We live in a rambler built in the late 40’s in Washington State. One of our dogs was digging at the rear of our house just now and uncovered the cast iron pipe from our toilet. I had no idea it was so close to the surface. Anyway, the cast iron extends a couple of feet out, then the corner clay piece is broken. At time of writing I don’t know if anything else further down the line is broken or not, I now have my weekend project.

If it appears that only the corner piece is broken, and if I can remove it, can I do anything to help preserve the cast iron while it’s exposed, and can I assume a PVC corner piece sealed with epoxy would do the trick?

-Dave

Dave, I would suggest replacing the damaged clay pipe with PVC or ABS pipe and approved rubber couplings. These couplings are made specifically with a cast iron hub (sized to fit over cast iron) on one end and the other end sized to fit over PVC or ABS. You could try using either concrete or a polyethylene encasement to protect the cast iron.

-Brian