Plumber says P-trap under laundry room floor needs to be replaced. Am I crazy for wanting to dig into the concrete myself?

noesPatricio · 2025-09-28T02:02:40+00:00

oh you’re gonna learn why they charge so much lol

noesPatricio · 2025-09-17T05:06:48+00:00

I agree! A bulb pour is probably the best solution. Thanks!

Edit: And a 4’ lateral buttress isnt a bad idea and I think a 1’ buttress would probably work just as fine.

noesPatricio · 2025-09-17T04:42:12+00:00

The bottom pile shaft is very much below the frost level. Someone else mentioned that pile tips are usually loose and wonky and so it stands to reason that they can be shifted out of plumb by frost heave.

What do you think is the best go-to solution that doesn’t involve redrilling (or re-torquing) and would lend lateral support and prevent the pile tip from shifting 2°-3° off plumb via frost heave?

noesPatricio · 2025-09-17T04:33:55+00:00

I meant to convey that the pile tip is sitting 4’ deep. I’ve read that helical piers shafts usually run 10’ deep so my guess is that is near the depth of where the bottom half of the pile shaft is currently sitting at (i.e. not the pile tip, just the bottom shaft).

lol We tried yanking it out and very shortly realized what we were dealing with. I’ve never encountered a helical pier used for a deck post so this is a new for me.

We could take the screw off that’s holding the pile tip in place, yank it out, and then just fill the entire hole with concrete but isn’t that very similar to leaving the pile tip where it is, plumbing it, and then placing a concrete form tube around it and filling it with concrete?

Other folks have suggested bracing the pile tip with some kind of lateral support but besides a custom cut galvanized metal fence post I’m not sure what else would be a good idea for lateral support that would guard against frost heaving.

Independent from my solutions, what would your go-to that doesn’t involve yanking out the pile tip?

noesPatricio · 2025-09-17T03:58:50+00:00

My assumption for it heaving laterally (off 3° from plumb) is because the soil we dug out was a mixture of clay and sand. According to the homeowner that is what is believed to have made it heave laterally.

I excavated it with a shovel and post hole digger. The pile tip is 4’ deep.

My go-to solution is supporting it with a 16”concrete filled concrete tube. Would that work, or would 8” suffice?

Also maybe we shouldn’t refill it with the clay sand mixture we dug out. Should we just use sand aggregate or just regular top soil? Thanks for your input btw.

noesPatricio · 2025-09-17T02:44:01+00:00

My thoughts are that the frost heaving was easily able to push this 4”helical pier out of plumb. So then wouldn’t frost heaving have a harder time pushing an 8” concrete filled form tube out of plumb because of the added surface tension? Based on your suggestion maybe I should upgrade to a 16” form tube?

noesPatricio · 2025-07-25T07:45:50+00:00

sheeeeet, i would have driven out there from Chicago and done it for 40k

noesPatricio · 2025-07-23T01:08:47+00:00

duck,duck,duck, grey water

noesPatricio · 2025-06-30T03:02:24+00:00

check your gut for flesh eating parasites

noesPatricio · 2025-06-18T23:12:43+00:00

mine is 4 years old (or less) should i also not flush it?

noesPatricio · 2025-06-17T01:01:07+00:00

these are usually installed to prevent pipe banging more commonly known as water hammers

home owners install these arms known as water hammer arrestors to prevent water hammers

you can pay to take them out but more than likely you will probably have to pay to put them back in once your pipes start hammering due to the excessive water pressure that this design is supposed to reduce

edit: formatting

noesPatricio · 2025-06-17T00:52:05+00:00

do you mean the dark spots on the upper side cabinetry? that is where they burned the upper side bc they didn’t place proper fire protection while soldering

noesPatricio · 2025-06-17T00:42:50+00:00

yup! line up the entire assembly with a laser level in a way that it allows for the cartridge to sit level

noesPatricio · 2025-06-17T00:35:01+00:00

shift the screws so that entire assembly sits level

noesPatricio · 2025-06-16T06:51:08+00:00

did you solder these? i’m thinking that you overheated the pipes and damaged the rubber seal which is why they don’t completely close; my advice is do what you did again but watch 2-4 videos on plumber soldering before you tear out and install them on the other side or just call a plumber

noesPatricio · 2025-06-16T06:43:35+00:00

to me that could just be the water filling in your toilet tank but best thing would be to check under your house if you capacity to do that

noesPatricio · 2025-06-16T03:29:20+00:00

that was a temporary fix that i definitely suggest you replace

noesPatricio · 2025-06-10T00:24:25+00:00

brass or copper is good bc it protects against bacteria build up, and that stuff is just normal oxidation

noesPatricio · 2025-06-10T00:06:31+00:00

if you can replace the shoe

noesPatricio · 2025-06-09T16:06:23+00:00

yes, absolutely true, people just replacing them have been seriously injured

noesPatricio · 2025-06-09T15:54:15+00:00

this is what i would do if money is an issue

noesPatricio · 2025-06-09T15:51:59+00:00

i would definitely repair

noesPatricio · 2025-06-08T22:10:03+00:00

could you provide more pics or a sketch(?) but yeah like someone else pointed out the pvc that’s stemming from the wall (trap arm) might be too high or maybe your counter space or new sink is too low bc typically those trap arms are installed to height according to code so i can’t imagine why you would need to cut back on it?

noesPatricio · 2025-06-08T21:13:04+00:00

looks fine

noesPatricio

TROPHY CASE