Tales From The Crawl Space - March 19, 2011
The home was built in the late 40's and the original plumbing waste line was made of cast iron. A fair amount of the plumbing system has since been converted to the black pipe you see in the picture to the right as the upper portion, made from a type of plastic called ABS. Most modern homes use this material.
Typically what we see as home inspectors in San Diego when working with older homes is a combination of cast iron and ABS. But the two should meet at some point! Plumbing systems are supposed to be closed to prevent not only leakage of waste water but also to keep sewer gases from entering the living space. In this case, the newer plastic pipe above simply created a nice little waterfall and fed waste into the rusted away cast iron trough that once was a solid pipe. My recommendation, the main plumbing line is beyond its service life and must be replaced.
We see all manner of craziness as home inspectors. Stay tuned for more issues of Tales From The Crawl Space.
