jasonf17•25d agoProlific Poster

Just noticed half the houses on my street still use those old cast iron drains from the 50s

I was helping my neighbor Chuck snake a backup on Franklin Avenue last Saturday and saw his main stack is still the original cast iron. He said the plumber told him to replace it with PVC but he just patched it again. I got curious and walked the block, at least 8 of the 15 houses still have the old stuff visible in their basements. Those pipes get internal rust and scale that makes them go from 4 inches down to like 2 inches over time. Has anyone else in Cleveland dealt with getting those ancient drains swapped out without the whole house flooding?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana25d ago

Why mess with what's worked 70 years?

elliot_patel25d ago

Slightly off. The 70 year old design is from 1954 but they changed it a bunch since then. 1957 they added the stop sign shape. 1971 they changed the colors to current red with white border. Even the MUTCD standard has been updated like 10 times. So it's more like 50 years of the current look, not 70.

patricialee25d agoMost Upvoted

So are we supposed to just be grateful our basements aren't flooded yet while those old drainpipes hold on by a prayer and a prayer? Classic Cleveland "it'll be fine until it catastrophically isn't" logic.