What's In Your Drain?

Frequently during bathroom remodels for one reason or another we have to move the plumbing. Reasons are to accommodate larger tubs, elimination of a tub into a large shower, moving walls, adding new fixtures, etc. In this process we are challenged with all manner of material and objects from wax build up to broken tools inside pipes and drains.

One thing remains the same no matter what the drain challenge is, "it had better work better than before when we leave".

I have chiseled PVC drain lines out of solid concrete where there should be sand, and pulled a delicate gold chain out of another and returned it to an dumbfounded and amazed owner. In the photo above the homeowner said the tub drain was running a bit slow, I can't imagine why.

In these photos a slow drain was disabled for 5 years when someone snapped off a plumbing snake deep inside and under the slab. We were tasked with installing new floor tile which meant removing and replacing the toilet. And that meant it needed to work after we were done. After removing the toilet we broke out the slab and dug into the soil and cut the old iron pipe in two. I then dropped my camera into the hole and a photo in one direction and then the other. That is how we discovered what you see in the photo. The offending plug was removed, pipe repaired and everything replaced. As intended, everything worked better after we were done.

In this example we had to move some plumbing to fit a new tub. The homeowner hadn't complained about a slow drain but as you can see by the photo it wasn't long before it would be stopped. What you see here is iron drain pipe with wax build up from hair conditioner and soap wax. As usual we had to clear all this when we completed the job.

So, if your drain is running slow there is definitely a reason. These are extreme examples but it is better to get after it sooner than later and you never know what you might find.