Repair the bad section. Keep the good iron.
Cast iron drains in old houses usually fail in one place, not everywhere. Replacing a section costs a fraction of replacing the stack, and the rest often has decades left.
How cast iron fails
Cast iron drains rust from the inside, where the water and sewer gas are, and they rust fastest along the bottom of horizontal runs. Lead-and-oakum joints at the hubs dry out and weep. Stacks crack where the house has settled.
Most of the time one horizontal run or one hub fails and the vertical stack is fine. We cut out the bad section and splice in new pipe with shielded couplings, which takes a few hours and saves the wall.
When the whole stack goes
If the stack is cracked in more than one place or the iron is thin enough to punch through with a screwdriver, it’s time. A full stack replacement in a two-story house is usually two to three days and a few patched walls. We give you a written price before anything is cut.
Asked about iron.
How long does cast iron drain pipe last?
Often seventy-five to a hundred years, depending on the water and use. Many Milwaukee houses still have their original iron in good shape.
Can cast iron be repaired instead of replaced?
Usually. A failed section can be cut out and replaced with new pipe and shielded couplings.
Smell in the basement? Let us look.
Most cast iron problems are found in the first hour.
The old-house plumber’s site, built in seven days.
Sixteen pages: house types drawn by hand, three generations of the family, an honest hourly rate explained, and a lead service line page written for Milwaukee.