Final drainline work

Joel Cohen and his crew recently completed the replacement of the sanitary line that runs from the basement of our house to the city sewer line in the street. The previous pipe had been improperly connected at the basement. In lieu of using a coupling to attach the drain line to the pipe on the exterior, a previous owner had just poured concrete into the larger pipe to attach the two. Hmmm...smart thinking, guys. This made it a little bit more difficult for us to replace the lines, but Joel and his crew (basically, his son) got the job done. The photo below shows the existing cast iron pipe under the sidewalk which was completely rotted out.



















It's unclear how long this pipe has been in this condition. We had shut the water off at the property in anticipation of not needing it for a year or so while we were going through the design & permitting stages of the project. Apparently the condition of drain pipes rapidly deteriorates when water is completely shut off, as occasional flushing of the pipes ensures that minerals do not build-up enough to cause damage. The next set of photos shows the new ABS connection line and the vertical ventilation shaft that rises up to the level of the sidewalk.










Since looking at photos of sanitary lines isn't necessarily everyone's idea of a good time, we'll end on a few fun pictures. Along with tearing up the sidewalks comes the inevitable large machinery. Our son, Nicholas, is almost 2 yrs old and like many boys his age- or any age for that matter- he has a new-found obsession with anything with wheels, wings, propellers, or tracks. David (Joel's son) noticed how enamored Nicholas was with the backhoe and offered to lift him up for a ride. Nicholas helped him with the controls for a few minutes and was wide-eyed the entire time. Lucky kid!