Back to work

Just got back from a lovely vacation to the UK and now we’re full of vigor and a positive attitude to get stuff done on the house, probably…

It’s still our aim this year to fill in the trench behind the house and although we’re getting closer we keep coming across additional tasks that needs addressing before we can lay the pipe and start filling. Today it was to remove our old sewer pipe as it was in the way of where the foundation drain will be. The wall of this 5″ pipe are 1/2″ thick so it’s very heavy which is why I’ve been cutting it in 5′ – 6′ lengths and I think removing two such lengths will be enough.

Cast iron is pretty tough stuff and it probably took me about 40 minutes to cut through one completely. I used a Sawzall with a 9″ diamond blade (thank you Jude and Kadidja for the Home Depot gift card, it pretty much paid for the saw!).

From the photos below you can see the rust nodules that have formed over the years, some of which are at least an inch high. You’d probably think that the pipe was junk if you looked at it, however, after cutting the pipe you can see that it’s still pretty much intact, not bad for a pipe that’s been underground for probably half a century at least and I bet it could survive another half century. So next time you pull up an old rusty cannon from the depths, just go over it with a grinder and it will be as good as new 🙂

This coming weekend we plan to finish off all the remaining tasks such as adding a angle to the footings (to drain water away from the house) and to add lime plaster to the side wall. Temperatures here are starting to cool here so this is great timing as in few weeks it might not be possible to plaster.