Plumbing and Piping - Need help remodeling a 1950's house for my senior citizen mom
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Dracenia
11-06-09, 02:54 PM
I am trying to remodel my mom's house for her, so that when we bring her home it will be easy for her to move around the house.
I need help in figuring out how to update it on a small budget. I am currently trying to unclog the tub drain, a snake won't fit down the drain itself but is there another way to unclog it?
Dracenia
I need help in figuring out how to update it on a small budget. I am currently trying to unclog the tub drain, a snake won't fit down the drain itself but is there another way to unclog it?
Dracenia
ecman51`
11-06-09, 07:22 PM
One of those cheap thin bottle brush or flexible barbed plastic hair snaring tools, works great at latching onto hair down the drain a short ways. (Home centers sell them) But if the clog is downstream more......
Often a plunger does the trick. You have to hold a rag over the overflow cover vent slots on the bottom of it, when plunging. (Or remove the overflow plate cover and possibly trip lever mechanism, and hold rag down in the hole.) Plunging likely will draw hair and gunk back toward the tub where you can grab it with a needlenose.
In old houses with drum traps, I like to pour in a heavy duty concentrated purple degreaser (sold at home centers and the largest retailer, in the automotive aisle) down the drain, to sit in the drum trap for awhile. Then, fill the tub just a little, while you have your plunger over the drain hole. Then plunge to beat the band, while you hold your other hand over the overflow vent slots. This will cause the degreaser/drain cleaner to suds up real nice also. Then let that sit a while. Then plunge some more after you add more water. Use hot water if you don't mind wasting a little.
And in the case of old houses with metal pipes and drum traps, fill the tub almost all the way to the overflow, to build up more head pressure, and plunge.
If that does not do it, then you have to remove that overflow plate cover and snake down it. If you have a drum trap though, which is quite likely if the plumbing was not upgraded, then the snake will not work beyond the trap, which is closeby near/under the tub. But you can try one of those cheap hand snakes and see how far you get. You might latch onto hair right at the drain and overflow confluence. And if you are lucky and have the pop up with the spring, and you remove that mechanism, maybe your troubles are right there, ensnared in that spring.
Your only hopes then are to use a shop vac, or more plunging.....violently, if you are in good shape. Or to buy one of those rubber attachments for the end of a garden hose (the small one that they sell that is good for 1 1/4 inch drains and somewhat larger), and stick that down the overflow and blast through there.
But you have to be a thinking person when you do this. You cannot go about this with reckless abandon. It is possible you could blow a fitting apart (less likely though with all metal/drum trap system), and worse yet if bathroom is on a second floor with finished ceiling below. Not as risky if you are over basement or crawl space.
You only run a hose/blaster for a few seconds at first, to find out if all is going well. (You can tell if water is coming out or if it feels like the water hit a brick wall. And if city service, you can have someone look at how fast the meter spins. Note that one-half rotation on a cubic foot meter is about 3 3/4 gallons/near 7 1/2 gallons per one full revolution.). Then if so, you run it some more. You have to guard against the hose flying back out of the tub overflow hole, at first. Once under pressure, it will lock in there when the rubber expands. Hold it in there while you get someone else to turn on the hose, and make them aware to turn it off quickly if need be.
If a roof vent for the plumbing is nearby.....in worst case clog scenarios, you could be sending water that you blast, right up the bathroom vent stack, and onto the roof. That is why you do not want to just let that hose run too long. Try it for any number of seconds, then shut off the water, remove it, and see if you blasted the clog clear.
I have always beat a drain clog. Always. For in over 20 years in doing old house college rentals, with lots of girls, and their long hair. Never had to have a plumber come.
Often a plunger does the trick. You have to hold a rag over the overflow cover vent slots on the bottom of it, when plunging. (Or remove the overflow plate cover and possibly trip lever mechanism, and hold rag down in the hole.) Plunging likely will draw hair and gunk back toward the tub where you can grab it with a needlenose.
In old houses with drum traps, I like to pour in a heavy duty concentrated purple degreaser (sold at home centers and the largest retailer, in the automotive aisle) down the drain, to sit in the drum trap for awhile. Then, fill the tub just a little, while you have your plunger over the drain hole. Then plunge to beat the band, while you hold your other hand over the overflow vent slots. This will cause the degreaser/drain cleaner to suds up real nice also. Then let that sit a while. Then plunge some more after you add more water. Use hot water if you don't mind wasting a little.
And in the case of old houses with metal pipes and drum traps, fill the tub almost all the way to the overflow, to build up more head pressure, and plunge.
If that does not do it, then you have to remove that overflow plate cover and snake down it. If you have a drum trap though, which is quite likely if the plumbing was not upgraded, then the snake will not work beyond the trap, which is closeby near/under the tub. But you can try one of those cheap hand snakes and see how far you get. You might latch onto hair right at the drain and overflow confluence. And if you are lucky and have the pop up with the spring, and you remove that mechanism, maybe your troubles are right there, ensnared in that spring.
Your only hopes then are to use a shop vac, or more plunging.....violently, if you are in good shape. Or to buy one of those rubber attachments for the end of a garden hose (the small one that they sell that is good for 1 1/4 inch drains and somewhat larger), and stick that down the overflow and blast through there.
But you have to be a thinking person when you do this. You cannot go about this with reckless abandon. It is possible you could blow a fitting apart (less likely though with all metal/drum trap system), and worse yet if bathroom is on a second floor with finished ceiling below. Not as risky if you are over basement or crawl space.
You only run a hose/blaster for a few seconds at first, to find out if all is going well. (You can tell if water is coming out or if it feels like the water hit a brick wall. And if city service, you can have someone look at how fast the meter spins. Note that one-half rotation on a cubic foot meter is about 3 3/4 gallons/near 7 1/2 gallons per one full revolution.). Then if so, you run it some more. You have to guard against the hose flying back out of the tub overflow hole, at first. Once under pressure, it will lock in there when the rubber expands. Hold it in there while you get someone else to turn on the hose, and make them aware to turn it off quickly if need be.
If a roof vent for the plumbing is nearby.....in worst case clog scenarios, you could be sending water that you blast, right up the bathroom vent stack, and onto the roof. That is why you do not want to just let that hose run too long. Try it for any number of seconds, then shut off the water, remove it, and see if you blasted the clog clear.
I have always beat a drain clog. Always. For in over 20 years in doing old house college rentals, with lots of girls, and their long hair. Never had to have a plumber come.
lefty
11-07-09, 05:39 PM
Dracenia,
Welcome to the forums.
Once you have the tub unclogged, what is it that you want to do in this remodel??
Welcome to the forums.
Once you have the tub unclogged, what is it that you want to do in this remodel??
faucetman886
11-09-09, 10:32 AM
Being older and disabled myself, I have found that one of the most important things for me was adapting the bathroom for handicap access. This can be done in an all out way or with just a few helpful less expensive changes, the most expensive and yet I feel the most important is to install an ADA height toilet. I have written several blogs on the subject that are published both on my blogsite and on several other sites. If you google my name "faucetman886" + handicap access bathrooms you should find some helpful info.