewer. Everything upstream of that was left as iron pipe. As deep as I am into the bathroom already, I'd sleep better if I got rid of all that iron. Which means I need to read up on code. Yay. But those planks are gonna go too. I don't see a reason I can't take this down to the joists and simply replace with T&G OSB/plywood. There's enough space down there for the plumbing to sit a few inches lower and let me get that flange at the proper height so the toilet doesn't leak anymore. Fishing the old one out ought to be a real treat as it has 2 45s in the basement.

Now to head to the unit to get my ladder so I can put eyes on this in the attic.

 

[CopperNick]

Iron, huh? You are definitely going to need that pipe cracker that I mentioned above. Maybe check out Home Depot or Menards to see if they rent 'em. As for the toilet circuit, I think that you are going to find that your planning department is going to want a "P" or water trap put into the new DWV. Like I noted above, having the water sitting in the curve of the P creates a pro tem plug that keeps sewer gases and stinks from coming back up the pipe. That's why most drains for things like the sink in your kitchen have that drop and loop back up; the water stays in the loop to block all that wonderful smell 😵.


Nick

 

[CopperNick]

So despite the official genuine GM wiring harness diagram for my G-10 insisting to all and sundy that the power wire from the key to the coil was Pink????!!!!, the wire itself begged to differ; it thinks that it is BROWN! and one of my high intensity work lights put onto the subject confirmed the allegation. so, since I had already created and assembled a two wire loop for the coil wire out of BROWN!! 12 gauge, that was what got stuffed into the van. My idiot light says that I have continuity from the key all the way out to both the coil plug and the relay plug so the next step is to deal with the ground disconnect switch the harness for which, of course, is under the dash. Bother. Might shoot a picture or two but getting them posted is about to be a MPITA.


Nick

 

[Supercharged111]

Iron, huh? You are definitely going to need that pipe cracker that I mentioned above. Maybe check out Home Depot or Menards to see if they rent 'em. As for the toilet circuit, I think that you are going to find that your planning department is going to want a "P" or water trap put into the new DWV. Like I noted above, having the water sitting in the curve of the P creates a pro tem plug that keeps sewer gases and stinks from coming back up the pipe. That's why most drains for things like the sink in your kitchen have that drop and loop back up; the water stays in the loop to block all that wonderful smell 😵.


Nick

The p trap is in the toilet itself. My made in 99 house in CO didn't have the trap in the plumbing either. I saw that pipe cracker, Home Depot does indeed rent them. Too bad they're a 2 hour drive 1 way. Gonna see if the local equipment rental place has one. But first I need to get up on the roof and release the rubber seal on the vent pipe above.

 

[CopperNick]

That rubber seal is attached to a mounting flange made from sheet metal and it is made with a one way lip. if you try to push the pipe down back into the house you may tear or otherwise damage that seal, particularly since it has been out in the elements and exposed to the sun for around 25 years or so, meaning that you will have to lift your shingles to get to the sheet metal base and then take it out and install a new one. If you can get to the pipe in the attic, crack or cut it as close to the roof as possible and then gently push it out onto the roof. That plate also covers the fact that when the hole for the pipe was cut, the carpenters were usually not all that precise about it in order to leave space for the plumbers to wiggle things around if they did not line up as planned.

And no, I am not a plumber, nor do I play one on You-Boob. I did work in wholesale hardware for several years and plumbing supplies was one of the lines we carried and supplied to the various installers. There was a lot of townhouse and apartment building going on then and pipe and fittings usually went out the door in carton sized lots, one to two dozen of a lot of it at a time. The DWV was dropped in bundles from the floor of a flat-deck trailer and sent out on a flat deck 5 Ton. Most of time we didn't even bother to split the bundles, just received them and sent out the same way they came in. The 4 inch cast iron hub and spigot DWV came in the same way, and got to sit outside in the racks until called for. Victaulic pipe for the mines and mills came in as raw pipe and we cut the grooves on the warehouse floor before sending it out to the shops. We also carried the oakum and lead that the plumbers had to use when mating the hubs and spigots. They all had naptha gas or acetylene blow pots to heat the lead ingots until they melted and then the apprentices got their lessons in how to fill connections when they were horizontal. Think most of those guys are long since dead as the lead was toxic to handle and the fumes were toxic to breathe; COPD wasn't even a phrase then.


Nick