Safest Way to Dismantle a Cast iron Soil Stack

with a scaffold tower or at least 2 men and ladders

 

Scaffolding and dismantling section by section with angle grinder or similar.

 

2 men , 1 ladder , 1 lump hammer job done

 

It depends on how high it is, if the the stack is fixed to wall with bobbins & nails, you smash the lower collar, smash the lugs off from nails, take that piece dowm, if you can pull nails out with crow bar, all well & good, then work your way down, if its pretty high get 2 ladders & some help. If you think there hard to take down, think what it,s like to put them up on your own?

 

My only advise would be to take a small section out at the bottom & stuff some rag in the pipe that you intend to keep. I removed a cast stack from my last house & a chunk broke off & cost me a small fortune to get removed from soil pipe after getting jammed. Had to pay out for camera to find the blockage.

 

Well spotted unclewise,

 

As above but cut a slot in the bottom with 9" grinder then slide in a piece of ply instead of a rag much better.

 

just get sum gispy people to do it ... they well be greatful for the scrap.

 

Simply, if you don't have a mobile tower or cherry picket you can kiss your insurance - and asre - goodbye. Very dangerous, potential to cause loads of damage.

AND if the customer won't pay for them, they are probably the same kind of customer who will sue your *** when a bit cracks his concrete or his the building.....

 

Health & Safety Simon me old mate !!!! use a tower and have <u>at least</u> one other person there wiv ya , Imran is correct about yer old Insurance , you won't be covered by using a ladder for a job like that bud , you don't wanna be out of work for weeks on end wiv some sort of injury , no insurance cover = no dosh as well , get my drift mate

 

I did this job once. Good advice to grind a section out near base ans insert wood/ply to prevent blockage / breakage of clay pipes below.

Then from a ladder just hammer to break small chunks away from the top downwards. Once you get the cast iron cracked it goes quite easily.

Dont be tempted to lift large unbroken sections on your own whilst up the ladder, they can be, unexpectedly very heavy. Just keep smashing them with the hammer.

 

I would say with a rigid pipe "cutter", pending that you have approx. two Inch clearance around the pipe.
It compresses the pipe as oppossed to cutting, and Is a really good tool. It gives a perfectly good clean break, also good if looking to reconnect to the cast pipe, a must if using indoors, no fragments of cast flying everywhere.
I had a quick look and It seems that you can rent one for £24.00 a week.

 

Yeah , a bit more sensible than smashing the carp out of it whilst up a ladder , all those bits of cast iron flying all over the place - very dangerous!! :O :O - as said before <u>don't</u> use a ladder , get a tower