Soil pipe. All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[tjw1701]

Hi all.

I have a soil pipe, which runs up the outside of my house, and wish to connect a new bath sink and shower waste to it.

I am not sure what it is made out of, it is the original pipe fitted to the house, which was built in 1965. It does ring when you tap it, and I originally thought it was made of cast iron, but looking at it further it appears to be made of something that is not metal. I am concerened that it is Asbestos Cement, hence why I dont want to drill without being sure.

Is there any way of determining what material it is made of. The pipe appears black in colour, but some of the more weathered sections are a light grey colour.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[peter the plumber]

I think it could be aluminium or stainless steal.

I have seen a few with copper too.

I am sure you don’t get a ringing sound from Asbestos; it’s more of a thud.

But you should contact your local council and ask them to have a look at it before you start work.

[tjw1701]

Thanks for the reply.

On further investigation, it appears that the top section of the pipe is in deed asbestos cement, but, the bottom is made of metal......Someone obviously changed the top half for an asbestos one as it is not the original, but why anyone would do that????

In any case, having determined that the bottom half is metal, I have attempted to drill it. It is quite hard whatever it is, but the drill has made a small amount of headway, and a hacksaw blade does more than just polish the surface. Could this be cast iron, or is that tougher than this. I just dont want to start cutting it only to find its too tough.

Thanks.

[peter the plumber]

If your looking for away to add a new waste pipe into the cast iron stack, you can get a “time saverâ€