I looked at a problem for a friend of my wife. The house was build in 1933.
The HO has lived there for 25 yrs. The 2nd floor tub has drained slowly for many years. Plumbers have not been able to rod the drain very far, so chemicals have been used to keep things flowing.(sounds like a drum trap on the tub)
Heres the details;
1933 single family home in Chicago suburbs built by commercial contractor for himself.
Exterior walls are 14″ thick (face brick with block and plaster)
Interior bearing walls in basement and 1st floor are 6″ poured concrete.
1st and 2nd floor decks are 8″ poured concrete
There is no drum trap cover exposed either above or below 2nd flr. deck.
It appears that the plumbing is encased within the poured concrete deck.
The HO says there is one other house this contractor built down the street.
The city has no prints on this house nor does the HO.
I asked her to check with the other HO and see if they have any prints or info about construction details.(maybe they have had work done) no answer yet
The Question is;
Does anyone know of a service or system to ‘x-ray’ concrete in order to ‘see’ the drain and supply pipe layout?
Replies
Concrete is x-rayed all the time to locate rebar before core drilling.
Look in yellow pages under X-ray service-industrial or Concrete break,cut,saw.
Thanks for the reply from you and davidmeiland.
After about 15 phone calls I did find a service that does on site x-ray and also one that does GPR (ground penetrating radar).
It seems that the x-rays would be the way to go if this thing proceeds.
Thanks again
Rich
You could also talk to drain companies about using a camera down the drain to see what's going on. The ones I have seen fit into 3" and emit a signal so that a guy on the ground can locate an underground line. I would be surprised if there wasn't something for the smaller pipe as well. Maybe you could use this as justification to buy a new tool... a borescope. There are some with long probes that might get you to the trap so you could at least see what's going on.
With all that concrete that's a helluva problem you got there.
Thanks for the reply it always gets my attention when someone says 'You could buy a tool'
Rich
Ridgit has about has out an inexpensive borescope. About $170 IIRC. And it does not have much range (15"???), but you can get an extension cable for it.It is a cammera and LCD display. Has an LED light on it and a can be used with a graber for retriving.Don't know if it would really tell you much in this case, but still useful..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
if you got one of those temperure guns and ran hot water through the pipe, you might be able to follow it.
I use X-ray, ground penetrating radar, & structural radar imaging all the time on highrise concrete buildings.
X-ray would be the best, but also the most expensive & time consuming. You also have to be clear of the area during the process.
8" slab is going to take about a 20 minute exposure for a 14x17 picture. They use a live isotope encased in a depleted uranium housing with a remote activated door. Then they have to process the film, & if you don't have a decent idea where the pipe is going you might end up with a blank picture & still be charged for the pic of course.
Like Dave said, having the pipe scoped should be pretty revealing on what's going on.
The cheapest thing you could do is have a locate company come out & they are pretty good at marking the exact spot where the pipe is, if the slab is lacking rebar then the locate guys will be dead on accurate, but even with rebar I have had them hit 4" cast iron in & below a slab with great accuracy.
Thanks for the reply.
What you say is pretty much what the tech. that I talked to said, except he said they take 11x17 pics's and he thought up to 45 min's for an exposure. He suggested taking multiple exposures first and then developing all at once. If you get lucky on the first round you pay for half a day, if not the whole day or more.
I have not heard back from HO yet.
What I was hoping to do is locate the drum trap cover (which I am guessing was covered by some knucklehead in a passed remodel) open it up and clean it out. This would solve her immediate problem.
But then there is the long term problem of 75 year old steel pipe encased in concrete.
Rich
hammer drill